The first post-NEXT content based update has dropped today into the vast expanse of Hello Game’s space sim title. Along with it comes the first community event, a collaborative effort from players to help Nada and Polo go about their space business. In a development update, Founder and god of the No Man’s Sky universe Sean Murray talked us through what exactly we’ll be getting up to this week:
“The first chapter of Polo’s research project examines a specific corner of the galaxy, where strange objects have begun spawning underground. Dedicated explorers who excavate and return them to the Space Anomaly will be rewarded with Quicksilver. Polo has constructed a new robotic companion to process this valuable substance into exclusive exotic collectables.”
That space robot is none other than Polo’s Quicksilver Synthesis Bot, an NPC that lets you cash in the strange objects in return for Quicksilver. A previously unexplained currency that stuck out like a sore thumb in the top left of the screen when navigating the menus. Hello Games have now confirmed that Quicksilver can be used to purchase character customization options, base decorations, and gestures.
Participating in the event is simple; Once you’re in the game, a new mission will pop up in your log telling you to contact Polo. Once contacted, the mission will give you a waypoint to a nearby portal in which you enter to join the excavation efforts. After the portal traveling sequence, you’ll emerge on the other side to the FPS killing view of dozens of message modules. Your objective is to collect Hex Cores which are buried underground; using the scanner, locate ‘buried technology modules’ until you reach 25 cores.
Once you’ve collected these space-hogging red thingymabobs, head on up into space and contact Polo who will teleport his alloy home in front of your face. Zoom on inside to collect your reward from Quicksilver Synthesis. There’s a nice selection of blob statues and decals to plaster all over your base. There’s also a ‘Sparse Horizon Helmet which retails for a hefty sum of 3000 Quicksilver. Once you’ve purchased something (or left to earn more to unlock the helmet), the game will now let you explore the galaxy to find these cores meaning the tech modules you dig up will have hex cores inside of them and, by using pure magic, Polo will pop up once again to take them off your hands.
No Man’s Sky latest content update – NEXT – has revived the game’s player base after introducing a heap of new features including fully-fledged multiplayer, third-person, improved terrain generation, varied structures and much much more. Since the update launched, Hello Games and founder Sean Murray have stressed their desire to interact more with the community through weekly updates to the survival sim. They’ve also been constantly sharing player’s discoveries and creations on Twitter.
No Man’s Sky is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.