The mystery at the center of the galaxy is your end-game goal in No Man’s Sky, and reaching that far-off point isn’t easy, even for the most hardened adventurer. Although the center doesn’t move, and the game provides plenty of waypoints to help, there are multiple methods you can employ to make your life easier. Check out our three paths to success, only dealing with minimal spoilers, with each guide below.
So what’s with the center of the galaxy? We won’t say too much, but there is an ending to No Man’s Sky. The adventure might be all about exploration and soaking in procedurally-generated worlds, but there is something narrative going on in the margins of the universe. If you want to see how this game ‘ends’ then you’ll want to reach the center. See what items you’ll need (and how to earn them) in the basic explanation of our guide, then continue to scroll down to find the three major paths to victory.
Check out even more No Man’s Sky content:
- No Man’s Sky: Beginner’s Guide – 5 Steps To Get You Started
- No Man’s Sky: Complete Platinum Trophy Guide
- No Man’s Sky: Earn Millions of Units With These Easy Farming Tricks
- No Man’s Sky: How to Dupe Items in Your Inventory | Exploit Guide
- No Man’s Sky PSA: Don’t Install Patch 1.03 For an Easier Platinum
- No Man’s Sky: Exploit Saves to Get New Ship Skins | Glitch Guide
- No Man’s Sky: Explore Four Types of Star Systems For Rare Rewards
- No Man’s Sky: How to Solve Observatory Puzzles | Solution Guide
- No Man’s Sky: Unlock Free Loot With the Atlas Pass Blueprint
- No Man’s Sky: How to Find and Fix Free Ships | Location Guide
- No Man’s Sky: Ultra HD Wallpapers | 4k
How to Reach the Center of the Galaxy
What’s at the center of the galaxy? We won’t say that here, you’ll have to find answers yourself — but we will provide tips (and tricks) to help you reach the end without too much trouble.
- IMPORTANT: Select the ‘Atlas’ path instead of the ‘Free’ path — get Atlas’ guidance to help you get the items you’ll need to reach the center of the universe.
Before going into the main methods, let’s go over some basics. Travelling to the center of the galaxy requires a consumable fuel called Warp Cells. Warp Cells power your Hyperdrive, which you’ll repair early in your adventure if you follow the waypoints. There are methods that will help you reach the center with fewer Warp Cells, but you’ll always need these items no matter which path you take.
With that in mind, let’s talk about how to acquire Warp Cells.
- If you’re following the ‘Atlas’ path, follow the mission markers to repair your Hyperdrive. To charge your Hyperdrive, you’ll need Warp Cells.
- To repair the Hyperdrive, collect 200 Heridium and a Dynamic Resonator. The Dynamic Resonator can be purchased from an NPC merchant in a Space Station on your way to acquire the Hyperdrive blueprint.
- Warp Cells can be crafted from 100 Thamium9 and 1 Antimatter.
- Thamium9 is plentiful in asteroid belts. Blast small asteroids floating outside Space Station to collect that resource.
- Antimatter can be purchased from NPCs merchants or at Trade Terminals. Find outposts or Space Stations to buy / sell. Antimatter is a pricey item, it costs around 20,000~ units each!
- To make crafting Warp Cells easier, you’ll need the Antimatter blueprint.
- Check all the waypoints that appear on your Galaxy Map after your first warp drive jump. One of the markers will lead you to the Antimatter blueprint.
- Antimatter requires 1 Electron Vapor, 50 Heridium, and 20 Zinc to craft. Electron Vapor can be purchased for a significantly lower price (compared to Antimatter) from merchants, or you can locate a blueprint to craft it yourself. It is a random blueprint, so check outposts and other civilized locations often. To craft Electron Vapor, you’ll also need the Suspension Fluid blueprint — and that blueprint is also randomized.
Upgrading your Hyperdrive is a good step forward, too. There are two main methods for finding Warp Reactor upgrade blueprints.
- Search smoking wreckage of technology on any planet’s surface. Look for drop pod caches — those often contain blueprints for ship upgrades.
- Stop at every Space Station you see and talk to the alien faction NPCs. Sometimes they’ll ask for a favor — do it, and if you’re lucky, you’ll gain a ship upgrade blueprint.
That’s about everything you need to know about warp cells, now let’s get into the real meat-and-potatoes of No Man’s Sky — getting to the center of the galaxy.
Method #1: Follow the Path of Atlas
The basic path, and the one you’ll need the most Warp Cells to complete. Following the Path of Atlas is one of the guidance options you can select when visiting Atlas Stations — you can also select the “Center” path, which sends you directly toward the center of the galaxy.
- The Atlas Path drops waypoints and markers onto your Galaxy map, giving you plenty of options to either explore or progress toward the center.
Why choose the Atlas path over the Center path? We won’t spoil it here, but there is a difference. The Center path sends you directly toward the center, but if you really want to unlock the secrets of the Galaxy, you’ll need a special item.
- Hold onto your Atlas Stones. Following the Atlas path will lead you to anomalies and other Atlas Stone locations. Once you’ve found a total of eight stones, you’ll be prepared to arrive at the center of the galaxy.
This method is the most straight-forward. As long as you collect plenty of Warp Cells (check out the tips above) there’s nothing to stop you from reaching the center.
Method #2: Fly into the Black Holes
If you don’t mind getting lost, then jumping into Black Holes is the quickest path toward the center. These mysterious anomalies in space transport you lightyears closer to the center — although where you’ll land is totally random.
Black Holes are your best bet if you want to avoid spending too many Warp Cells. While you won’t have control over your flight path, you will always appear somewhere closer to the center of the galaxy. All Black Holes send ships to a random star in the direction of the galaxy center.
While travelling, make pit-stops at Space Stations to refuel and prepare for your next jump into the wild unknown.
Method #3: Cheat Your Way to the Center
Tired of exploration and want to just jump straight toward the center? If you feel like skipping lots of resource gathering, you can use a save-game exploit to dupe all the Warp Cells and Atlas Stones you need for the end-game. Here’s how it works.
NOTE: This exploit works as of Version 1.03
- Place the items you want to dupe in your Exosuit inventory.
- Save your game. Save twice — you’ll need a previous save file to load.
- Get killed by a Sentinel on a planet surface.
- Load a previous save file.
- Your inventory should be the same as before you died.
- A full copy of all your inventory items will appear at your death site.
- Go to you death site and collect the dupes.
- Rinse and repeat.
Turn one Atlas Stone / Warp Cell into 2, then 4, then 8, and so on. That’s the cheat-iest way to reach the center of the galaxy in No Man’s Sky. It also totally ruins a big part of the game — exploration. Choose wisely, traveler!
