Need help getting started with No Man’s Sky? Here’s a few pointers courtesy of Kotaku…
Take your time
You may have heard that beating No Man’s Sky means getting to the center of the universe, where a secret awaits any player who travels there. Tempting, no? But you should fight the urge to beeline through No Man’s Sky. The game is experienced best when you really dig into planets, mapping out the different flora, fauna, and man-made structures scattered everywhere. Even your starting planet is a bounty for discoveries, as tempting as it may be to get your ship up and running ASAP.
Loot your crash site
There are lots of goodies lying around right at your starting point, if you take a closer look at the containers and such.
Don’t overheat
The mining tool is the biggest tool in your arsenal, and you’ll use it for everything from maintaining your suit to fixing your ship. When mining resources for those tasks, pay close attention to the bar on the top right: make sure it never fills up completely, so that you don’t have too much downtime. I find that easing up when it reaches 90% works best for me.
Use your jetpack
You can climb almost anything with your jetpack, which comes packed with a generous timer. I like to get into a rhythm of holding down the jetpack button for a few seconds, letting go, and then holding it again to get the maximum distance/height. According to Hello Games, you can even “jetpack forever whilst pushing against any surface.”
Get around faster
Walking can be a drag in No Man’s Sky, but players have already found ways to make it better. neoGAF user Moa discovered that if you run and then quickly press the melee and jetpack buttons one after the other once, you can belt around at a much quicker speed. I’ve tested it out, and the best part is that every time you lunge like this, the cooldown on each respective action goes down again, so you can do it as much as you want. It’s tricky to nail the timing down at first, but if you practice, this is a great way to get around.
Beware falling damage
Falling hurts, yo. That said, you can survive any ridiculous fall as long as you use your jetpack a few seconds before impact.
Mind the Sentinels
You know those floating eye robots in No Man’s Sky? They are basically the space police. If they see you attacking any animals, destroying property, or mining too many resources, they will instantly turn aggressive towards you and call in reinforcements, so be careful while around them. Sometimes, Sentinels are hostile from the get-go, too.
Save often
You can save at outposts, space stations, and whenever you enter your ship. Make use of this, and know that if everything goes to hell you can always revert back to an earlier save via the start menu. You can also save scum choices, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
Scan often
With the press of a button, No Man’s Sky tells you about whatever resources or points of interests are nearby. Very helpful, especially if you’re searching for a specific element/material. You can even do it in space! But in order to take full advantage of this feature, you’ll need to….
Learn the periodic icons
With time, you will be able to pick out specific resources from a distance just by looking at them. The easiest way to do this is to familiarize yourself with the shorthand the game uses for these elements in the wild. The lighting icon stands for Isotopes, which are often used for fuel for things like Life Support, Phase Beam, Pulse Engine, Hyper Drive, and more. Thamium9 can be found on red plants; Plutonium is formed in pointy red crystals; Carbon can manifest itself in anything from plants to rock structures. The brick icon stands for Oxides, which are often used for charging tech such as the Exosuit, Deflector Shield, and more. Iron can be found in rocks, titanium is formed in pointy yellow crystals, and Zinc can be gathered from yellow plants. The beaker icon stand for Silicates, which are important for crafting items and installing tech. Aside from growing in blue plants and blue crystals, Silicates are easy to find, since they are often within large, glowing structures that straight-up look out of place.
No Man’s Sky has more resources than the ones described above, such as Neutral Elements and Precious Elements, but those aren’t as important for basic survival and transportation.
Keep your bars filled
The first few hours of No Man’s Sky are largely about surviving your first couple of planets, and the best way to do this is to always be scrounging. Make sure to keep a healthy supply of Isotopes and Oxides to charge your Life Support and Exosuit, respectively. Note that if you go into a cave, your ship, or a building, the environment will be stabilized enough for you not to worry about any of this (so if you ever encounter a storm of some kind, just head inside!)
Be smart about inventory
You’re going to come across all sorts of elements and resources while exploring, but it’s important to reserve slots for the basic essentials for surviving. Yeah, you can and should pick up a rare resource or a good trading item, but don’t get greedy. You’ll thank yourself when you’re running low on Life Support and need to figure out how to fit a bunch of Carbon into an inventory full of Gek Charms. Note that the game will display a red shield on your UI if your inventory is completely full.
Transfer extra items to your ship
You’ll need to be in range of your ship to teleport items, but it’s a very handy mechanic when you’re running out of space in your Exosuit.
Scan everything
You can learn more about a planet by scanning all the flora and fauna. More importantly, scanning lets you…
Upload discoveries
Every single animal and plant you discover is worth cold, hard cash. Press start, and you should be able to look at the different planets you’ve landed on, with the right side of the menu dedicated to the specific things you’ve found there. You can submit these discoveries to galaxy scholars, and they’ll reward you handsomely for good finds. Oh, and make sure to also upload waypoints on planets—they’re easy to forget about.
Kotaku have a lot more tips here