No Man's Sky goes under the sea with 'The Abyss' update

I'm always touched to receive e-mails imploring me to "Get in the [flipping] sea," sent by fans who know there's nowhere I'm happier than in that deep blue. I'm glad to hear that No Man's Sky players today get to enjoy more life aquatic, with the latest major free update focusing on improving oceans. 'The Abyss', as version 1.7 is nicknamed, overhauls and expands ocean biomes with more varied life, boshes in new building modules for sea bases, slips in a submarine, lets us keep aquariums with sealife we find, and new wrecks and stories under the sea. It really is better down where it's wetter, you know.

"The variety and visual quality of underwater biomes has been greatly improved," developers Hello Games explain. "Underwater creatures have become more frequent, and more interesting. Aquatic life inhabits the full depth of the ocean, and unique terrifying creatures can be encountered on the ocean floor."

You can see some of these potential cuties in the accompanying trailer:

Also expect the new 'Nautilon' customisable submarine, new watery story missions, sunken wrecks to plunder, new glass tunnels and domes and other parts for Subnautica-y seabases, buildable aquariums to keep pets at home, and plenty more.

The Abyss goes live today. Not quite yet, it seems, but today. See the update's patch notes for more details on the additions and changes.

No Man's Sky is due to go on sale later today too, going down to half-price on Steam.

"Foundation started us down a new road, and two years later we're releasing community missions, dropping weekly content, and NEXT - our biggest update yet - continues to see AAA player numbers. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response," Hello Games big man Sean Murray said on Twitter today. He continued, "The Abyss is our next small step along this journey, and there are more to follow."

Disclosure: Our own Alec Meer wrote a bit on No Man's Sky back in the day, and I've a pal who works at Hello.