Sean Murray, talking to PlayStation Blog, wrote:No Man’s Sky Beyond aims to bring a huge range of features together into a cohesive whole, with expanded online, virtual reality and hundreds of changes big and small. We want Beyond to be the best time for new players to pick up a copy, for lapsed players to rejoin, and for the players with a thousand hours save to see the game with fresh eyes.
No Man’s Sky has always been a science-fiction fantasy come true. That feeling of isolation and loneliness as you explore an alien world for the first time continues to be a unique experience.
However, one of the coolest things you will notice from the trailer is what we call the Nexus, a shared social space that brings people together to share social space where they can play with friends or join with random strangers like never before.
Suddenly your ship that you spent 50 hours earning can now be seen by others in the Nexus. Your rare spacesuit and unique helmet can be shown off to other players. Friends and strangers can visit that massive base you’ve been working on.
Progression in No Man’s Sky is so much more meaningful when you can share it with other explorers and so much more engaging when any creations or missions become shareable. Once you meet fellow travellers who knows what space-faring adventures you will go on together.
This is an incredibly important update for us, but it’s also just another step in a longer journey, and we’ll continue to support No Man’s Sky in this way for the foreseeable future.
I can't think of too many games that have been improved over such a period of time; for free. Following the controversy at launch three years ago, Hello Games has worked solidly on developing this game into something that I think many will feel is beyond original expectations. For fans who have been there since the beginning, this has been quite a journey.