No Man’s Sky, the much-hyped upcoming release from Hello Games for PS4 and PC, just released a trailer elaborating on its trade systems.
No Man’s Sky features it’s own periodic table of elements, part real (Iron), part fictional (Heridium). You can mine resources on foot by shooting them with a mining laser or gathering organic matter, and we’ve known you can laser resources in space. Crafting is one use for these materials.
All these systems intertwine with the rest of the game in major ways however. Elements can be used to craft upgrades– for instance, an upgrade to widen the mining beam costs 20 Iron, 20 Heridium, and 25 Plutonium. You can sell raw resources, and mining on one planet and selling on another is described as “lucrative”. You can also use elements to build more valuable items, upgrade your own tools, or fuel your own devices. For instance, your Protection Mesh is “charged” with oxide.
You can buy and sell ships with different features, and upgrade your ships as you see fit. Ships will likely take fuel. In one shot, the Photon Cannon has over 2000 ammo, and in another, it has none.
We see some upgrades: a wider mining beam, better defenses on your ship. We see some items: the “Fascination Beads”, which are “golden metal sphere[s] used to temporarily increase the processing power of electronic lifeforms.” (Note: Not robots, electronic lifeforms.) We see some ship features: Ships have Phase Beam, Deflector Shield, Pulse Engine, Launch Thrust, Advanced Cooling, and Photon Cannon. You can compare ships’ weapons, health, scan, and “hyperdrivex”. On foot, we see a Jetpack, Protection Mesh, and Life Support.
Lastly, we see hints of the “recipe system.” You can obtain blueprints by finding machines, and we also see in the corner of one screen the message “intercepted manufacturing facility signal / new product recipe now available.”
One system discussed in depth in the description, but not the video, is the language barrier. “Alien races have their own distinct languages, which can be learned a word at a time at ancient structures or through conversing with the aliens themselves. Unlock their vocabulary and your chance of a successful interaction increases, raising your standing with them. […]discover a certain race’s preferred Product and you can make a living from supplying them.”
In other words, if you want to spend your time becoming Blackbeard of the skies, you’ll have plenty to do. No Man’s Sky will be available August 9th on PS4 and PC, with VR support potentially to come.