by 
Universe-spanning exploration game No Man's Sky is coming to iOS on the 28th of October. That's the news from developers Hello Games, who have somehow shrunk down the trillions of habitable star systems in the popular space survival title onto the iPhone and iPad - including models as old as the iPhone 11 and iPad Air 3. What's more, the game's install size is only 5GB.
A decade from its (not perfect) launch, No Man's Sky has gone from strength to strength and is now set to launch on mobile hardware as a full-fat version of the game. The iOS release includes every major update, including the recent Cosmos release, many of which expanded upon on the original brief significantly.
Only two things will be left out to start: multiplayer and planetary settlements. Murray points to the original Switch version, which launched with fewer features than the eventual Switch 2 release, as an example of how the iOS version of the game will be supported over time.
Given the game's rather complicated mechanics, newly reworked touch controls are accompanied by gamepad support and even mouse and keyboard on the iPad version. The blog also mentions the work that has gone into making sure the game doesn't drain your battery or heat up your phone.
According to Polygon, Hello Games founder Sean Murray says that the initial idea for the iOS version came after the Mac version shipped, and the game uses a lot of tech from Hello Games' upcoming title Light No Fire. It's not entirely surprising to see NMS on iOS, given that we've already gotten modern titles like Control, Grid Legends, Resident Evil 7, Tomb Raider and Red Dead Redemption on the platform, but it's still great news for the billions (!) of mobile gamers on the planet.
The game is available for pre-order today for $20 ahead of its release just before Halloween. As usual, we don't recommend pre-ordering before the game is released, though Hello Games has certainly earned some trust in its technical capabilities. It looks like the game's opening will be playable for free, with an in-app-purchase unlocking the full experience.
I'm sure our chief Apple enthusiast Oliver will be looking forward to testing this one out - though the before-GTA 6 period remains incredibly busy!
What do you make of the announcement? Could you play a deep game like No Man's Sky on your iPhone or iPad? Let me know in the comments below.