No Man's Sky: How to get and use Atlas Stones to create an Atlas Pass

Open all those damn frustrating doors with ease.

No Man's Sky features a wide open universe for you to explore, but some things in its world are universal. One universal fact is that you'll frequently find bases both on planets and out off in space that contain rooms and containers that are locked. Another universal fact is that these containers can be opened with something called an Atlas Pass.

What is an Atlas Pass? How can you get one? No Man's Sky isn't always the clearest in-game, and that's by design. If you can't wait to find out or have reached the end of your patience and need some help fret not - we've got you covered.

How to get an Atlas Pass early on

The problem with the early stages of No Man's Sky is that the game throws you in at the deep end on a planet that's entirely yours - it'll be untouched by any other player.

That planet is populated in the same sort of way as any other, even those you'll find in the late game. As a result it's full of things that you can't access early on - doors you can't open, boxes that'll remain sealed shut. Try not to let this frustrate too much - the game can prod you towards your Atlas Pass very early on, but it is something you can zip past if you're not careful. Here's how you get one:

• First thing's first: the quickest way to get an Atlas Pass is to follow the in-game story, and that's done by choosing the 'Atlas Path' when the orb next to your crashed ship offers you the choice in the opening.
• After choosing that path you'll need to leave your starting planet. The game is quite kind about this: it guides you through collecting the resources needed to repair your ship. Along the way you're likely to find sealed containers or bases with closed doors you can't open, but right now there's nothing you can do about that.
• Once you're out in space you simply need to keep following the basic missions of the game. If you ever got lost, keep track of this under the Discoveries tab in the menu.
• Eventually you'll come across a Monolith that will point you towards an Atlas Space Station. If you're not on the Atlas Path keep in mind that these stations can be found and interacted with through manual play, but this is the quickest way to be directed to one specifically.
• Inside the Atlas Station a giant red orb will be present. Interact with it and it'll gift you an Atlas Stone and an Atlas Pass blueprint. At this point you can craft yourself your first Atlas Pass. Crafting an Atlas Pass once you have the blueprint is quite cheap - it'll set you back 25 Iron and 10 Heidium.
• As the game progresses you'll encounter more of these Atlas Stations, and doing so will gradually give you the ability to unlock higher levels of Atlas Pass that can unlock doors and chests with better loot.

If you're not following the Atlas Path from the start of the game, all of No Man's Sky takes on a different and more free-form flow. As a result there's no obvious pathway to find the Atlas Pass blueprint. You need to hope you stumble upon or find something that guides you to an Atlas Station (monoliths are particularly handy for this) or alternatively a Space Anomaly - space stations that contain friendly aliens.

Sometimes these aliens will reward you with the Atlas Pass Blueprint for answering their speech-check conversations favorably - but this'll take longer.

We'll update this page as we figure out more methods to get our hands on Atlas Stones, so keep an eye on this page. For now, good hunting!