No Man’s Sky update makes player inventories ‘unrecognizable’

Comprehensive update last week for Nobody’s sky brought with it a lot of changes. Some made the game much more malleable and accessible, while others, such as inventory mechanic settings, have been the subject of controversy in the community. Apparently in response to the backlash, Hello Games seems to be making some adjustments to how inventory works in the experimental PC build of the game.

Nobody’s skyThe Waypoint update brought with it sudden changes to the game’s inventory system. Naturally, the terminventorydeveloped in response. The result was the usual rush memes, survey bombs, since blocked reddit threads with gamers arguing about whether the game is “spoiled” or not. However, those upset by the changes are right: the updated inventory layout limits players to three tech upgrade slots, limiting potential power levels below what they were before the update. However, the October 10th experimental build of the game added additional update slots, which suggests that the developers are looking to address a fairly widespread outrage among players.

However, the experimental update may not be enough to quell the frustration that many have expressed. Steam reviews alone have been trending towards “Mixed” status lately, with many specifically pointing to inventory changes. “The most recent update essentially removed dozens of hours of grinding.” reads one Steam review. “With the new 4.0 update, my inventories are unrecognizable and after spending so much time grinding it all seems useless” reads another.

However, the backlash was not universal. While many “complain that they have worked over 100 hours on updates that are now functionally useless” like one reddit thread puts thisothers have found that settings and limitations bring more balance and complexity to the game. However, the negative feedback seems to be the loudest, and it’s not clear if they influenced Hello Games’ decision to expand the slots in the experimental build.

experimental build patch notes Steam notes that Hello Games has added “extra free tech slots” for both players who recently upgraded their game to the Waypoint version and for people who already have existing saves. You can access Nobody’s skyexperimental build by right-clicking the game in the Steam Library, selecting Properties, navigating to Beta, entering the password “3xperimental” and selecting “Experimental” build.

The changes are clearly visible on a brand new save that I created for testing purposes. As expected, the regular stable build of the game only provides three possible tech slots at the top. However, upgrading to an experimental build doubles the slots in the top row. Further updates to the beta branch from October 10th also address other issues that many have had with unlocking inventory slots and navigating menus in general.

Although these changes have not yet been merged into Nobody’s skystable build, no indication yet of when they will become permanent. Kotaku reached out to Hello Games for comment.