After weeks – or months? – of ARG shenanigans, it looks like Hello Games is gearing up to unveil the next major No Man's Sky update. Today they lifted the curtain just a tad, enough to reveal that update 1.3 is called Atlas Rises and that it will release some time this week.

Announced via email to the game's followers (via NeoGAF), Atlas Rises "focuses on improving the central story of No Man's Sky and adds the ability to quick travel between locations using portals".

Patch notes are forthcoming, so there may well be more to it than that. On the topic of the ARG itself, that was studio Hello Games' attempt to "reach out and celebrate the devoted community that means so much to us". Which, well, if you enjoyed it – great. But it might well have stoked a level of hype that this expansion might not be able to live up to.

"When we posted those cassettes we didn't know what to expect. In the last eight weeks a quarter of a million players from across the globe (174 countries, to be precise!) have come together - united by a shared love of mystery and science fiction - to form the Citizen Science Division. You’ve travelled great distances both real and virtual, undertaken complex tasks, and explored the depths of simulation theory. New friendships have been forged, and a tight-knit community has been created. Most importantly a cute hamster has a new home."

Whatever other secrets the patch notes may hold, I'm looking forward to finding out later this week, because I still play this beautiful and frustrating space adventure game a lot.