No Man's Sky just received its Fractal update on Tuesday, and besides adding PS VR2 support and a brand new expedition, the update also added the new Fearsome Visor helmet. You get the helmet from completing the Utopia expedition, and as you can see, there's a definitely Star Wars vibe here.
Nods to Star Wars are certainly common in No Man's Sky. You can get ships with Tie fighter wings, there's a configuration of the Solar Sail ships that can look almost exactly like the Naboo fighter, and one could argue that Sentinel Walkers look a lot like AT-STs. So a helmet that had strong Darth Vader vibes just seems like a continuation of the theme.
However, the Fearsome Visor isn't exactly Darth Vader-shaped. Something it has more in common with Cobra Commander of GI Joe fame. Others think it's more of a riff on Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. But one No Man's Sky player seems to have nailed it with their realization that the Fearsome Visor looks almost exactly like the Riot Trooper from The Force Unleashed 2.
Kudos to Vikttorr for their post that shows the Fearsome Visor and the Riot Trooper together in a side-by-side comparison. The colors don't quite match, but the lens shape, the weird plunging mandibles on the mask, and even the orientation of the plastic-y panels are all spot on.
For those unaware, Riot Stormtroopers were basically regular troopers with electrostaffs that could deflect lightsabers. You won’t see this specific design in more modern Star Wars media as they’ve largely been replaced in the canon by regular Stormtroopers wielding electric batons and riot shields. It looks like someone at Hello Games is a big Star Wars buff and got this Force Unleashed 2 helmet into No Man's Sky.
The Star Wars references don't stop with a fancy new helmet. A lot of folks are noticing some similarities between the new Utopia Speeder starship and Star Wars Snowspeeders.