No Man’s Sky’s pre-order bonus can break the game

It’s likely that by now you’re probably playing No Man’s Sky after it made its global debut on PS4 yesterday. Just like every other game on the market today, No Man’s Sky comes with is own set of pre-order bonuses, the largest of which is a shiny new ship that immediately replaces the limited jalopy you get at the start otherwise. It’s enticing to hop in and get a head start on your space-faring journey, but you might end up breaking the game for yourself.

The pre-order ship, which obnoxiously blinks on your HUD until you’ve claimed it, comes fully stocked for interstellar travel. That means it comes equipped with a Hyperdrive – a component that otherwise needs to be crafted for the ship you find at the start of the game. Without it hopping between galaxies is impossible, and every time you change your ship you have to craft a new one. Which presents a problem for players who let the pre-order bonus get ahead of themselves.

Reddit is full of players stuck in the game, having traded their pre-order bonus for a new ship (because inventory space is like gold). Only at this point the game requires them to craft a new Hyperdrive, which is impossible without the blueprint other players would’ve acquired through tutorials at the beginning of the game. It is possible to find one in the wild, but the odds are incredibly small (or just non-existent), given the random nature of each galaxy. And since you can’t jump to other galaxies without it, you’re essentially stuck.

It’s a tragic oversight on the part of Hello Games, who have yet to respond to the bug. It’s likely that this will be one of the first issues mended in the game’s next patch (remember how big that first one was?), among a host of other smaller tweaks that need to be made to the massive game. No Man’s Sky is daunting as it is, so just make sure you don’t make it even more difficult by trapping yourself in one comparatively small galaxy just a few minutes in.

Last Updated: August 11, 2016