The next free update for No Man's Sky has arrived, and it introduces a feature that developer Hello Games has wanted to bring to the game for a long time: fishing.

The Aquarius update, which arrives alongside the 5.10 patch, adds fishing as a core new feature. "Players can now explore the universe to find their perfect waterside spot, hopping with fish. Sit and relax alone with your thoughts, or stand alongside fellow Travellers as you look out over alien vistas waiting for a bite," reads a line from the expansion's description.

Players are now able to add a fishing rig to the multi-tool that allows them to fish in bodies of water. There are more than 160 varieties of fish in the game, spread throughout the game's many planets. Certain types of fish only appear at set times of day and during specific weather conditions. Players can fish from shore or trek out into the water in an Exo-Skiff to fish for critters in deeper waters.

Players can use normal bait to catch standard fish or craft special bait to attract rare fish, including "legendary" fish types. Players may also hook onto messages in a bottle that contain information about players who have fished in certain spots before.

The fish that players catch can be cooked and eaten, and the Aquarius update introduces a variety of new recipes to choose from. Additionally, the game's Wonders Catalogue now contains a section dedicated to fishing achievements, detailing things like fish types caught, their weight, and how to catch specific types of fish.

The Aquarius update also allows players to deploy autonomous floating fish farms to collect fish while they're off-world doing other things. There is a new event called the Aquarius expedition, which begins today, September 4, and challenges players to catch fish from across the galaxy over a period of six weeks. Players who complete the expedition will unlock special customization parts for their boat, along with an underwater jetpack and a nice fishing rod called the Lost Angler.

Be sure to read the full blog post on the Aquarius update to get all the essential information about what's new for fishing and more in this update. The full patch notes follow below.

No Man's Sky 5.10 patch notes

• Players can now install a Fishing Rig in their Multi-Tool, enabling them to cast their line into any body of water and begin fishing. Purchase Fishing Rig blueprints aboard the Space Anomaly.
• Over 160 varieties of fish are available to catch. Finding each fish will require exploration of different planets, fishing at different times of day and during different weather conditions, and trawling across a wide range of depths.
• Your catch history, including weight records, is recorded in the new Fishing section of the Wonders catalogue.

• Craft specialist bait and apply it to your Fishing Rig to lure in specific fish.
• In addition, any edible item can be deployed as bait. Experiment with different cooked products to find the most effective bait for your fishing feeds.
• A large range of new seafood recipes have been added for the Nutrient Processor.
• Those who do not wish to consume or sell their catch may release their fish back into the water.

• Occasionally, inanimate objects may be retrieved from the water instead of fish. Such objects include procedurally generated messages in bottles and water-damaged technology upgrades.

• Automated Traps are available to research in the Space Anomaly. These self-sustaining units are an alternative to manual angling, and will attract fish as appropriate for the water conditions in which they are placed.

• The Exo-Skiff is a new piece of deployable technology, summoned from the Quick Menu after its interface is installed in the Exosuit. Research the appropriate blueprints aboard the Space Anomaly.
• The Exo-Skiff hovers just above the surface of the water and reacts to wave movement to create the perfect deep-sea fishing platform for those looking for deep-water fish.
• The skiff comes with a dedicated Cold Storage inventory, allowing players to conveniently store their catches.
• The Exo-Skiff can be recoloured via its own internal customisation interface.

• Fishing is fully compatible with first and third person play, and has unique casting mechanics for VR players.
• New music tracks have been added to accompany the fishing experience.

• Expedition Fifteen, Aquarius, will begin shortly and run for approximately six weeks.
• Rewards include new posters, decals and titles; a deep-sea diving suit customisation set; the unique Lost Angler’s Rig fishing rod; and the exclusive Aquarius Flightpack.

• Water reflections are now enabled for PSVR2.
• PCVR now supports reflections on the water while running with reflections set to Ultra.
• Fixed an issue that could make it difficult to interact with some space station objects while in VR.

• The jetpack effects used while underwater have been improved.
• Fixed a number of rendering artefacts related to water.
• Fixed a number of issues that could allow ships to spawn with the wrong landing-gear state.
• Fixed a visual issue with icons when switching pages in the Catalogue.
• Fixed a minor visual issue with the Liquidator mech.

• Fixed a rare issue that could cause items to be transferred to a deprecated inventory when Quick Transferring to a full Exosuit inventory.
• Fixed an issue that could cause mineable objects to incorrectly display a STEEL label.
• Fixed an issue that prevented the Left / Right Handedness option from being immediately applied to the third person camera.
• Allowed the Multi-Tool to remain unholstered when in Photo Mode in a multiplayer game.
• Removed the deprecated Shutter Door base part from the Catalogue.

• Fixed a number of water rendering issues with some specific base parts.
• Fixed a number of water-smearing issues when playing in VR.
• Fixed an Xbox-specific texture rendering issue.
• Fixed an issue that could cause black speckling in depth-of-field effects while playing with screen-space shadows enabled.
• Fixed a rendering corruption issue with starship cockpit screens.
• Fixed an issue that could cause graininess on PS4.
• Fixed an issue that could cause ship juddering during warp.

• Fixed a crash related to dialogue interactions.
• Fixed a PS4-specific memory crash.
• Fixed a PS5-specific crash related to shader loading.
• Fixed a crash related to explosion effects.
• Fixed a number of issues related to the loading of freighters and frigates.
• The messaging around some Vulkan-based GPU compatibility issues has been improved.

• Fixed a stall/hitch when switching between inventory pages.
• Introduced a number of optimisations while accessing the inventory.
• Introduced a minor planetary rendering optimisation.

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