New No Man's Sky expedition adds a time loop, 'space whales'

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In the Leviathan expedition, you'll need to break the time loop to earn your very own space whale.

There's something big coming to No Man's Sky. Quite big.

Space whales? Yes, space whales. A new No Man's Sky expedition has added an alien leviathan colloquially referred to as a space whale, which some eagle-eyed players have already predicted due to Hello Games founder Sean Murray Tweeting a whale emoji a few days ago.

But these aren't the type of space whales that paddle around in space oceans. They float through the sky like blimps and soar through outer space like starships. You can catch a glimpse of a few in the trailer above and the image gallery below. (I personally think they look more like space squids thanks to all the tentacles, but they're still cool looking.)

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No Man's Sky space whale Leviathan expedition
(Image credit: Hello Games)

Space whales aren't the only unusual thing about the new expedition, called Leviathan. This mission is set in a time loop and functions a bit like a roguelike. If players die during the expedition, they lose all their progress and restart at the beginning with a procedurally generated loadout. The entire community can work together to reach goals that make more powerful upgrades available during the expedition. Eventually, players will become powerful enough during a loop to make it through without dying and complete the mission.

That definitely sounds different! Rewards for completing the Leviathan expedition include a new "Whalestalker" cloak, an organic frigate for your base (presumably it's like those freaky organic ships, but larger) and a your very own gigantic space whale you can add to your fleet. For more details, check out the patch notes here.

Christopher Livingston
Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.