Sean Murray, Hello Games head honcho and the face of No Man's Sky, has been posting a series of esoteric Earth emojis on X, and fans seemingly can't help but get excited about it. Considering the runaway hype train that violently veered off the tracks last time around, we'd have thought punters would be a little more circumspect as the development of the studio's next game, Light No Fire, continues.
Chronicled by GamesRadar+, the torrid tale began on 13th July, when Murray posted the first of many Earth emojis, garnering hundreds of comments in the process, with many theorizing the timing may have something to do with No Man's Sky's upcoming ninth anniversary.
The next day, 14th July, perhaps drunk on the intoxicating headiness of social media clout, Murray quoted the original post, adding another three Earth emojis for good measure. At this point, the train has already left the station (with over a thousand responses), and expectations are entirely out of control. Could it mean that a No Man's Sky expedition will link that game to the upcoming Light No Fire? No one knows!
Like some mad video game development deity, Murray then began to repost these two posts alternately: the single Earth (twice) and the triple Earth (twice). Then, on the 15th, a shocking development:
The Earth emojis are featured alongside the little text ghost summoner guy, perhaps heralding something momentous to come. All bets are off at this point, and we don't know what Murray is up to. We did some digging of our own and determined that Murray used this same emoji on 11th August 2017, the same day the Atlas Rises update for No Man's Sky was revealed, so make of that what you will.