Back in February, Hello Games released No Man’s Sky Omega (v4.5) which brought the Omega Expedition as well as a variety of new elements to the game, including the ability to defeat and claim a pirate dreadnaught, a new mechanism for starting expeditions from within an existing savegame, a rework of the Atlas Path mission, and the Atlas Sceptre staff Multi-Tool. But, of all the new gameplay elements, what stood out the most to me was the addition of a sleek new starship, rather different in appearance than others in the game.

Known as the Starborn Runner, this addition really brought a smile to my face, and to those of many other oldschool gamers out there. Featuring “a localized vector field allowing it to hover above solid planes,” this new ship is very clearly a nod from Hello Games to the Wipeout series ( or wipE′out″ ), so similar is it in visual and mechanical design to the ships in that acclaimed anti-gravity racing series.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, some history. Wipeout is a futuristic racing game developed by Psygnosis (later rebranded as Studio Liverpool) and released in 1995 as an original Playstation launch title. (See “How the Iconic Wipeout Series Was Born” from Playstation Blog.) Set in the year 2052, the game sees players compete in races across various futuristic tracks and settings, piloting anti-gravity ships that are armed with various weapons to help eliminate the competition. Accompanying the gameplay is a pumping electronica soundtrack featuring music from well known artists in the scene at the time. A number of sequels followed on various platforms, such as Wipeout 2097, Wipeout 64, Wipeout 3, Wipeout Fusion, Wipeout Pulse, etc. Wipeout 2097 (a.k.a. Wipeout XL) was particularly popular, being considered one of the best games ever released for the Playstation.

I have long been an ardent fan of the series, the original impressing me to such a degree that after witnessing it for the first time on a friend’s Playstation back in 1996, I went out the very next day and purchased my own Playstation console along with the game. I have certainly put hundreds of hours into various installments in the series on a variety of platforms, including several Playstation models, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, and PC. The white-knuckle racing action on some absolutely insanely architected tracks (framed by exotic alien landscapes in the distance) — with heavy electronica beats pounding all the while — makes for a pretty frenetic and unique experience, I assure you.

Over on the Discord when Omega landed, a few of us automatically began referred to the new starship as “the Wipeout ship.” The addition of this ship is such a nice touch from Hello Games, and it’s great to see them salute such a high quality franchise within this game we all know and love. Of course, it’s not the first time Sean Murray and company have given such a nod, looking back at the SSV Normandy SR1 from Mass Effect that came as an end-trophy to the Beachhead Expedition back in 2021, the Utopia Speeder which is clearly inspired by the Snowspeeder craft from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, not to mention what seems to be a nod to the film 2001 in some of the player appearance options introduced in NEXT (v1.5) back in 2018 and, finally, the tiny Blade Runner easter egg hidden within the Anomaly (have you found it?).

“The Wipeout ship” will always have a special place in my starship collection. Thanks, Hello Games.

( Note: The banner graphic for this post shows the Starborn Runner ship superimposed within a ship specs screen from Wipeout HD — it is not a screen that can be found within No Man’s Sky. )