No Man’s Sky developer Hello Games announced its next big project, Light No Fire, at The Game Awards 2023. While the independent Guildford-based studio stretched its legs with the cute little puzzle game The Last Campfire, this new game is perhaps even more ambitious than No Man’s Sky in some respects.
Sean Murray himself had teased as much back in September 2020, and he wasn’t kidding. Light No Fire trades the near-infinite universe with a singular planet, but it aims to recreate it to real-life size.
On the TGA 2023 stage, Murray called the game (which has been in development for five years at this point) the first real open world without boundaries.
It’s something bigger than Earth. Something with real mountains, not video game mountains, but mountains that are miles high, taller than Everest. When you climb to the top of them and look out, you can see rivers and canyons and continents. You can see oceans. And we’re going to let everyone play in it together. It’s a place where people are going to live out their adventures together.
According to Hello Games, Light No Fire is set in a fantasy world that combines the depth of roleplaying games with the freedom of survival sandbox games. Here’s the feature set shared by the studio:
A Multiplayer Earth
Carve a life together. Meet players from across the globe, build a life, explore, and survive together. Construct persistent buildings and communities, or strike out alone to discover the world for others.
A Procedural Earth
A truly open world with no boundaries at a scale never attempted before. A massively varied and dense planet filled with immersive biomes, unique enemies, and valuable resources to discover.
A Fantasy Earth
Light No Fire presents you with an ancient earth to uncover. One where you’re not the hero. Thick with lore, mystery, and a constant fight for survival. Inspired by the adventure, charm, and imagination that we love from classic fantasy.
An Unexplored Earth
Every mountain can be climbed, and below them lie endless vistas, oceans, and continents perhaps no others have seen. Who will climb the tallest mountains? Who will find the deepest sea? Set sail across vast oceans and rivers, ride wild beasts through fantastical landscapes, and fly dragons over undiscovered landscapes.
The announcement trailer and Sean Murray’s statement are all extremely exciting. Of course, No Man’s Sky didn’t have the best launch, but it more than made up for that with its amazing and seemingly endless streak of free updates.
There’s no release date yet for Light No Fire, though you can already wishlist the game on Steam. Looking back, No Man’s Sky was first unveiled at the Spike Video Game Awards, the predecessor of TGA, in December 2013. The game then launched in August 2016.
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean we have to wait two and a half years for this one, too. In any case, we’ll be eagerly awaiting any updates from Hello Games.
