Light No Fire hype reaches fever pitch as No Man's Sky studio co-founder Sean Murray teases the internet with even more mysterious emojis

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What does it mean?!

Light No Fire announcement screenshot showing open world exploration
(Image credit: Hello Games)

Are we about to get some news about Hello Games' upcoming open-world survival RPG, Light No Fire? You'd certainly think so looking at studio co-founder and managing director Sean Murray's Twitter page, as well as the excited replies from fans responding to his latest series of tweets.

Light No Fire was first announced during the 2023 Game Awards – according to its Steam page, it's "set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth," and will combine "the depth of a role playing game to the freedom of a survival sandbox." There's still a lot we don't know about it, including its release window and platforms (PC aside), but fans are hoping that Murray's recent Twitter activity might point to something. 

Over the last three days, Murray has been posting an increasing number of planet Earth emojis, and hasn't elaborated any further. Heads were already turning when he posted the first one, with fans theorizing that, given that much of Light No Fire's marketing up to this point focuses on comparing its world to Earth (calling it a "fantasy Earth" and "unexplored Earth," amongst other things on Steam), it may be a hint that an announcement is coming.

Despite the rampant speculation in this tweet's replies, Murray has since doubled down, quote tweeting the post the following day with three Earth emojis, and posting another three today. Then, a few hours ago, he posted a cute text face with an Earth for each eye, gesturing towards a third one.

Needless to say, fans are being driven wild. "Please be a Light No Fire thing I need it," one Twitter user writes. "With the amount of teasing it's definitely not a regular [No Man's Sky] update... LIGHT NO FIRE here we go," another speculates.

So, does it mean anything? Well, we still don't know, but it definitely seems like Murray is building up to something – we'll just have to see if Hello Games' managing director decides to give us any messages that aren't communicated purely through emojis.

For more games like Light No Fire, be sure to check out our roundup of the 25 best open world games.

Catherine Lewis
Catherine Lewis
Deputy News Editor

I'm GamesRadar+'s Deputy News Editor, working alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.