No Man’s Sky: Free ‘The Swarm’ update adds Hive ship battle

Hello Games released The Swarm, a free update for players who already own No Man’s Sky on Xbox and through Game Pass. The event places three competing groups of travelers against a single, heavily defended Hive-like ship and its clouds of smaller battle drones.

Hello Games wrote in its announcement that the Hive is protected by agile drone swarms that must be neutralized before pilots can target the ship’s primary systems, including what the studio described as the largest laser cannon seen in the game’s universe.

Beyond space combat, players can investigate planets to loot wrecked drones, dig up corrupted debris, confront smaller planetary swarms and carry out sabotage missions against the Hive’s network. The studio noted the Gravitino Coil can be used during these planetary investigations.

Contributions from individual players and squadrons are recorded in the in-game Space Anomaly and the Galactic Atlas so the community can track progress. Squadrons with the biggest contributions will be memorialized in the Space Anomaly. Participation and the final outcome determine rewards, which include a themed multi-tool, a jetpack and exosuit items.

The Swarm is Hello Games’ third major update of 2026. Earlier updates added pet battling in Xeno Arena and a gravity-gun feature in the Remnant update. Hello Games confirmed the update is live now for existing Xbox and Game Pass players at no extra cost and that the community event will end once the Hive is defeated or the studio closes the active phase.

No Man’s Sky will reach its 10th anniversary in August. The game continues to receive updates to its procedural universe, which lets players fly from space to planetary surfaces without loading screens and share discoveries with others in the same persistent galaxy.