For decades, the sandworm has been a classic example of the kind of wild and imaginative creatures that can only be found in science fiction thanks to 1965's Dune. Now that sandworms are in No Man’s Sky with the recent launch of its Origins update, players are eager to learn everything they can about them.
The history of sandworms in Hello Games’ cosmic exploration title goes back to No Man’s Sky’s announcement in 2013, where its reveal trailer showed them slithering across a desert landscape. This version of the worm was ultimately scrapped as their tendency to attack players without warning proved to not be very fun, and for years the lack of worms was considered an example of Hello Games failing to deliver on its promises.
Since the Origins update introduced sandworms last month, many players have been scouring No Man’s Sky’s billions of new and existing planets trying to track them down. So far, they’re proving to be something of a mystery. From what several players have reported, it appears that the worms don’t damage players or alter the terrain at all when they emerge from the ground. When scanned, they’re not added to players’ codexes, and the scanner simply tells them that they are viewing an “immortal worm.”
There are more questions than answers at this early stage in the community’s hunt. For example, people want to know if it is possible to kill a sandworm, and what they might drop if killed. Players have also been wondering whether worms can be seen from orbit, while others want to know if it’s possible to ride them like in Dune — which has a new movie adaptation on the way. Even the robust No Man’s Sky wiki doesn’t have a dedicated page on sandworms as of this writing.
Players have been figuring out ways to increase their number of worm encounters. According to one No Man's Sky player who spoke with Polygon, anyone who finds a planet with worms on it can get them to spawn by saving their game with a beacon, leaving the planet, and reloading the game. If done right, this should result in a worm appearing within a minute. As for which planets are most likely to have worms, it seems they tend to appear on worlds with higher amounts of player activity, meaning lots of bases and other player-made buildings.
Sandworms might not be the rarest creature in No Man’s Sky, but their presence and scale make them one of the game’s most interesting. It’s easy to imagine that there’s more to them that players have yet to discover.
No Man’s Sky is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Polygon