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'No Man's Sky' lore comes from classic sci-fi and comics

'Watchmen' artist Dave Gibbons and 'Star Trek' scribe James Swallow helped craft the game's universe.

Hello Games

"We always said we shouldn't have a narrative, but we should have a lore," says No Man's Sky mastermind Sean Murray. And honestly, with a procedurally generated universe that's staggeringly gigantic, it'd be impossible to create a traditional video game story with things like cutscenes. But to make the world feel more alive and less like a giant empty sandbox, Murray says the team at Hello Games turned to artist Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame and scribe James Swallow who worked on the writing for Star Trek and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

What's more, their contributions to the supplemental materials that come with certain versions of No Man's Sky influenced the development team to consider how things worked in the game proper. Like landing gear on a ship, for instance. Knowing all this makes the game's PlayStation 4 limited edition being currently sold out on Amazon and the $150 iam8bit "Explorer's Edition" on PC not including the comics sting a bit more.