Did the changing life of freight frustrate you in No Man's Sky? Well, no more gloom, because things are going to get even more boisterous thanks to Echo, the latest free update for the exploration space simulation game, which introduces epic cargo ship-on-cargo ship combat and Star Wars-style trench races, as well as new robot races and more.
Starting with those cargo ship battles, Echo — which received minimal teasing last weekend to celebrate No Man's Sky's seventh birthday — expands the game's previous system to enable small ships (whether piloted by players or NPC pirates) to attack friendly cargo ships and fleets. However, when Echo arrives, players may encounter situations where merchant ships are attacked by the aggressive pirate cargo ship Intrepid – they can choose to defend and defeat these pirates.
In a time-honored video game culture, including attacking enemy weaknesses, this is Star Wars-style trench run, which requires pilots to move quickly along the narrow corridors of enemy hulls, shooting their red flashing stuff (combat HUD checks now conveniently show the hull integrity of large ships) until they are fully atomized.
In addition to cargo ships, Echo also introduced Autophage, the first new race for No Man's Sky since its launch in 2016. This "never-before-seen, long-hidden race of robots" will appear alongside the existing Kovax, Gerk and Viken, with new story content and associated mechanics, and players can accept quests and rituals to acquire a "massive" number of mechanical parts that they can use to shape their own robot avatars.