No Man's Sky

“A glimpse into the future of games” VICE

In a universe governed by an unknowable, god-like entity worshipped as ‘the ATLAS’, you awaken next to a crashed ship and take to the stars.

I collaborated with Hello Games to create a new 30-hour story for the almost-infinite universe of NO MAN’S SKY. With multiple updates, critical and audience opinion reversed from negative to overwhelmingly positive. NO MAN’S SKY won a BAFTA Award for Best Evolving Game in 2022 as of the Origins update, which marked my final addition to the project.

Infinite worlds, wonders, dreams, and nightmares

A traveller beside a landed starship on a night planet

Countless worlds teem with life in the void between civilisations. The ghosts of fallen empires drift among the stars, while planets bloom with possibility… and lurking strangeness. Abandoned freighters and distant installations whisper of a corruption at the heart of reality. The survivors of three proud alien species huddle in space stations and isolated outposts, hiding from the drones that stalk countless worlds, protecting even the very rocks. Until one day…

A traveller walking beneath golden alien trees

A starship threading an asteroid field past a monolith

A traveller crossing a bioluminescent fungal plain

Press

“A glimpse into the future of games”

This 30 minute section of No Man’s Sky’s new story update offers a glimpse into the future of games (or at least one future). It blends clever procgen, carefully handcrafted spaces, and a surprising variation of narrative pacing in a way that doesn’t only impress me, but also helps to make sense of No Man’s Sky’s core design philosophies for me. Prior to this, it was not clear that procgen-driven games could leave me biting my nails in anxiety about the story.
VICE

“The words that have guided all the best humanistic science fiction: You are not alone.”

It’s a story that plays to the game’s strengths, holding the never ending journey sacred, and giving players a consistent empathetic voice, taking them to far more personal, affecting places. There’s profundity and power in a game that has no greater ambition than for the player to find a place of beauty and peace in the universe.
GameSpot

“By far the most cohesive and intriguing tale that the game has delivered so far”
British GQ

“Now it’s the striking backdrop for thrilling adventures with tangible rewards […] a core story quest which further deepens the surprisingly nihilistic lore”
Kotaku

Existence is beautiful, if you let it be. Life is not a question. There need not be an answer.

No Man's Sky

Infinite worlds, wonders, dreams, and nightmares

Store Links

Official trailer

Soundtrack