Sean Murray pours one out for No Man's Sky permadeath player who stranded himself in bittersweet space purgatory: 'All I can do is sit in my ship, watch the lightning storms, and wait for my oxygen to run out'

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At least it's a pretty tragedy.

An image of an explorer from Hello Games' No Man's Sky, standing over a vast and verdant planet.
(Image credit: Hello Games)

If you ask me, No Man's Sky is at its best when it's at its most desolate—when it's just you, your spaceship, and the awe of an indifferent cosmos. By most metrics, No Man's Sky has only improved since its launch in 2016, but all those massive updates and feature additions have made that delightful isolation a bit harder to find.

Unless you're No Man's Sky permadeath player Spirited_Ad3028, that is.

RIP my permadeath file beautifully from r/NoMansSkyTheGame

Eight days ago, Spirited_Ad posted on the No Man's Sky subreddit to say farewell to their permadeath save. He'd made a critical error in the worst possible circumstances, creating what might be the most poignant end that a No Man's Sky character has ever met.

"I landed on the wrong planet in my permadeath save," Spirited_Ad said. "I'm on a tiny pillar of rock, surrounded by deep ocean in every direction. I'm out of launch fuel, and I have no ferrite. I can only survive a few seconds outside the ship before the toxic air kills me—and toxic storms roll in every few minutes, bringing massive waves."

In the accompanying video, Spirited_Ad's character watches the world outside from within the safe refuge of his stranded vessel. It's a somber scene: Surging seas rage through the haze around his spaceship's wretched perch, whipped into frenzy by toxic gale. In the distance, lightning splits the murk of his planetary tomb. There is no sound but wind and rain.

(Image credit: Hello Games)

"All I can do is sit in my ship, watch the lightning storms, and wait for my oxygen to run out," Spirited_Ad said.

The tragic scene resonated with other No Man's Sky players. Many tried to help, brainstorming solutions like digging downwards through the pillar for necessary ferrite or offering to personally fly to Spirited_Ad's aid.

Others questioned whether mounting a rescue would detract from the moment, and I'm more in their camp. When procedural generation and personal oopsies collaborate to produce a moment of singular pathos, I think you gotta let it stand.

Spirited_Ad's doomed vigil even reached the attention of Hello Games itself. Studio founder Sean Murray posted a reaction to the clip on X, where he honored the doomed traveler with a salute emoji. Would that we could all be so remembered.

It's almost enough to convince me to fire up my own permadeath save. Can't imagine my ignominious end would achieve quite the same level of cinema, though. I'd probably just jetpack into a hillside a little too fast.

Lincoln Carpenter
Lincoln Carpenter
News Writer

Lincoln has been writing about games for 12 years—unless you include the essays about procedural storytelling in Dwarf Fortress he convinced his college professors to accept. Leveraging the brainworms from a youth spent in World of Warcraft to write for sites like Waypoint, Polygon, and Fanbyte, Lincoln spent three years freelancing for PC Gamer before joining on as a full-time News Writer in 2024, bringing an expertise in Caves of Qud bird diplomacy, getting sons killed in Crusader Kings, and hitting dinosaurs with hammers in Monster Hunter.

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