No Man's Sky The Swarm Update: Space War Is Here

What Is the No Man's Sky Swarm Update and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?

Hello Games released No Man's Sky update 6.4 — titled The Swarm — on May 27, 2026, free for all players on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. The update centers on Expedition Twenty-Two, an eight-week community-wide war event that asks every traveller in the galaxy to pick a side and fight.

The threat driving the event is the Hive of Glass: a colossal, Death Star-like robotic eye that has torn open the World of Glass archival afterlife and begun deploying endless swarms of killer drones across the galaxy. According to the official patch notes and reporting by Eurogamer and Gematsu, the Hive is equipped with a central laser powerful enough to destroy entire freighter fleets and potentially space stations — making it an existential threat to the No Man's Sky universe.

The timing is no coincidence. Hello Games dropped The Swarm on May 27 — exactly 49 years after the original Star Wars premiered in 1977. The Death Star visual echo is clearly intentional, and the community has noticed.

How Does the Faction War Work in No Man's Sky The Swarm?

At the start of Expedition 22, players complete a personality test that assigns them to one of three rival factions: the Royal, the Sage, or the Weaver. All three factions share the same ultimate goal — constructing a Prismatic Core device capable of stopping the Hive of Glass — but they compete furiously to be the first to do it. Think of it as Helldivers 2's Galactic War mechanic, but layered with inter-faction rivalry and collaborative sabotage.

As reported by Rock Paper Shotgun, the community war unfolds across the entire galaxy simultaneously. Players cooperate within their faction, investigate crashed drone wreckage on planetary surfaces, and salvage components to advance their faction's Prismatic Core construction. The territory-painting element — reminiscent of Splatoon's ink mechanics — lets factions visually claim sectors of space, turning the galactic map into a living scoreboard.

The Hive itself does not sit still. It deploys elite agile drone ships that engage players in space battles involving hundreds of vessels simultaneously — the largest scale space combat Hello Games has ever built into the game, according to the Xbox Wire announcement. The Hive's central laser can eliminate entire freighter fleets, raising the stakes on every engagement.

What New Weapons and Rewards Come With The Swarm Update?

Players who participate in Expedition 22 can earn the full Direwasp set: the Direwasp Disintegrator rifle multi-tool (fabricated from swarmer alloys and precisely calibrated for comfort and balance), the Direwasp armour set, and the Direwasp Flightpack jetpack. A new Gravity Gun also joins the toolkit, letting travellers investigate and salvage the remains of crashed drones on planetary surfaces. The expedition runs for approximately eight weeks, so there is time — but not unlimited time — to collect every reward.

The Swarm update is free and available now via standard platform updates. To join the faction war, load the game, navigate to the Expedition menu, and follow the personality test prompt. Destructoid's full patch notes breakdown confirms no paid content is involved — everything tied to Expedition 22 is earnable through play.