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While it had a rocky start, No Man's Sky has become more and more compelling and full of content with each update it receives from the amazing Hello Games development team. Nowadays, this game offers an experience full of surprises as well as new species, ships, and items to discover throughout your adventures.

Related: All No Man's Sky Multi-Tool Weapons, Ranked

While exploring the more than 18 quintillion procedurally-generated planets the game has to offer, which is an adventure by itself, there's a particular destination every player will, at some point, set out to reach. After all the exploring is done, all that's left to do is accomplish the ultimate goal, get to the center of the galaxy.

Updated July 14, 2023, by Sean Murray: Wanna know how to get to the center of the galaxy in No Man's Sky? This guide has been refreshed with the latest info to help make your journey to the Galactic Core that much easier.

What Is The Center Of The Galaxy?

No Man's Sky Center of Euclid Galaxy Map

In No Man's Sky, the center of the galaxy is considered the "end" game, and reaching that point has a slight plot twist.

The methods to reach this center may vary depending on what planet the player is on and their distance in light-years from the center. Some players will be lucky enough to be relatively close, others not so much. So how exactly do you get there?

Step One: Follow The Normal Course Of The Game

No Man's sky Sentinel Ship Being Destroyed

If you want to get there, just start at the beginning. Repair your ship, get all the resources available on your home planet, and go out and explore outer space.

You can also have some fun with one of the best aspects of the game, its ships; be it an Explorer, Fighter, Hauler, Exotic, etc. You might even get yourself an S-Class ship!

No Man's Sky's Artemis Path questline will eventually lead to The Purge, which will task you with heading to the center of the galaxy. More on that later, but just know that completing quests will eventually take you to the galaxy's core.

Step Two: Upgrade Your Hyperdrive

No Man's Sky Ship In Space Lens Flare

If you want to travel the stars, you're going to need a Hyperdrive. This faster-than-light engine will take you from one star system to the next and is crucial for reaching the Galactic Core.

The Hyperdrive, also known as the Warp Drive, has several possible upgrades, and the more it has, the greater the distance in light-years you'll be able to jump. You'll want to upgrade your Hyperdrive with the Indium Drive upgrade (blueprints are available at the Nexus) as well as the best upgrade modules you can find (preferably S-class).

The maximum number of Upgrade Modules you can use is three. Be sure to arrange the upgrade modules around the Hyperdrive in order to receive the highest possible adjacency bonus.

Related: No Man's Sky: Every Expansion And What Was Added

Step Three: Clear Some Inventory Space For Warp Cells

No Man's Sky Explorer Ship Inventory

If you rely exclusively on the use of the Hyperdrive to get to the center of the galaxy, you'll need a lot of storage for fuel since it's a very, very long trip. The more storage you have, the more Warp Cells you can store, each one equivalent to one jump.

Plus, the extra space will be very helpful for storing repair materials. Trust us, you'll need it.

Step Four: Follow The Waypoint

No Man's Sky Ship In Space

Once you've completed the Artemis Path and unlocked The Purge quest, you'll have a waypoint that will route to the center of the galaxy. Or, more accurately, the nearest Gateway System.

Gateway Systems are the surrounding systems of the center of the galaxy, and jumping to them puts you one jump away from the Galactic Core.

Once the Galactic Core is chosen as a destination on the Galactic Map, the way to reach the center starts to vary.

Method One: Just Warp Until You Get There

No Man's Sky Explorer Ship Warping

This is possibly the most tedious method, especially if you are nowhere near the Galactic Core. It consists of jumping from star system to star system, each time getting a little closer to the Galactic Core. This method uses a lot of Warp Cells and can take a very long time.

Be sure to check your progress on the Galactic Map, which shows your distance to the core in the upper left corner.

As previously mentioned, you'll want a ship that can warp long distances in order to shorten the number of jumps required to reach the Galactic Core. However, even a fully-upgraded Hyperdrive will likely run out of fuel before reaching it, requiring periodic pit-stops to refuel.

Related: No Man's Sky: Crucial Tips For Beginners

Method Two: Use Black Holes

No Man's Sky Ship Heading Into Black Hole

Black Holes are one of the fastest ways to reach the center of the galaxy. Each hole will spit you closer to the Galactic core faster than just using Hyperdrive.

However, doing this will randomly and unavoidably damage some part of your ship every time you use one. Be sure to have plenty of spare materials to make repairs.

You can get the location of a black hole by going to the Space Anomaly and asking NPC Priest Entity Nada or NPC Polo. This will cause a waypoint to appear on your Galactic Map that will guide you to the hole.

Method Three: Use The Portals

The Portal in No Man's Sky

This method is perhaps the most complicated, but it's easily the fastest. The galactic portal network can be used to cross vast distances, going from the galactic rim to its very core in a single leap.

To fully use them, you need to learn glyphs (graphical coordinates) either by obtaining a new symbol by talking to travelers of different species and visiting their graves or by completing the Artemis Path. There are 16 glyphs in total, and from them, a portal address of 12 symbols can be formed. To locate a Portal Terminal, you'll first need to go to an Alien Monolith.

A trick you can use here is to reach the center using another player's help. They must have a home base in a star system close to the center or directly in a Gateway System that has a portal. Then they provide their portal address and using the nexus, you can teleport to this new location and jump with the Hyperdrive from there.

There are a number of tricks to getting portal coordinates near the center of the galaxy. The No Man's Sky Coordinate Exchange subreddit has a few threads with this info. Also, entering 12 sunrise glyphs will take you to within a half-dozen jumps of any Galactic Core.

Tips For Getting To The Center Of The Galaxy

No Man's Sky Black Hole
  • Use an Explorer or Exotic ship as your main ship for the trip with the Hyperdrive, as these ships possess a higher warp speed than the others.
  • When you make the final jump to the center of the galaxy, do it with a ship you don't care so much about (although you will obviously have to equip it with a Hyperdrive).
    • Jumping through the Galactic Core can be rough and will damage several of your ship's systems. Best do it in a beater ship so that you don't have to scavenge too much for repairs.
  • It can come in very handy to take repair materials with you.

Next: No Man's Sky: Everything You Need to Know About Having A Companion