No Man’s Sky – What to do in the Early Game (Walkthrough)

No Man’s Sky doesn’t take you by your hand – it doesn’t really explain anything to you and encourages players to find out everything on their own. This can be a bit overwhelming at first.

This walkthrough shows what you are supposed to do when the game starts (spoilers ahead):

1. Repair your Spaceship

The first task is to repair your spaceship. For this you will need iron, zinc and heridium. Iron is in small rocks and can be found almost everywhere. Zinc can be extracted from certain plants. Repair the scanner and look for yellow icons, those are the plants with zinc in them. Heridium can be mined from tall rocks. You need to craft Carite Plates using the iron to repair the ship.

2. Visit a Space Station

Time to go to space! When you exit the planet’s atmosphere, the nearest space station will get marked with an orange icon. Be sure to check the side room! Here you’ll find a trading terminal and possibly your first Alien.

3. Go to the beacon (marked location)

Exit the space station and a new location (on a random planet) should get marked with an icon. Go to that icon – it’s a beacon that will lead you to the next objective.

4. Go from beacon to Alien Outpost, get Hyperdrive Blueprint from Alien

After activating the beacon a new icon will show up (on the planet you are at). Fly there with your ship and enter the Alien Outpost. Talk to the Alien and it will give you the Hyperdrive blueprint. Literally the most important item for your space travels.

5. Sell Valuable Elements at Space Station Trade Terminal (Green Elements)

Time to make some money! The game wants you to make some cash so that you can buy the materials for a hyperdrive (dynamic resonator). Sell some valuable resources. Valuables have a green color overlay in the menu (e.g. gold, nickel, iridium, copper). You can find them on planets by mining tall rocks. They can also be obtained by destroying asteroids in space, but are much rarer there (look for large asteroids, not the small ones).

6. Craft Hyperdrive

After buying the dynamic resonator from a space station / trading terminal you can craft the Hyperdrive.

7. Go to red icon (Alien Outpost)

When you leave the space station a new red icon will be marked on a planet. This is an Alien outpost. Go there. An Alien in the outpost will give you the crafting formula for Antimatter. This is the key ingredient for making warp cells (so that you can travel to the next solar system).

8. Craft Warp Cell using the Antimatter

Craft a Warp Cell using 1 x Antimatter + 100 x Thamium (from destroying asteroids). Fuel your hyperdrive with the warp cell (open spaceship inventory and put in the warp cell).

9. Go back into Space, open Star Map, Travel to next Solar System

Now that you have the hyperdrive installed & fueled you can open the star map (press D-Pad down on PS4). Select a solar sytem and travel there using the hyperdrive.

10. Get Anitmatter Formula, Craft Antimatter, Craft Warp Cell

When you enter the next solar sytem you must learn how to craft warp cells by yourself. The game will again place some markers on planets. Just follow these markers and you will learn the Antimatter formula. Then you can craft antimatter and craft the antimatter into a warp cell. Use the warp cell to power your hyperdrive and warp to the next star.

To craft antimatter you need Electron Vapour (which can also be crafted using Suspension Fluid. You can buy the fluid at any space station). The other required elements can be found on any planet and are very common.

And that’s it! You are now set to start your space travels. From here on out the main target is upgrading your gear and reaching the center of the galaxy.