No Man's Sky developer Hello Games is working with Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons and BAFTA nominee James Swallow to fill the game with a rich lore.

No Man's Sky's greatest asset, and perhaps its most glaring vulnerability, is just how mysterious it seems. Devices games commonly use to stir immediate appeal within the gaming community, like characters and story, are simply absent. That's led many game players to question just what exactly No Man's Sky really is. Yet it's becoming increasingly clear that this is by design. In a video released today, Hello Games talks about why No Man's Sky is rich in lore and not story.

To help bring No Man's Sky to life, Hello Games brought on some help. The studio hired both Dave Gibbons, the co-creator and artist behind Watchmen, and BAFTA nominee James Swallow, who has written dozens of novels tied to franchises including Star Trek, Deus Ex, and Warhammer 40,000. Both Dave and James weren't brought on to write a single story, but rather to help leave clues and hints of the stories already happening within the world, or the larger universe.

Inevitably players will be creating their own stories, which will be tied to the setting and its lore through exploration, trading, and action. To help convey this type of narrative that doesn't rely on a sort of prepackaged story, the two are creating a comic to help establish that viewpoint. The comic will be a story from the universe of No Man's Sky. It's an example, perhaps, of what the player might experience on their own journey.

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Ultimately what Hello Games is trying to convey with these details on lore and storytelling is that No Man's Sky will be what the player wants it to be. The team is creating this dynamically put-together universe – designing the LEGO blocks so to speak – but it will be up to the player to find the blocks and put them together. To decide whether they find meaning in the clues or not. The option of ignoring everything except shooting other spaceships out of the sky is there, but now there's this lore as well.

It's hard for fans to not be excited about this news. Both Dave and James have proven that they are wonderfully talented at building universes with an intimate amount of detail. Although they weren't there for the original idea behind No Man's Sky, knowing they're now involved and filling the universe with subtle whispers for the player to discover is sure to create a new level of excitement for fans. Players will undoubtedly be turning over every rock, delving further into the secrets of No Man's Sky, logging discoveries for further research – and maybe smiling the whole way through.

No Man's Sky is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC on June 21, 2016.