It’s been a while since I wrote a ‘late to the party’ post, and while No Man’s Sky is still a relatively new name there are already a lot of reviews to wade through online. So here I am putting in my two cents.

Oh, and in case you hadn’t already twigged yes, I FINALLY bought my PS4. And then guess what happened…my car broke down the next day. The bank account is looking a little sore this month let me tell you.

I managed to find a good deal on the Tesco website, with a 500GB PS4 plus No Man’s Sky as a bundle and while it wasn’t Uncharted 4 like I wanted I picked it up anyway and patiently waited for the email to tell me I could pick it up from store.

I have to say, the PS4 is definitely a superior console, compared to anything I’ve played on before. It runs so much smoother, everything looks great and you’re not waiting for ages on loading screens before being able to access applications.

No Man’s Sky is a great first game for this console, not only does it look great but it’s immersive and fun to play too.

I could go into detail about how incredible the worlds are but I feel like you really need to play and experience them for yourself. The ones abundant with flora and fauna are the most fun (if the fauna is nice that is, there was one planet where I basically couldn’t leave my ship because I’d get swarmed and attacked) where you can explore and scan everything that comes your way to add it to the database.

The animals are fun, they’re generated randomly so you get some super weird combinations. Like this little/big guy…

He kind of looks like something from your worst nightmare, but once he was fed he was super adorable following me around and squeaking. I say ‘he’, I feel like these things aren’t really bound by gender. The little happy face on it’s head means it likes me because I fed it.

Because No Man’s Sky is a game that essentially leaves you to your own devices and doesn’t give any instruction on how to play or even the controls you have to try things out and work out the best way to play yourself. But, for now, here are a few tips:

Always use the sprint option – Movement is SO SLOW without the sprinting option and for ages I didn’t even realise I could run (it’s R3 on the PS4 by the way) so definitely use this. You do run out of stamina over time but you can get suit upgrades that allow you to run for longer.

Everything can become something else – Pretty much everything you pick up can be used to create upgrades. If it doesn’t seem important keep hold of it anyway. The main things to pick up to craft items are: Iron, Heridium, Plutonium and Thamium.

Keep an eye on what you can craft – Every time you discover a new location or destroyed machinery you pick up a blueprint, which gives you the ‘recipe’ for how to make upgrades for your exosuit, ship and multi tool. I’ve missed really good upgrades that have been sitting there for a while because I got so engrossed in exploring. If you can upgrade your multi-tool to increase the concentration of the mining beam then that’s worth doing.

Everything needs charging – Everything you use runs out of charge over time, so your thrusters run on Plutonium and your Pulse Drive runs on Thamium so it’s important you always mine these two energy sources while out on a planet, you don’t want to get stranded somewhere with a limited supply.

You can never crash land – I was a little worried I’d be constantly damaging my ship with shit landings but you could pulse drive into the planet and the game would automatically land the ship for you.

Learn the languages – I’ve made it my mission to be fluent in Gek on this game. Look out for the alien monoliths around the planets where you can use the knowledge stones to learn new words.

Always have a little bit of carbon – Some aliens require a little carbon to get them talking. Carbon can be mined from most plants.

Be careful with your jet pack – While it might be tempting to whizz off up into the sky, you should be cautious with your jet pack and keep it steady while coming into land. If you crash down too hard you’ll take damage.

Feed the animals – Most animals like to be fed carbon and once they’re happy keep an eye on them, they could lead you to some rare material as a reward.

If you can afford an exosuit slot upgrade, pay for it – Having extra inventory space is so worth it when you land on a planet abundant with things to mine! You find these upgrades when exploring planets and discovering emergency landing pods.

That’s about all the advice I have so far, once I’m deeper into the game I might put together another post on what I think is going on in regards to Atlas, what’s happened on the planets (there are lots of crash sites) and the general theme of the game.

Have you played No Man’s Sky? What did you think?

Jade