Since the game's release in 2016, No Man's Sky has gone through a number of transformations both major and minor, going from its maligned initial version to its more beloved later iterations. Through these changes, fans have gained access to the story and lore of the game's expansive universe, as well as new and exciting developments in gameplay.
As such, many of the game's initial mysteries have been answered clearly, but there are still plenty of enigmas left for players to solve either on their own or perhaps in future updates. Whether these mysteries are little-known facts or complete speculation, many fans are still searching for the answers to these No Man's Sky questions.
What's Next?
With the recent Prisms update, which focuses primarily on visual enhancements along with some other features, fans are already stepping into the next iteration of No Man's Sky. The more distant future, however, is cloudy, with there being seemingly limitless potential to expand the world.
Players have speculated about features like improvements to base building and creature species variety, as well as bigger features like the addition of gas giant planets to explore. Other additions may include story updates that clarify the lore on some of the game's bigger mysteries that have already been teased.
Is Corruption Spreading?
As the No Man's Sky universe evolves, exotic planet types are spreading, with exotic planetary biomes like bubbles and irri shells appearing more and more across the universe. With the revelations at the end of the game's story in mind, the continued procedural development of these exotic worlds could point to a spreading corruption.
For now, this mystery is more of a fan theory, rather than a question posed directly by the game's lore itself. That being said, the future of No Man's Sky's narrative may soon feature an explanation for the spreading of corruption that continues to create a multitude of once-rare exotic environments.
What Is The World Of Glass?
Throughout No Man's Sky, there are several references to strange places and phenomena that players cannot fully experience for themselves (not in the current version of the game, at least). One such place is the mysterious World of Glass, a place where, as the game's lore suggests, death is impossible.
What exactly the World of Glass looks like and how one might get there are still mysteries to players, although the Sentinels apparently have access to the realm, or at least the life-saving glass that comes from it. Perhaps a future update will expand upon or even open the doors to this otherworldly place, especially with the graphical improvements brought about by the game's shift to next-gen hardware.
What Is The Abyss?
In the game's massive Abyss update, No Man's Sky players found a lot of new content surrounding the ability to explore underwater environments and discover new subaquatic creatures. Underwater exploration offers its own mysteries, though, as players contend with the presence of a strange underwater entity known as the Abyss.
A team of Korvax scientists went missing following signals that ultimately led to the Abyss, making the already terrifying expanse of the ocean into a host of unknown horrors. The game's lore suggests that the Abyss may be related to the Atlas in some way, but only future story updates can reveal the complete truth.
Who Are The Anomalies?
Introduced in the NEXT update, the Anomaly is one of the playable races in No Man's Sky, as well as the default way that the player character appears in the game. Other than that, though, not much is known about this humanoid alien race, leaving fans to speculate and create their own theories on who they are and why they are so clouded in mystery.
Some speculate that the creators of the Atlas are a part of the Anomaly race, while others believe that the Anomalies may be in some way related to the game's other mysterious humanoid race, the Travellers. Some characters, curiously, refer to the player character as a Traveller, even when they appear as an Anomaly.
What Was Null's Original Identity?
One of the main characters of No Man's Sky's central story is the Traveller known as Null (or -null-), whose history is slowly revealed over the course of the game's narrative. The character's name is notable in that it suggests an absence of a name, perhaps referring to their appearance with a robotically modified body, obscuring their original form.
On the other hand, some fans have speculated that Null's name has not always been Null, given the fact that the other Travellers that players encounter in the story, Artemis and Apollo, are named after Greek mythological figures. Null, this theory suggests, has another name that has been stripped away from them in some way due to their betrayal of the Atlas.
What Exactly Did Null Do To The Atlas?
As the story of No Man's Sky unravels, players discover that the Traveller Null was an explorer of the Atlas' world, much like the player character themselves, but they were dissatisfied with the fact that they only had a limited life to explore the universe. So, Null attempted to gain eternal life by resetting the universe and, as a result, was erased from that reality by the Atlas.
The narrative also heavily suggests that Null's feud with the Atlas is fueled by something else, as well. Specifically, Null is suggested to have contributed to the decline of the Atlas in some way, causing it to need to reset itself repeatedly to survive. How exactly Null is related to this degradation has not been confirmed, though, at least not yet.
Where Do Void Eggs Come From?
In the Living Ship update, players gained the ability to embark upon the Starbirth mission to hatch their very own living ship from a strange object known as a void egg. These mysterious eggs are notable for their odd, fleshy appearance, as well as the fact that they have been known to move, make noise, and sometimes sing.
Part of the eggs' mysterious nature comes from the fact that No Man's Sky does not inform players of their origin, leaving players to speculate how exactly these eggs come about. Players can only find the egg by buying it, so there are few hints as to where these living ships actually originate.
Why Does The Number 16 Recur?
Of all the recurring jokes and references throughout No Man's Sky, the most ubiquitous and mysterious one may just be the number 16. This number appears everywhere from the number of planets in a galaxy (16^16) to the number of portal glyphs, to the release date of the game (in 2016).
One explanation for this is that Hello Games is referencing hexadecimal code as both an Easter egg and a potential hint to the story's final twist. On the other hand, there is always room for further explanation as the game's story expands and, perhaps, goes deeper into the lore on the mysterious number and its recurrence.
What Are The Sandworms?
Along with the massive Origins update came a No Man's Sky feature that many players had waited years to see come to fruition: the addition of enormous sandworms. These creatures tunnel through the ground and pop out to fly above their planet, creating a beautiful visual for players.
Sandworms, however, cannot be fully scanned or seemingly interacted with in any way, which leaves many wondering what purpose these creatures do or will serve in the game. For now, at least, they seem to be more of an aesthetic feature than anything, but their mysterious nature could lead to future lore or gameplay mechanics.