No Man’s Sky completes the open world prophecy by adding fishing

No Man’s Sky, perhaps the most improved game ever created, is adding another new feature barely a month after the massive No Man’s Sky Worlds I update. The Aquarius update doesn’t add anywhere near as much, but it does add something that every open world apparently needs to add: A fishing minigame.

News in brief

• You’ll soon be able to fish on the trillions of planets in your galaxy
• Update also adds a log of the fish you’ve caught
• New craftable items will help you to fish

No Man’s Sky Aquarius is a simple update, as it centers around, well, just fishing. But it turns out there’s a lot to add when you add fishing to a game like No Man’s Sky. At the most basic level, you can pull out a rod and cast it. But you can also create an underwater jetpack, create fish-based cooking recipes, set fish traps to come back to later, and even craft a fishing skiff, a hovering platform you can park over a large body of water and use to fish from. There’s even a new entry in your logbook where you can catalogue the many fish you catch.

It’s a great way for Hello Games to show off the new water effects they released in the Worlds I update — and it is worth saying that the water really is very pretty now. All the better to sit by and fish the hours away. It’s worth pointing out that there’s no real reveal on exactly how the fishing mechanics work, yet. Is it a reflex-based system, or simply a case of pressing the button and waiting for a fish to be caught? We aren’t sure yet, but we’re sure to find out when the update launches.

It’s seemingly become a solid rule that all open world games are in need of a fishing minigame, and it’s worth saying that No Man’s Sky makes a lot more sense than a lot of other games which have haphazardly shoehorned in a fishing rod. After all, a large part of No Man’s Sky centers around exploration and relaxation, and what’s better for both of those than fishing?

No Man’s Sky Aquarius is out now.