I don't know if this has been done earlier in the thread, but I put together a little Beginner's Guide for people that have maybe gone into the game blind, and may feel overwhelmed by the lack of instruction/direction at the start of the game:
EDIT: Updated!
No Man's Sky Beginner's Guide (PS4)
By Figboy
Hello, everybody!
No Man's Sky is a procedurally generated space exploration and survival game by Joe Danger developer, Hello Games. One of the main tenants of the game design in No Man's Sky is “Discovery.” As a result, the game drops you into the thick of survival with no tutorials explaining some key information that is vital to your enjoyment of No Man's Sky's harsh universe. So I've decided to put together a quick “Beginner's Guide” for anyone going into No Man's Sky blind. No spoilers!
First things first: When you begin No Man's Sky, you are standing at the crash site of your damaged starship. There will be an objective in the lower right hand corner of the screen instructing you to repair said starship. But hold on! Don't immediately begin wandering off into the unknown of your starting planet!
Tapping the PS4's touch pad will bring up a menu that includes your Exosuit inventory, Starship inventory, and Multi-tool inventory. The latter is what you'll want to get a look at first. In the Multi-tool inventory screen, there will be a series of squares that represent your inventory slots. Generally, your multi-tool will be equipped with a mining laser, and maybe some photon blasts that act as offensive capabilities. There should also be a scanner, and an analyzer. Both of those will have a red exclamation point hovering over them, meaning that they are damaged and need repair.
Before doing anything else, it is vitally important to repair those items. Hovering over either item will display a list of resources needed to repair them. That should be your first priority. The scanner is your key to locating nearby resources, monoliths, and bases. The analyzer does just that, analyzes the object you have highlighted in its crosshairs. Analyzing things such as plants, and animals will add the item to your “Discoveries” tab (accessed by tapping on the “Options” button on the PlayStation 4 controller). From the “Discoveries” tab, you can upload your discoveries to the Atlas database, and earn units, No Man's Sky's currency.
Once your scanner and analyzer are repaired you are then ready to venture away from your ship and explore the massive planet around you. Depending on the environmental conditions of your starter planet, you may have an easier or harder time traversing it. Some planets can have highly toxic, cold, or hot environments, which will chip away at your suits life support, shielding, and eventually health bar, leading to death.
Your exosuit is the only thing keeping you from that certain death, and maintaining it is key to survival in No Man's Sky. You can maintain the suit by recharging its systems when they get low with Carbon, Plutonium, or Zinc. Carbon and Plutonium will recharge the exosuit's Life Support systems, and Zinc will recharge the exosuit's Shielding. Because you aren't sure what your new planet will throw out at you, it should be a top priority to stock up on Carbon, Plutonium, or Zinc. Exosuit inventory slots are limited at the beginning but I try to devote three slots to those three elements at all time. Fortunately, within that slot, you can carry up to 250 of any particular element. Your ship can carry a total of 500 elements per slot. Before stocking up on all sorts of shiny resources, make sure that those basic ones are easily available, and in good supply!
A handy tip is that, by highlighting an item in your exosuit inventory, and holding down the Triangle button, you can teleport that item directly to your ship. And if you are within range of your ship, you can transfer items from your ship to your exosuit.
It is possible to find Drop Pods on the surface of your planet, which contain Exosuit upgrades that will give you an extra inventory slot, for a total of up to 48 slots. If you plan on carrying a lot of resources, it pays to hunt down these Drop Pods.
The only way to increase ship inventory is by finding and repairing a ship that has more inventory slots than your current vessel, or purchasing a ship with more inventory slots than your current vessel from the many traders that you will encounter at Space Stations, or Docking Bays on worlds.
You can also upgrade your multi-tool, but your starter one may have very limited inventory slots. Fortunately, you can come across new multi-tools in settlements and facilities peppered across your planet. Upgrading your multi-tool requires you to first find a blueprint for an upgrade (blueprints can be found in facilities, and downed space ships to name a few). After crafting a blueprint, keep in mind that where you place your upgrade in relation to other upgrades is important! For example, placing a Mining Speed upgrade next to the Mining Beam will highlight both items in green, denoting a performance bonus. The same applies to upgrades in your ship and exosuit. Placing like upgrades next to each will stack the bonus received. This seems overwhelming at first, but don't be afraid to experiment. However, do not delete/remove any upgrades until you have the blueprint for that upgrade. That way you can always build a new one and mix and match configurations to better suit your playstyle (for example, I'm primarily an explorer, so I made sure my upgrades facilitated fast mining and better scanning capabilities, with a few offensive/defensive upgrades in case I ran into hostile animals, Sentinels, or Pirates). Handy tip: Your multi-tool has two modes: Mining, and Combat. Pressing Triangle on the PS4 Controller will toggle between modes! After crafting grenades, you can fire them by pressing the L1 button.
Saving is done automatically in No Man's Sky, but there are a few areas where you can dependably count on an autosave to avoid lost progress: Exiting your Star ship, using Waypoint beacons, and completing Milestone Tasks. Whenever possible, seek out these to ensure that you will not lose significant portions of playtime.
Death. Dying in No Man's Sky isn't the end! While on planet, you will load back at your last saved waypoint, or your Star ship. You should be able to see a marker on your HUD (Heads Up Display) that displays the location of your “grave.” Visiting your grave and activating it will restore any materials you were carrying with you when you died. If you die again on your way to your grave before retrieving it, those materials will be lost forever.
If you die out in space, you will respawn at the nearest Space Station, as will your current Star ship. However, some of the technology/upgrades on your ship may be damaged and in need of repair.
For the most part, these are the most basic and vital bits of information that can be given to you as you begin No Man's Sky. I hope it's been informative and helpful!
