There’s nothing better than the seasons changing, with a crisp feeling in the air, leaves changing colors, and ancient portals opening to tear at the fabric of reality. I may be getting real life and No Man’s Sky mixed up a bit again, which feels only appropriate as the game’s reality-altering expedition, The Cursed, begins.
The previous season brought the chill, fishing-based Aquarius expedition to No Man’s Sky, and after that relaxing event, The Cursed is here to test your newly rested nerves. The spooky vibes of The Cursed expedition are perfect for Halloween, but it won’t be sticking around very long after the holiday. This expedition will only last for two weeks, making it one of the shorter seasons in recent memory.
While it’s here, though, The Cursed will be bringing some major changes to No Man’s Sky. The expedition whisks players away to a trippy alternate dimension where the passage of time doesn’t seem to follow any rules and apparitions float in and out between this reality and another. It sounds not entirely unlike Starfield’s Shattered Space expansion, but with the more exploratory vibes of No Man’s Sky rather than Bethesda’s brand of story-based RPG. In order to keep yourself situated within the decaying pocket dimension you find yourself in, you’ll need to maintain a new piece of tech called the Anomaly Suppressor.
Making things even creepier, you’ll come face to squid-like face with this alternate dimension’s locals on your travels. Dubbed spectral anomalies, these apparitions are mostly content to hang out and watch what you’re up to in their weird little realm, but if you don’t keep your Anomaly Suppressor up to par, they may take the chance to attack. Other beings won’t make themselves visible at all, instead whispering in your ear as you explore.
The biggest twist of The Cursed — if you don’t consider getting stuck in a doomed mini-universe full of untrustworthy ghosts enough of a change — is that you’ll no longer have access to your hyperdrive. Without the device that lets you hop between star systems to catalog planets and unwind mysteries in the main game, you need to rely on a series of ancient and altogether creepy portals to take you from place to place. That’s got to be safe, right?
It all sounds a hell of a lot more stressful than fishing, but at least you can grab some exclusive rewards if you somehow make it out the other side alive. The Anomaly Seal is a crucial piece of gear to keep you alive in The Cursed’s haunted universe, but you can also bring one back to your main game as a particularly impressive fidget toy to install in your base. For the space fashionistas, there’s also a very chic new helmet available, featuring the unnerving visage of an extradimensional creature with far too many tentacles erupting out of its face.
The biggest rewards are ones you can ride in and on back in your home universe. The Boundary Herald ship is one of the most distinct new ships added to No Man’s Sky in a while, looking something like a mix between Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon and a classic flying saucer with all sorts of pleasantly glowing bits and bobs stuck to every surface.
But while the Boundary Herald has the advantage of carting you through open space, my personal favorite collectible is the Bioluminescent Companion. The see-through skin of this bizarre creature gives you a view of its glowing nervous system, which sounds extremely creepy now that I’m typing it out but looks surprisingly cute in screenshots.
Despite its bite-sized two-week duration, The Cursed looks like a pretty packed expedition. More than anything, it feels like a testament to just how wild developer Hello Games has been going with its expeditions lately — building an entire new universe that will only exist for two weeks, not to mention the impressive rewards you can bring back with you. If you’ve never taken part in an expedition, The Cursed’s short operating window might actually be a benefit, as you won’t have to commit too much time to see if No Man’s Sky’s particular brand of seasonal updates works for you. I know I’ll be checking it out, at least long enough to meet my translucent new best friend.
