Summary
No Man’s Skyhas rolled out its latest batch of content with Update 5.7, titled ‘Beacon,’ which makes huge changes to the way settlements are handled. The latestNo Man’s Skyupdate will turn players into an overseers of multiple settlements, which include in-depth upgrades to make them feel more alive.
SinceNo Man’s Sky’s launch in August 2016, more than 35 different content updates have been added to the space exploration and survival game, adding features that include new alien species, living spaceships, story content, and much more. Prior to Beacon, the latest of these wasNo Man’s Sky’s Relics update, which was released in late March 2025 and enhanced the game’s archaeological features with new systems for discovering and trading in fossils and relics of the distant past.
For its second update in a row, most of the new features will stay planetside, as Hello Games turns its eye once more towards improvements to customizable settlements.Settlement overseers inNo Man’s Skywill now be able to perform their duties at four different locations at the same time. As overseers, players will perform mayoral duties, which include optimizing production, settling disputes between residents, and upgrading facilities. Players will be aided in their overseer duties by the addition of some new building types, like fishing ponds and bars. They will also need to pay closer attention to their individual inhabitants, as each now has its own abilities, attributes, quirks, and personality, deepening the optimization aspects of settlements.
One of the most notable additions to the settlement system is the addition of Autophage settlements. A secretive, sentient robotic alien race that separated from the Korvax Convergence long ago, theAutophage were introduced inNo Man’s Sky’s Echoes updatein August 2023, and they are now taking a more prominent role in the galaxy with the addition of their own controllable communities. Autophage settlements stand out from those of other races with a scrap metal aesthetic, though players will need to possess special technology to scan and locate them.
Not all the action regarding the new addition will take place on planets.Squadron pilots inNo Man’s Skysettlements will continue to play an important role in keeping inhabitants safe, and the new update notes promise a more fleshed-out system for protecting player-controlled communities from pirate attacks with the addition of some new defensive measures. In addition to swarming pirates, other new dangers abound. Sentinel attacks will include assaults from summoner, corrupted, heavy, and repair drones, and insect queens and their broods will be more heavily invested in attacking settlements.
