It's been almost two years since Hello Games took 2023's edition of The Game Awards by storm with the stunning reveal trailer of Light No Fire, quickly becoming the most viewed trailer shown at the event.
The next game of the independent UK studio behind No Man's Sky immediately made a lasting impression on games. Whereas NMS tried to create a whole galaxy to explore, Light No Fire focuses on a single planet, but with the ambitious goal of making it truly Earth-sized as never before in games. This new survival adventure game distinguishes itself from the studio's previous work with its high-fantasy setting, as showcased in the trailer, which features staple fantasy creatures such as dragons, skeletons, anthropomorphic races, and more.
Another exciting aspect of Light no Fire is the promise to host the entire community on this massive planet with no loading screens or instancing, offering players a single procedural Earth-like planet on which all traversal is continuous and everything players build or discover exists in a shared ecosystem.
The planet's geography also appears to be highly varied. The trailer and screenshots show towering mountains, deep oceans, and numerous distinct biomes. Many of the technological advancements introduced in recent No Man's Sky updates are being used to create more advanced atmospheres, oceans, and fauna for Light No Fire.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a fully shared multiplayer world where players can “carve a life together,” meet others organically, and travel, build, and fight cooperatively. Buildings and settlements are persistent and can be discovered by others, reinforcing the sense of a unified community. Exploration will be a big part of the game, of course. Players will have the opportunity to climb extreme mountains and sail the ocean with ships and their discovery and naming of places feeds into the shared world state. There will also be 'unique enemies' and valuable resources to discover throughout the world.
Critically, Hello Games also promised that the survival sandbox already seen in No Man's Sky will be bolstered by the depth of a roleplaying game. That said, there's still a lot we don't know about Light No Fire, and it looks like things may stay that way for quite a while.
In a recent recap of the many updates released this year for No Man's Sky, founder and managing director Sean Murray told the community that a 'tiny team' is continuing to work 'at pace' in the background on Light No Fire. Murray added that he's 'really pleased' with the progress and believes the game will be something special, but most fans took this brief statement to mean the game might still be several years out.
Granted, Hello Games only has around fifty employees, and given the pace of updates coming to No Man's Sky, it's somewhat obvious that they don't have a large team working on this new project. Still, it might eventually come to a place where they must choose whether to increase in size or remove some people from No Man's Sky in favor of Light No Fire.
Either way, the developer got notoriously burned with the launch of No Man's Sky. It took them eight years to regain the 'Very Positive' user review rating on Steam, and they definitely don't want to botch another release, even if it means taking more time with it.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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