No Man's Sky's Aquarius update lets you go fishing across the galaxy

Back in July, No Man's Sky reached version 5.0 with the Worlds update, which refreshed its planetary generation to introduce more variety alongside more detailed water, clouds, and weather. We didn't write about it at the time, because I suppose re-writing the very fabric of the galaxy seemed small-time.

Today's new update, however, adds fishing, and I can't not write about that.

Here's the trailer:

The update is called Aquarius, and it makes use of the Worlds update's fancy new oceans with their pulsing, reflective surfaces by allowing you to cast a line into them. There's a wide range of different underwater life to find, from "common minnow-like fish to huge alien marine mammals", according to the announcement. You'll need to find different bodies of water on different planets to collect them all.

To help matters, there's a new "Exo-Skiff" which can be deployed, and is basically a hovering, customisable fishing platform. It's got a built-in fridge for storing your catches within. Or you can build your own automated fish farm, whcih will gather fish for you while you're elsewhere, killing some other kind of flora or fauna. However you collect your fish, you can cook 'em for dinner if you wish.

I'm genuinely fond of fishing in games, particularly in those games like Zelda or Kirby where the fishing is far aside from the much more dramatic adventure I'm meant to be having. No Man's Sky's system seems to have a lot of charming detail, too, including the ability to catch "messages in bottles" left by other players. Cute.

Aquarius is out now and free to all players. No Man's Sky is also currently 60% off over on Steam as part of the Steam Space Exploration Fest.