Exploration Guides

Exploration is what No Man’s Sky is actually about, and it is the category where the game is least willing to tell you what exists. There are 256 galaxies. There are portals that let you travel to any coordinate instantly if you can read a glyph address. There are planet types that only generate in certain star colours, and star colours you cannot reach without specific hyperdrive upgrades.

Progression here is gated by drive technology rather than by skill. Yellow stars are free. Red, green and blue systems each need their own hyperdrive upgrade from the Anomaly. Purple systems need the Atlantid Drive and only appeared with Worlds Part II. Each unlock opens planet types, resources and points of interest that were simply not available before, which is why the exploration endgame feels like several games stacked on top of each other.

This category is the largest on the site and covers the widest range: planet biomes and hazards, portals and glyphs, galaxy structure and what survives a jump to the next one, monoliths and knowledge stones, the Space Anomaly and space stations, points of interest, paradise planet hunting, the Atlas Path and its endings, and the lore that ties it together. If you have finished the story and are wondering what the game is for now, start with the exploration hub.