No Man's Sky Update lets you collect and breed monstrous pets

Well looks like I’m going to try playing No Man’s Sky again because the 3.2 companion update has added pets.

That’s right, pets. Sadly, still won't make you into a Cat-man or anything like that, just like Super Mario 3D world.

Those crazy creatures that inhabit the planets of the infinite No Man’s Sky universe can now be tamed and adopted. You can have up to six at a time - but thankfully for the most part Pokemon comparisons stop there. But gosh do I want to get some of the weirdest space monsters I can find.

Pets can often feel like a very tacked on thing in a game, with mostly cosmetic uses but these actually seem to be quite useful as well as offering new aspects of play.

Different kinds of pets will do different things. Some may be large enough to ride, while others can... produce milk? Hoping it’s green, Luke Skywalker style.

You can even equip some pets with accessories like mining lasers so they can generally help out in your interstellar adventures. Others may dig stuff up or hunt other creatures. Honestly, it sounds kinda wild.

But they’re not just helpful. You’ll have to keep your pet alive by fulfilling its needs, translated crudely via your exosuit. Pets need food and care to grow and you’ll even need to earn their trust. I want to win the trust of a weird looking cronenberg alien so much.

You can also make them fuck.

All aliens for some reason lay eggs. This seems to be for allowing egg trading which is another Pokemon similarity but that also seems to stop there.

When breeding, the offspring will be different from the parents. This allows players to cross genetics to create entirely new beings. Or use the genetic sequencer to totally randomise that DNA into likely horrifying results. Babies will also look like babies, in the sense that they have different proportions rather than just being small looking adult creatures like medieval paintings.

These new pet features look surprisingly fun and meaty, as no doubt do the pets. I’m pretty tempted to jump back into No Man’s Sky as an exotic animal menagerie trader and see what horrifying aberrations I can concoct.