While I haven’t checked to see if the newest No Man’s Sky Expedition has expired, you might still have a little time to get it done and get the rewards. This is the first time I participated in an Expedition, and apparently, this is the first time they created a small storyline to go with the goals you were meant to accomplish.
Originally dropping right before Halloween, this Expedition had a Dune-like theme that gave a backstory to the giant worms you sometimes run across on some planets. You roll up a new save and choose Expedition to start. This story drops then you on a worm-infested planet with nothing but your ship, and provides a number of goals you need to complete to make your way through the milestones and the story.
Killing worm spawns (not the official names) is a fantastic way to make a lot of money. Not only that, but as you progress, the game showers this Expedition character with tons of upgrades and nice things. Far nicer than my main save has, at this point.
While you can’t carry over those upgrades or the money you make, the Expedition milestone rewards DO carry over to every save – including existing ones. Just visit the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion on the Space Anomaly. So it’s worth it for the unique rewards and fluff you get!
In this case, it was a Ghastly Trail for a Halloween-themed jetpack, worm-type cosmetics, and a flying worm pet. The official page says that they can grow very large, but the one I got was quite small. I wonder if it’s either a baby still or if you can modify it through genetic breeding to be large.
Either way, it’s a free flying worm mount for every character, which is nice to start with.
Having never done one of these Expeditions, it was really fun to see a populated area in No Man’s Sky. Everywhere you looked, as long as you stayed on the story’s path, you’d see settlements other players had built and comments they’d left. Some comments were simply saying things like “Hello from Texas!” while others congratulated you when you got to the final milestone points. Yet others were actually helpful in marking and locating things like resources you needed to gather for the quest and sometimes even broken ships for upgrades.
That’s not to say that it was an easy expedition to play through. All of the planets you had to explore were pretty rough when it came to environment and storms. There were several times I got turned around (as you tend to when trying to follow directions and instructions in No Man’s Sky), often because side quests started popping up as I went along. I ended up with a freighter on this character and totally ignored the pleas from the settlement sidequests.
I probably won’t keep this character in the long run since you can only have 5 saves. (Note: I have been informed that 5 saves is no longer the cap. Thanks!) Her ship is rather cruddy despite all the great tech – I never upgraded, though I did run across a B Rank under the ocean.
There were also a few places where quests seemed to get a bit muddled and buggy – especially at the end. I had to look things up at that point, and somehow managed to finish the story despite bugging out on the very last step.
I have to say that while the story was short and interesting, the best part of this expedition was exploring the derelict space freighter. This turned out to be rather creepy and some of the best use of atmosphere in No Man’s Sky that I’ve encountered. No screenshots or video can do it justice – it’s just something you had to experience.
Once I finished it all up, I then hopped over to my main save and claimed all the items from the Anomaly. It was a fun, if sometimes frustrating, romp through No Man’s Sky and I can see why all my friends asked me if I was doing Expeditions in the game when I mentioned I was playing. I will certainly be doing some more… and I might even keep this side character’s look for when I do!
