No Man’s Sky introduces Pokémon-style battles in Xeno Arena update

Ten years on from its initial reveal, No Man's Sky is still getting updates. In the latest content drop, Hello Games added a full Pokémon-style battle arena to the game, along with the ability to catch and train different alien species. 

The Xeno Arena update is now available for No Man's Sky. Hello Games does not shy away from the Pokémon inspiration here, directly saying that the dev team are “huge fans of Pokémon, Palworld and pet battling in World of Warcraft”. The Xeno Arena is inspired by those very games, giving players the ability to seek out “rare robotic creatures”, each with their own abilities.

The update means that the procedurally generated alien species throughout No Man's Sky will carry their own elemental affinities, with strengths and weaknesses versus other elements. Rare biomes in the game will also have their own rare creatures, including legendary variants of certain creatures.

Once you capture one of these aliens, you can train them, breed them or genetically modify them to create new variants. Features like feeding, bonding and sparring are also in the game.

Players will find battle arenas dotted around the galaxy, where they can put their team of aliens up against other players or NPCs to earn rewards. Tournaments are also available, with a ranked leaderboard also available.

KitGuru Says: No Man's Sky continues to impress. Will you be jumping back in for the new Xeno Arena update? 

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