How to Play Multiplayer in No Man’s Sky NEXT

One of the biggest new features to make its way into No Man’s Sky with the big NEXT update is the introduction of four-player multiplayer. How to play multiplayer in No Man’s Sky NEXT, and getting into a game with your friends is relatively easy. All you’ll need to do is follow a few simple steps to learn how to play multiplayer. In this article we’ll show you everything you need to know how to play multiplayer in No Man’s Sky, so let’s dive in and get started.

How to Host a Game

If you want to host your own game in No Man’s Sky and have all of your friends join you, then you’ll need to select a few options on your way into the game. When you first launch the game, you’ll see the screen below, where you can choose to start up your own save or join a friend’s.

From here it is as simple as selecting your save file and getting started. Your friends will automatically be able to join you now, so anyone on your friends list can hop into the game and get started at any time. From what we’ve seen, it almost always spawns them close by, so you shouldn’t have much trouble meeting up and exploring together.

How to Join a Game

Joining a game is a bit more complicated—well, not really complicated, but it does take a few more steps to complete. At the main menu, choose the option to Join Game. This will load up a menu with all of your friends currently listed. You’ll also be able to see how much people they have in their lobby, or even join a random game to play with people that you don’t know yet. This is a cool way to make new friends, so don’t be afraid to try it out.

Once you select the friend that you want to join, you’ll need to choose a save file. You can bring over all the stuff from another save file if you’d like—including upgrades, ship changes, items in your inventory, and more. Of course, the host’s game mode will need to match the game type that you originally set up for your save, so you won’t be able to bring creative save files into survival games.

After selecting the save file, the game will load in, and you’ll join your friends instantly, allowing you to start exploring the universe together. Exploring the world is a lot more fun with friends, so make sure you invite a couple more over to join the adventure.

For more information, be sure to learn how to build and claim a base, as well as how to get Chromatic Metal. These are important things you’ll need to be aware of, and you can find plenty of additional information like this in our No Man’s Sky NEXT guide.