Ooh, it hasn’t got a Pokemon-style mode that lets you collect a bunch of alien critters and force them to fight to the death in a fashion that might be deemed barbaric if it wasn’t so bloodless and cutesy. That would’ve likely been my answer if you’d asked me what ever-growing No Man’s Sky doesn’t have at this point before I read about its latest update. That latest update, Xeno Arena, adds in Pokemon-style alien critter collecting and battling mechanics.

“We have this whole universe filled with an infinite variety of creatures, and we’ve added to that for ten years now,” Hello Games boss Sean Murray wrote in a press release announcing Pokalienmon. “You have everything from dinosaurs to flying cows to robots to gaseous blobs. We started with this thought that you can discover them and name them… but what if all that variety had a gameplay purpose? What if you could collect them, breed them, have them as pets… but also battle them?”

So, assuredly with the green light from their lawyers, the studio have added little creature battling-tables to space stations across the cosmos, so you can show the locals who’s amassed the most lethal army of procedurally-generated pets. Or, you can fight your mates to see who’s got the most dangerous robo-dog recruited on some far-flung planet. There are rankings, leagues, and tournaments for those who get really into it.

“Each species has unique elemental affinities tied to their xeno species and linked to their home world,” Murray continued. “A blob creature evolved on a toxic planet has different abilities to a flying dino born on a frozen moon. Rarer biomes can be harder to find but yield rarer creatures, which are much harder to prepare a team to battle against.” Once you’ve found a creature and added it to your gang of gladiators, it can be “trained, or can be bred and even genetically modified to create new variants and unique colours”. You’ll naturally want to keep feeding your pets, bonding with them and having them spar with each other if you’re keen to raise the toughest critter in the cosmos.

I’ve never been a big Pokebloke myself, but anything which gives more excuse for exploration in NMS’ never-ending galaxy’s a worthwhile addition in my book. These critter battles might make for a nice break between wreck salvaging and rubbish collection. Xeno Arena’s out now.