No Man's Sky Update 3.2 patch notes bring adoptable Companions to the game

No Man’s Sky’s universe is a vast menagerie of creatures of all sizes and types. Until now, you’ve really only ever been able to interact with them in their own environments, for better or for worse. However, the latest update for No Man’s Sky is bringing far more involvement with the game’s critters than ever before. In No Man’s Sky Update 3.2, dubbed Companions, you’ll be able to tame, adopt, and bring alien creatures with you on your journeys throughout the cosmos, and we’ve got the full patch notes of the update right here.

No Man’s Sky Update 3.2 patch notes

The No Man’s Sky Companions update dropped on February 17, 2021 for all available platforms, complete with a blog update on the game’s website. Recently, No Man’s Sky has been getting optimizations for next-gen consoles, but this latest update features a wealth of new content. Notable is the new opportunity to tame and train alien pals to join you in your journeys. Trained creatures can be cared for and provide bonuses in providing light, hunting, mining, locating buildings, and far more. You can even breed critters and trade creature eggs. Each beast you can tame has their own personality and behavior. You can find the full break down of notes below.

Animal Companions

Creatures that have been fed can now be interacted with to access options for milking, riding and adoption.
Players may adopt up to six creatures at any one time. New companion slots are available to be purchased with nanites.
Your companions can be renamed, and then customised with a new range of accessories and decals.
Some accessories, such as the torch or mining lasers, will be used by your companion as they explore the planet.
Each companion has their own personality, which will influence how they behave and think. Some species are more likely to have certain traits than others, but each creature is unique.
The creature harness has a neural link with the Exosuit, enabling rudimentary translation of your new companion’s thoughts and wishes.
Companions will assist their owners during planetary exploration, but have needs of their own. They will periodically require food or attention if they are to thrive.
Companions will need to be cared for over a long period of time in order to win their trust.
While exploring, companions will assist their owners in a number of ways, including: scouting for resources and buildings; digging up minerals and special items; hunting other creatures; and marking hazards.
As well as acting on their own initiative, companions may be given specific instructions via gestures from the Quick Menu.
VR players can point directly to send their companion to a destination.

Companion Eggs

Creatures that have been well-cared for will lay eggs.
After a short time, creature eggs will hatch into a brand new creature, related to but distinct from the parent creature.
Baby creatures have different proportions from adult creatures and will grow to maturity over time.
Players may trade eggs from their prized companions with other players.
Creature eggs can be taken to the Egg Sequencer aboard the Space Anomaly.
The Egg Sequencer allows players to remix the genetic material of their growing eggs to produce unique, never-before-seen creatures.
Overdosing eggs in the Sequencer may cause dramatic creature reconfigurations…

Creature Improvements

New creature and companion-related titles have been added to the Appearance Modifier.
The construction cost of Creature Pellets has been increased.
The stack size of Creature Pellets has been increased.
Creatures no longer require advanced bait to unlock harvesting functions – any creature that has been fed may now be milked.
Giant creatures can now be ridden.
Creature locomotion animations have been improved.
The particle effects emanating from creature dung have been improved.
Discovered creatures now have a different shaped icon in the Analysis Visor, to better distinguish them from undiscovered creatures.
Creature icons in the Analysis visor have been offset to improve their appearance.

UI Improvements

Players using a mouse and keyboard can now use hotkeys to directly select options in dialogue menus and interactions.
Players using a gamepad can now use the analogue sticks rather than the cursor to move between options in dialogue menus and interactions.

Optimizations

Warp and loading times on PS4 have been significantly improved.

Bug fixes

Fixed an issue that caused freighter ‘wings’ to be hidden.
Fixed an issue that could cause an invalid system/base to appear in the teleport destinations list.
Fixed an issue that caused the gloves to be out of focus in the Appearance Modifier.
Fixed an issue that could cause players using Windows 10 to incorrectly report a network disconnect.
Autowalk is now cancelled automatically when the player manually moves forwards or backwards.
The creature feeding Nexus mission has been rebalanced to account for changes to the taming process.
Concrete base parts now require Silicate Powder rather than Carbon to build.
Fixed an issue in the Galaxy Map that caused the Distance To Core text to be vertically clipped, resulting in a comma that looked like a period.
Fixed an issue that could cause players to upload/download an excessive number of creative discoveries.
Fixed an issue that caused Cronus’ food to have an extremely bright glow.
Fixed an issue that caused the Orbital Exocraft Materialiser to have an overly bright glow.
Fixed an issue that caused base specialist terminals to snap incorrectly in specific large rooms.
Fixed an issue that could cause an increase in load times while attempting to download base data from other players.
Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect text to appear when harvesting food substances from some unusual creatures.
Fixed a VR issue that caused the Exosuit backpack to be invisible in the inventory if the player’s body was turned off.
Fixed an animation issue with the player weapons in VR.
Fixed an issue that could cause incorrect UI scaling in VR.
Fixed a VR issue that could cause UI screens to move while the UI was closing.
Fixed a rare hang that could occur when taking a screenshot in Photo Mode on PC.
Fixed a networking crash on Xbox platforms.
Fixed an issue that could cause very large save files to crash during loading on PS4.
Fixed a crash that could occur when the leader of a herd died.
Fixed a number of memory related crashes on PS5.
Fixed an audio related crash on PS5.
Fixed a rendering crash on PS5.
Fixed a crash related to the preview of summoned objects (eg starships).

And that covers it. A universe of interesting critters awaits you in No Man’s Sky’s new Companions update. Get out there, find yourself some alien pals, and stay tuned to Shacknews for all the latest on the game.