No Man’s Sky: Cosmos Update Overhauls Space Exploration for the 10th Anniversary
No Man's Sky: Cosmos Update Overhauls Space Exploration for the 10th Anniversary
Ten years after it first sent players hurtling into procedurally generated galaxies, No Man’s Sky just got its biggest overhaul yet. Hello Games released Cosmos, the game’s version 7.0 update, on September 9, 2026, timed squarely to the game’s 10th anniversary. It’s free for every existing owner, and it fundamentally changes what it feels like to fly through open space.
A Void That Finally Feels Alive
The headline addition is a reworked Star Map that actively scans each system you enter, surfacing points of interest and mission strands instead of leaving players to stumble onto them. Derelict Space Hulks now litter the void as salvageable wreckage, pulled apart using genuinely physics-based gravity tools rather than a simple loot prompt. Traders and alien factions have a new home too, in Outposts: space stations built for commerce and missions with the game’s various lifeforms.
Resource gathering gets a boost from mineable Asteroid Belts, which double as sites for buildable landing platforms, while Orbital Bases let players construct fully customizable, free-floating structures anywhere in space rather than being tied to a planet’s surface.
Owning Your Own Corner of Space
Cosmos also introduces genuine Space Station Ownership, letting players buy and personalize a station of their own to use as a clubhouse. That pairs naturally with the new Alliances system, where cooperative player societies can band together and compete against one another on leaderboards. Pilots looking for a fresh objective can also take on the Reach Stars challenge, navigating a course toward the burning centers of star systems.
Running in parallel is a special expedition called Our Journey Continues, which walks players back through 40 milestones representing every major update since the game’s rocky 2016 launch, complete with developer commentary and unlockable historical features. It’s as much a retrospective as it is new content.
Where to Play It
Cosmos is rolling out free across every platform No Man’s Sky lives on: PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, 5 and PSVR2, Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, Mac, and Xbox Game Pass. If you’ve been meaning to jump back in for the anniversary, a Steam Wallet Code covers the PC side, while a Xbox Live Gift Card or PSN Gift Card gets you set up on console. Switch owners can grab a Nintendo eShop Card to load up before heading into the new star systems. Either way, ten years in, No Man’s Sky is still finding new ways to make the universe feel bigger.
