This month we bring you the Science Fiction Issue, headlined by the ambitious No Man's Sky. We flew out to Hello Games' Guildford offices in England to see new elements and get some answers on this enigmatic game. For the first time you will learn about the imposingly large galactic map, the enemy forces you'll be battling, new details on the economy and upgrades, and much more.

Next up is an eight-page feature on the upcoming Destiny expansion, The Dark Below. We played all of the new story missions, strikes, and competitive maps, and even tried out the new raid. We asked Bungie about raid loot drops, non-skippable cutscenes, storytelling complaints, PVP exotic bounty issues, and plenty more. In addition to our magazine feature, if you'd like to read all about The Dark Below immediately, we just posted a separate preview online to coincide with the announcement of this issue.

Our standard preview section takes a break this month with a package completely devoted to upcoming sci-fi games. Evolve leads the pack with a full rundown of the final tier of hunters and detailed explanations of all previously unannounced modes. We also check out Halo 5: Guardians, Axiom Verge, Battleborn, Mighty No. 9, Quantum Break, Star Citizen, and Star Wars Battlefront, to name a few.

To round out the theme, we list our picks for the Top 25 Science Fiction Games. See where shoe-ins from Half-life, Mass Effect, and Halo land and check to see if your obscure favorite made it on.



Click the above image to see the full cover spread

For new footage of the game and a taste of what’s to come in our month of special online No Man's Sky content, watch our coverage trailer below or watch and share it on YouTube.

There's still plenty to see in the rest of the issue as well. We've got a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One first year status report to compare how the consoles have evolved since release. Our hands-on look at Blizzard's new team shooter, Overwatch, examines the company's first new IP in 17 years. Fans of trolling beloved games will welcome our fourth edition of the Sacred Cow Barbecue, which scalds the likes of Kingdom Hearts, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed, and others.

Print subscribers should see their issues arriving in the next week or two, but it's available now if you subscribe digitally (available on PC/Mac, iPad,Android, and Google Play). You can also get the latest issue through third-party apps on Nook, Kindle, and Zinio starting tomorrow. To switch your print subscription to digital, click here, or to create a new subscription to the digital edition, click here.

Throughout the month we’ll have a deep dive on the galactic map, video interviews with the team, insight on the generated soundtrack, a special-edition podcast, and more. Click on the banner below to visit our No Man's Sky hub and see everything collected in one place.