Since the release of No Man’s Sky all the way back in August 2016, developer Hello Games has been determinedly iterating on the game, not just fixing a veritable mountain of bugs but also implementing a hugely generous range of features and content at no extra cost.
Now almost unrecognisable compared to its launch state and fulfilling the lofty expectations that everyone had for the game all those years ago, we’ve put together this definitive No Man’s Sky beginner’s guide for 2023 which explains everything you need to do to get started with Hello Games galaxy-spanning epic.
Before You Do Anything – Repair Your Scanner
Long before you get any ambitions about building your own base, stomping around in an exomech or soaring among the stars, make sure to repair the scanner, as it is by far the most important tool that you have at your disposal since it allows you to discover crucial resources in the environment.
To repair the scanner, you have to seek out Ferrite Dust and obviously without the scanner itself working, you’ll need to identify Ferrite Dust by sight alone. Thankfully, this is something of a trivial task since Ferrite Dust can be found lurking within many of the rocks that are generously scattered about on the starting planet.
Tracking Down Essential Survival Materials
With the scanner now fully operational, your next priority should be tracking down the various ores and other materials that are essential to your survival. Arguably the most important of these materials is Sodium which provides you with much needed hazard protection, allowing you to withstand the stresses of more hostile and challenging environments.
Another highly important resource to seek out are Oxygen Rich Plants, which when collected will allow you to bolster your oxygen supply and will keep you from keeling over prematurely. Elsewhere, Carbon Crystals should be scooped up whenever you see them, too. Used to power the various machines and other infrastructure that you’ll build later on in the game, Carbon Crystals can be easily spotted thanks to their spiky, blood red forms that can be seen a mile off.
Melee Boosting Is Faster Than Sprinting
While trotting about the various planets and locations of No Man’s Sky isn’t a chore on the whole, it can prove to be a bit of a pain if you need to cover a decent length of distance fairly quickly.
Thankfully, there is a neat trick that will alleviate your traversal woes somewhat. Known as the ‘melee boost’, all you need to do is perform a melee attack and then right away follow that up with a jetpack blast. The upshot quite literally is that you’ll be propelled upwards and forwards extremely quickly, allowing you to cover a whole heap of ground in a fraction of the time that it would normally take.
How To Withstand The Whims Of A Hostile Planet
Just about every planet in No Man’s Sky has some sort of major malfunction in its natural environment that results in storms and other such phenomena which can chip away at your hazard protection bar. Luckily, before a storm kicks off properly you have a number of options. You can either saunter over to the shelter of the nearest cave, sit inside your ship or just chill out a bit inside your shiny new base.
Regardless of what you do though, always make sure you have an exit strategy when a storm decides to rock up and try to avoid fiddling around with your inventory out in the open as those storms can easily creep up.
Make Sure To Repair Your Analysis Visor
The next thing that you’ll want to do is repair your trusty Analysis Visor by collecting 50 lots of Carbon from the flora in your environment. Once repaired, the Analysis Visor will not only provide a more in-depth analysis regarding the various materials and ores that you can extract from the planet, but it will also handily highlight any far flung points of interest to boot.
How To Make Piles Of Money Early On
Money is a crucial resource in No Man’s Sky, not least because it’s needed to buy a whole bunch of materials, resources, equipment and more that you’ll need throughout the game. The main currency that you’ll be wanting to focus on are Units and luckily there’s a good couple of ways to secure piles of the stuff early on in No Man’s Sky.
The first way is by quite simply scanning and analysing everything you find with your newly repaired Analysis Visor, as you’ll earn a clump of Units for every successful scan and analysis made. Next up, it’s worth hunting around for loot in the numerous caves that dot the landscape of No Man’s Sky planets, since you can often find loot caches hidden within that might contain items which can be sold for thousands of Units.
Building A Base
Beyond just looking really cool, building yourself a base in No Man’s Sky has a whole heap of practical benefits. The first is that a base will protect you from the hazardous environment and replenish your oxygen supply at little cost, without forcing you to revisit your ship quite so often as a result.
To start building your first base, you’ll need to construct a Base Computer which requires a Portable Refiner. Luckily, this all forms part of No Man’s Sky’s fairly sprawling tutorial, so you’ll be directed pretty well as to where to find the components and necessary materials to get the job done.
How To Achieve Space Travel
After constructing some digs as mentioned above, you’ll gain a recipe for crafting a Hyperdrive to be fitted to your ship, which naturally you’ll want to do as soon as possible. First though, you’ll want to craft an Antimatter Housing and Antimatter so that you can fashion the Warp Cell that is required for interstellar travel and will allow you to leave the first solar system in No Man’s Sky.
Asteroids Are Filled With Riches, So Blast Them To Bits
When you do eventually get into space, it’s certainly worth blowing apart the various asteroids that are lazily floating around the cosmos of No Man’s Sky whenever you get the chance. Not only is it satisfying to destroy them, but when Asteroids are wrecked they very often dish out all manner of materials, components and currencies that can be used to augment your interstellar escapades further still.
Buy No Man’s Sky for PC Here
If you’ve got all the way through this beginner’s guide without owning No Man’s Sky then it’s time to rectify that and put all this advice into action. Head over to our store and grab No Man’s Sky at a great price today, it’s time to head out into the vast unknown.
