If you have followed the path of the Atlas in No Man’s Sky, you may already be carrying a few Atlas Stones. While the game never really tells you what to DO with Atlas Stones, we now know what the deal is. (Some spoilers ahead.)
Yes, Atlas Stones sell for a pretty penny, and at first, you’re likely just going to get rid of them — inventory space is precious in No Man’s Sky when you’re just starting out. By the end of the game, however, you want to make sure you have 10 Atlas Stones in your inventory, before you decide to visit the centre of the galaxy. This is all predicated on the idea that you want to play No Man’s Sky while guided by Atlas of course; if you have no intention of following the standard progression path, then feel free to get rid of all your Atlas Stones and to carry on as you see fit.
If the idea of keeping Atlas Stones sounds ridiculous, do note that you can vastly expand your inventory space as you play; the most I’ve seen is dozens of spaces for your Exosuit, and that’s without counting whatever space you may have on your ship.
As we noted in our tips post, a quick and easy way of getting more slots is to seek out Drop Pods on planets, or to purchase whatever Exosuit upgrades you may come across while on your travels.
If you want to know more specifics of what 10 Atlas Stones can actually do, keep reading. Otherwise, let this arsehole dinosaur who tried to kill me once act as your final spoiler warning.
OK, so: When you complete your journey with Atlas, you have a choice. You can continue to explore the galaxy, OR, you can birth an entirely new galaxy using 10 Atlas Stones. Making a new galaxy is, as far as we can tell, the closest thing No Man’s Sky has to “beating” the game, but really, getting to that point just starts everything over someplace new, as you’ll see below in RabidRetrospectGames. Fast-forward to the 12:05 mark if you want to see the “ending”; the rest of the video is the full Atlas path.
Depending on what you’re playing No Man’s Sky for, getting to the centre of the galaxy may not appeal to you at all, in which case you shouldn’t worry about Atlas Stones. Just sell ’em. That said, looking at the video above, it really does look like the payoff is nice. I mean, you put in all this work to find out “what it all means”, and this feels like an appropriate answer to that.
It means nothing. It means everything, again and again.
Also, the 65daysofstatic track that plays when you create a new galaxy is terrific, and worth the price of admission alone.
Kind of wild to think that the opening moments of the game, after you wake up in a crash landing, may have been the result of another galaxy birth. Damn.
Comments
16 responses to “Hang Onto Your Atlas Stones In No Man’s Sky”
Stop telling me what to do Kotaku and let me figure it out for myself. This was how the game was created.
Your website does this every big game launch – putting valuable information into article titles.
And yet, the multiple times the word Spoiler appeared didnt warn you? You just HAD to keep reading?
Its kind of how the internet works. People want information, others supply it. Some dont want that information, they have the totally self controlled option to not read it.
Did you even read the post? ‘putting valuable information into article titles.’
And others can’t give a toss about playing, or spoilers, and are pissed off about how a small but vocal crowd of whiners insist on trying to stamp out every minor discussion of a game until the whiners have themselves personally experienced every trivial game element in blissful ignorance. One wonders how these types of people manage to find any value in being on the internet at all.
Oh please. It’s not about whining, it’s about respect to the consumer or readership.
I specifically said the title. You can discuss spoilers all you like, I don’t give a hoot. But there should be a certain amount of tact when it comes to titling articles to inadvertently spoil parts of a game which is designed around ‘figuring it out’
Before you clicked through, you had no idea WHY the atlas stones were important, only that you should hold on to them. Thats not a spoiler, thats a teaser. And a pretty clear clue there will be spoliers in the article proper. Which is added on by the fact that ‘Some spoilers ahead’ is in the short spiel below the heading.
Like angorafish, I get annoyed with people who complain about the smallest things like that. Heres a tip. If you dont want any spoilers on the biggest game release happening, perhaps you should stay away from gaming sites the day its released. Or if you cant help yourself, perhaps you dont click through to the article if there is so clearly going to be a spoiler of any sort.
The fault lies with you, not Kotaku, which is just doing its job. It IS a gaming website after all, its going to have spoilers which is sometimes going to be reflected in the title. You do understand that a title is meant to give a solid idea what the article is about dont you?
Ultimately you are right. Sorry
Then stop reading articles that clearly say ‘spoilers ahead’ ya dummy.
Did you actually watch the video, you don’t make a new galaxy, only a new star at the edge of the galaxy.
I just want to find one bloody atlas stone 9 hours on one planet and i have no idea where or what to look for.
I don’t mind if I don’t find an atlas stone on my starting planet, but I do have an uncontrollable urge to discover absolutely everything on my planet before moving on to another one. About 6 or 7 hours in so far and it doesn’t look like I’ll be leaving anytime soon.
Yeah i have stayed on my starting planet (roughly 9 hours now) and i think i am now starting to go in circles. Still sitting on just 88% completion though and had been for about 4 hours of that time.
Stupid question, but where do you find the completion stat for the planet you’re on? Can’t recall seeing it anywhere.
I am not sure if it is actually a completion stat at all but it is found where you go to upload your discoveries. Press options and it should be above the flora/fauna stuff you may have uploaded.
it might be something entirely different i am not sure however that is what i interpreted it to be.
Ah, cheers. Had the feeling it would be in a fairly obvious spot and I wasn’t looking hard enough. Won’t be able to check it out till tomorrow though, don’t have power at the new place till then.
Bummer, oh well keep me posted on what you were at on the planet.
No worries. Where I left off yesterday I just found a crashed ship and even though I’ve finished fixing up my starting ship I feel compelled to fix this one too.
I think when you find the centre of the universe it should be a room with a tiny babies hovering in mid air, holding orbs, and when you look at the orb, it’s a whole universe in there.
And then you look up, and there’s a giant pair of baby hands in the sky… holding YOUR universe!
Then you unite the babies, and fight the giant baby, and just as you’re about to defeat him, the giant baby holds you up, and it turns out that YOU’RE just another baby. The Giant baby puts you back in your seat, and says…”Ok sentinel 352-D, that’s enough. Back to work” and hands you your orb.
Then the screen goes black, and you see a light, and it gets bigger, and you THINK it’s the centre of the universe. But it’s not…. it’s the light of the real world, and you’re just seeing out the end of the vaginal canal and you’re ACTUALLY just being born, in real life.
And all this cosmic mystery and wonder and exploration is an explanation of what it’s like to be conceived and formed from nothing and THAT’s why it’s no MAN’s sky…cos you’re seeing it all from the perspective of the inside of your mother.
Aaaaaaaand scene.
*smokes cigarette*
“cigarette”
Nice hello games. Give a tiny inventory so you can fill it up with ten unstackable stones labeled as “curiosities”. Fuck. You. What a stupid shitty “quest”. I’m loving the game but this just pissed me off so bad..