No Man’s Sky’s Foundation update allows players to finally start building bases. With limited tools, players are making beautiful new homes in the game’s refreshed universes.
The tools and pieces the game provides you can feel basic until you look to the history of architecture. The composite parts you’re given to make bases all have a stark industrial look, similar to the brutalist architectural style that dominated until the 1970s. If you’re still not quite sure what I mean, compare Reddit user mckinneymd’s No Man’s Sky base to my alma mater’s campus library.
Brutalist architecture is, generally speaking, massive in scale and emphasizes the building’s foundations. If this sounds pretty sci fi already, it’s because it was meant to—it was often associated with utopian, forward thinking ideals on how to reshape economically depressed cities, with a particular association with socialism. Paradoxically, this makes it feel pretty congruous with No Man’s Sky’s lonely, explorative, and constantly changing landscapes. Reddit user TimmySaint made this snowy fortress that wouldn’t look too out of place in the Eastern Bloc.
Steam user Greeo’s base evokes a similar kind of utilitarian, dense feeling that’s typical of the brutalist style, and really emphasises the support structure of his building.
Even on a smaller scale, it’s easy to achieve the same imposing design. Lost’s base is very cosy, but still looks arresting and stately.
But just because you’re given a certain set of tools doesn’t mean that you have to use them exactly as intended. Reddit user neuspadrin’s base is bright, colorful and welcoming, blending in with the neon foliage of their chosen home planet, evoking Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea of organic architecture.
On Steam, Beyond Infinity takes that influence even further by featuring an overhanging, glass walled structured, nestled between mountains.
In contrast, PattySpivotDoe’s sprawling base leans even harder into the sterile, science fiction feel by placing the landing pad inside it, surrounded by floor to ceiling windows.
Sigfried11's base hangs in the air, supported by a single hollow column, completely defying all physics and modern architectural sense. But hey—we’re in space. Why not?
On the less extreme scale of that is Gerry Reyom’s base, with a single overhanging room. It’s interesting to see the influence of real architecture styles blend with future-y designs.
But no matter how it looks on the outside, the interiors all feel quite homey. Readmexx’s base might look like something out of Star Wars’s Galactic Empire, but the long entranceway opens up onto a cheery farm.