The Foundation update to No Man's Sky brought a number of big new features to the game, including base building, freighters, the Survival Mode, and stackable inventory items. But one especially interesting feature has gone largely overlooked: The addition of communications terminals that "allow explorers to leave sub-space messages for others to find."
There was some initial confusion about how, or even if, the new communication devices worked, based on some early messages posted in the No Man's Sky subreddit. But players now have them figured out, and they're currently sharing messages with one another across the cold void of space. The missives are short and sweet, kind of like an intergalactic Twitter: Some of the communications provide directions to significant landmarks, while other simply offer up some variation of "hello."
Hello Games took a big hit for promising, and then not delivering, the ability for players to meet each other in the game. And this obviously isn't the same thing, but like the Foundation update itself, it's a step in the right direction. Regardless of what you think about No Man's Sky, it is undeniably a vast and sprawling game. Amidst all that, I think that stumbling on proof that you're really not alone out there would make for a very cool moment indeed. Quite whether that quells all the angry spacefarers out there is another matter.
More images of the new messaging devices in action can be seen on imgur.