A few months after the arrival of the Outlaws update, Hello Games dropped the Leviathan Expedition as extra content around the base game, but what is it, how long does it last, and what is the point of it? Let’s find out.

What is the Leviathan Expedition in No Man’s Sky¶

While the Outlaws updates and patches were in the numbers of 3.85 onwards, the Leviathan Expedition takes the version of the game to 3.90 and beyond.

Arriving at the end of May 2022, Leviathan is set to run for around six weeks, at the time of writing, which means there are about two of those weeks remaining if you wish to take part in No Man’s Sky’s seventh community event.

Hello Games wanted to do something different with Leviathan to much of what has gone before it, saying at release, “we are very excited to bring you No Man’s Sky’s latest expedition: Leviathan. We aim to give every expedition a unique character and style of gameplay, but we think Leviathan feels especially different.

The seventh Expedition sees Travellers stuck in a permadeath time loop - when you die - and you will die - the loop is reset and it is back to the beginning you go.

As players seek a way to unbind the time-loop curse, they will find a story-driven adventure at the heart of the expedition.

At this point, at least until the end of the event, nobody knows what is going to happen. All the devs have said so far is, “Shattered memories all point towards an encounter with an ancient space creature, The Leviathan – but will Travellers succeed in reshaping history, or are they doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?

Leviathan Expedition hints and tips to get started¶

Spread across five Iterations, each consisting of its own milestones - completing which brings your rewards. There are also optional milestones that add to a community reward pot at the end - so helping out may bring a grander prize for all players come the end of the Expedition.

Find your ship¶

The planet you start on is hot, hot, hot and will kill you quick, quick, quick so you need to get to your ship as a matter of urgency. Don’t worry about anything other than getting there and cranking up the air-con.

All players who are playing at the same time as you will have their ships parked up next to yours in one big galactic car park so head to the ship icon on your compass as quickly as possible.

Once you are there you are basically starting a sequence of events and mini side0quests that you need to complete in order to earn rewards. Some of these are really simple, such as, well, dying, or accessing memory fragments in your inventory. These will help unlock rewards that will aid you as the Iterations go on.

For example, in much the same as the base game, before you can get going anywhere, you are going to need to repair your ship. And you are going to need a Hermetic Seal in order to do so. However, unlike in the “tutorial” you aren’t given one here, you are going to need to craft your own from COndensed Carbon, which involves gathering Carbon (thankfully plentiful) and then building a Refiner and refining it.

It’s nothing you haven’t necessarily done a million times before in the main game but this new structure and missions actually make a lot of sense and are fun to boot.

You can also flick in and out between your normal save and your Expedition save, and when the expedition ends, your save will be converted into a regular Survival Permadeath save so you can carry on in that environment should you wish.

Remember to collect your rewards in NMS Expedition 7¶

After passing each milestone - and some you will pass without even realizing you are doing anything, remember to hit Escape and visit the Expeditions tab. Here it will show you if you have rewards to collect. Clicking on them will collect them, it might be things such as Memory Fragments that will reveal enhancements for your gear such as extra inventory slots and the like, or simple resources. Either way, collecting them as you go along will make things easier for your progress.

Leviathan Expedition Rewards¶

Iteration 1¶

Reward for completing Iteration: Leviathan Poster plans, Timesplice Poster plans, The Loop Poster plans

Iteration 2¶

Reward for completing Iteration: Temporal Starship Trail

Iteration 3¶

Reward for completing Iteration: Whalestalker Cloak

Iteration 4¶

Reward for completing Iteration: Organic Frigate Calf plans

Iteration 5¶

Reward for completing Iteration: Looper Title, Leviathan Expedition Decal , Leviathan Expedition Banner

How to Claim the Leviathan Frigate¶

Initially the ability to claim the Leviathan Frigate for all your other saves was badly bugged and it took a while for the devs to fix it. Now though, all you need to to do is complete all of the above and redeem it from the Expeditions tab, as you did with all the other rewards. From there, to use it any of your other saves, head to the Anomaly and claim it from the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion who you will find there.