Two Years After Its Stunning Reveal, Light No Fire Still Has Only a Tiny Team Working on It

Nearly two years have passed since Hello Games captured worldwide attention during The Game Awards 2023 with the breathtaking reveal trailer of Light No Fire. The announcement quickly became the most viewed trailer shown at the event that year and marked the beginning of a new level of ambition for the independent United Kingdom based studio known for No Man's Sky.

Instead of building an entire galaxy as they did with No Man's Sky, Hello Games is now creating a single Earth sized planet that is fully explorable without barriers. Light No Fire aims to deliver a survival adventure experience unlike anything previously created by the studio. The world features a high fantasy theme filled with dragons, skeletons, anthropomorphic species, mythical fauna, and a wide range of fantastical landscapes. This thematic shift is one of the most significant departures from the science fiction style of No Man's Sky.

One of the most impressive promises behind Light No Fire is that every player will share the same massive planet with no loading screens and no instancing. All travel, discovery, and construction takes place on a single continuous world where every structure or settlement built by players is persistent for the entire community. The vision is to create a true shared world where everyone can carve a life together, meet organically during exploration, and cooperate on building, combat, or long distance travel.

Geographically, the planet appears to be extraordinarily diverse. The reveal trailer shows colossal mountain ranges, vast oceans, thick forests, snow regions, deserts, and many biomes that appear handcrafted through advanced procedural generation. Many of the technological breakthroughs developed for the most recent No Man's Sky expansions are being applied to Light No Fire, including next generation atmosphere simulation, new ocean systems, and more sophisticated fauna behaviors.

Players will be able to climb extreme mountains, sail the seas with fully functional ships, and discover unique enemies, rare materials, and hidden locations. Every discovery contributes to a global world map whose naming and exploration history are shared among all players. This builds a communal experience where every player’s journey becomes part of the planet’s evolving story.

Beyond the survival elements inspired by No Man’s Sky, Hello Games has promised Light No Fire will blend in deeper roleplaying mechanics to deliver a more expansive gameplay experience. However, large parts of the project remain under wraps, and new details may still take time to surface.

In a recent year end update focused on No Man's Sky, shared through the studio’s official Steam page, founder and managing director Sean Murray confirmed that a tiny team continues working on Light No Fire in the background. He stated that they are working “at pace” and expressed that he is “really pleased” with how development is progressing.

Despite this encouraging message, many fans interpreted the statement to mean that Light No Fire may still be several years from release. With Hello Games employing around fifty people and continuing to deliver major updates to No Man's Sky, it is clear that only a small portion of the studio is focused on the new project. At some point, Hello Games may need to expand its workforce or shift developers from No Man's Sky toward Light No Fire.

It is important to remember that the studio is extremely mindful of its reputation following the difficult launch of No Man's Sky in 2016. It took eight years of continuous updates and community engagement for the game to earn a Very Positive user review score on Steam once again. As a result, Hello Games is taking a measured and patient approach to ensure that Light No Fire does not repeat the mistakes of the past. The studio appears committed to delivering the game only when it achieves its full creative vision.

Light No Fire remains one of the most ambitious and intriguing projects currently in development. Its potential to redefine shared world survival experiences is immense, but Hello Games is choosing quality over speed. The industry will be watching closely to see how this remarkable planet evolves in the coming years.

Do you think Light No Fire should stay small and handcrafted for longer, or should Hello Games scale up to accelerate development