At the time of writing, there have been 18 expeditions in No Man’s Sky. These generally begin following a content publish that introduces new gameplay features. The associated expedition acts as something like a curated, guided tour of the new features that were added to this space exploration game.
Expeditions require players to complete a number of different phases, usually involving exploration of the open-world universe, combat, and other unique activities. Each phase, once complete, rewards the player with an item of some kind. Players who missed the earlier expeditions have a couple of options for replaying them, so that they, too, can reap the rewards.
The are two ways to replay expeditions in No Man’s Sky. Firstly, around the time of the New Year holidays, Hello Games makes a number of expeditions available for replay. Generally, these are the most recent ones. However, it is possible to gain access to all previous expeditions thanks to the ingenuity of the player community. For example, CWMonkey has made a number of files available for download from GitHub and provided full instructions on how to use these files to replay any expedition in No Man’s Sky. Of the 18 expeditions released to date, the are the one that are most deserving of a replay.
The very first expedition in No Man’s Sky was aptly named The Pioneers. This older expedition included a community goal element, as well as four phases that individual players could complete. These phases required visiting a number of rendezvous points and completing the required goals at each point.
Activities included discovering red star systems and visiting black holes. The rewards were quite good for this expedition and included the Golden Vector, which is an S-class ship. As with all expedition rewards, once a phase is completed, the rewards are available in every save.
The Cartographers is something a little different. Where most NMS expeditions send the player jumping across the galaxy, this expedition focuses almost completely on the exploration of the planet Gisto Major. As the name suggests, the player is tasked with various milestones that involve mapping the planet and discovering the local flora and fauna.
The rewards for this expedition are somewhat lackluster, with the best being a monstrous companion egg. Despite this, The Cartographers is a great expedition to replay, as it really does an excellent job of pushing exploration gameplay to the fore.
The Singularity expedition follows a story-driven approach, and features plenty of great narratives, much of which leads the player to make meaningful choices as the story unfolds. The underlying theme is the discovery of Harmonic Camps and learning all about them.
The rewards for The Singularity expedition are not particularly impressive and mostly consist of cosmetics, including a new jetpack trail and a new freighter trail. Even so, the story is well crafted and well worth a second playthrough, even though the rewards are a bit disappointing.
The Utopia expedition shook things up a little and focused primarily on a widespread community goal to rebuild an abandoned star system. The Utopia Foundation charged the player base with achieving this goal and offered some pretty cool rewards to any players who contributed.
There were some gameplay restrictions for players who took part in this expedition. Crafting had to occur within a player base, for one, and the players were required to plan strategically when gathering the required resources. This expedition gave what is arguably one of the best rewards of all, the Utopia Speeder.
The Beachhead expedition was a fun crossover with the Mass Effect franchise. There were five separate phases that players needed to complete. These involved various gameplay mechanics, such as repairing freighters, constructing exocraft, and exploring specific planets.
There were some great rewards from this expedition, such as inventory space upgrades and some cool base upgrades as well. However, the single best reward was the SSV Normandy frigate joining the player’s capital fleet, which is an accurate rendition of the Mass Effect starship of the same name.
As the 13th expedition in No Man’s Sky, by this stage, Hello Games had refined the concept of expeditions, making them simpler for solo players to complete, and making sure that the rewards given were worth the effort. In Adrift, gameplay takes place in an abandoned universe, where the players are the only inhabitants.
This expedition focuses more on survival elements, as well as exploration. This includes encountering the Ship of the Damned. Adrift grants one of the most popular of all rewards so far, the Iron Vulture, a hauler ship that is based on the Razorcrest from The Mandalorian TV series.
With the Leviathan expedition, Hello Games once again mixed things up by making this a roguelike experience. If the player dies during the expedition, their progress is reset, and they must start again from the first milestone.
The storyline revolves around the player crafting a Whalesong Flute, which they will eventually use to summon a space leviathan. Once this has been done, the player is rewarded with their very own space leviathan, which is an indestructible organic frigate that will join the player’s capital fleet and is a considerable asset for those who enjoy the Frigate Mission gameplay feature.
The Aquarius update is arguably the best example of Hello Games creating a curated guide for a new gameplay feature. In this case, that guide was for in-game fishing. During the expedition, the player has to explore multiple planets, tracking down different species of fish. Some fish can only be caught at night, or on certain kinds of planets, so this is a trickier task than it first appears.
The rewards for the Quarius expedition are excellent. They include the Exo-Skiff, which is a special fishing platform, as well as the Lost Angler’s Fishing Rig, which is a special fishing rig with additional bonuses.
7/10
August 9, 2016
T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Animated Blood
Proprietary
