No Man's Sky players should brace themselves: Sean Murray has once again dipped into his emoji collection, hinting in his usual reliable fashion that the highly anticipated 10th-anniversary update for the space exploration simulator is coming soon. The player base widely expects this update, previously confirmed to be named "Cosmos," to be a major version release.
For Murray, posting emoji teasers before an update has become a tradition. It all started back in 2020, when he posted an egg emoji on social media to hint at No Man's Sky's "Living Ship" update. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Murray explained that he wasn't keen on frequent social media engagement at the time, preferring to let Hello Games' work speak for itself, but his team insisted on doing teasers. "I thought, 'What's the least we can say without getting into trouble?'" he recalled. "Someone suggested a single letter, another said an emoji would suffice, so I said, 'Fine, I'll post an emoji—that's all I'm doing on social media!'" And well, the rest is history.
Starting with that egg emoji, a flood of update teaser emojis followed: the "Endurance" update was teased with a flexed bicep, the "Beacon" update with a slice of greasy bacon, the "Expedition" update with a door, and the "Remnants" update with a high-visibility safety vest—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Fast forward to today, and a brand-new emoji hints that the "Cosmos" update is just around the corner. Earlier today, Murray dug into his emoji stash and posted a sparkling cocktail glass—playing along with a community joke: many had previously quipped that everyone assumed "Cosmos" would be a massive space-themed update, when in fact they were just mispronouncing the name.
Judging by past patterns, No Man's Sky's new update usually goes live a few days after Murray posts an emoji teaser, with recent updates typically dropping on Wednesday afternoons. So if this pattern holds, and Murray isn't just showing off the fancy glass he plans to use for premium drinks over the weekend, what exactly will the "Cosmos" update bring? That's the million-space-buck question. Players are naturally expecting a major update, and the community's confidence stems from two key reasons: first, it's No Man's Sky's 10th-anniversary update; second, what could be bigger in scale than "Cosmos" itself?
On the No Man's Sky subreddit, player speculation runs wild: from a complete overhaul of the star system to planets featuring multiple biomes—a hallmark of Hello Games' upcoming single-planet simulation game, Light No Fire. Players' imaginations have covered nearly every conceivable direction: more interstellar content to explore, richer methods of galaxy traversal. However, some players are eagerly hoping for optimizations to the game's underlying technology to support a more active in-game community, such as improved multiplayer synchronization and a more stable persistent universe. Others joked when the "Cosmos" name was first revealed: "They're finally adding space to No Man's Sky, I can't believe it!"
Regardless of what the "Cosmos" update ultimately delivers, Murray's emoji teasers continue—the official Hello Games account later tweeted not one, but three cocktail glass emojis, suggesting we won't have to wait much longer. Even if it turns out to be just a "beverage update"? No worries—even space travelers need to stay hydrated.