No Man’s Sky’s The Swarm adds Glass Hive faction wars

Hello Games released The Swarm update for No Man’s Sky ahead of the game’s tenth anniversary. The update introduces the Glass Hive, a new cosmic threat that appears over planetary systems, and a three-faction system tied to global in-game objectives.

After installing the update, players who log in complete a short test that assigns them to one of three factions tasked with resisting an anomaly called the Nexus. Each faction’s progress is recorded on dedicated leaderboards and inside the in-game Galactic Atlas. The top-performing faction’s name will be permanently recorded in the game.

The update adds large-scale space battles. The Glass Hive generates swarms of robotic drones that can trigger clashes involving hundreds of ships at once. The Hive is equipped with a large laser that can destroy space stations and cargo fleets, creating concentrated conflict zones across star systems.

Planetary gameplay changes let players use a gravity cannon to search wreckage from destroyed drones, recover resources, and examine technologies that can be used to sabotage parts of the Hive network. Players who participate in the defense campaign can earn rewards, including a retro sci-fi armor set, a new rifle, and an upgraded jetpack.

Faction progress is visible on leaderboards and in the Galactic Atlas to help groups focus efforts in the same regions of the game’s universe to repel the threat together. The Swarm is available now for players on supported platforms and continues Hello Games’ series of large post-launch updates that add new mechanics and shared events.