so the most recent update to No Man's Sky is an excellent place to start playing if you like the social aspects of games - there's a new roadtrip-esque game mode where all players start on the same planet, and have to complete goals and win prizes while traveling to the finish line.

These goals you have to complete, when done in order, are basically a tutorial with pizzazz, and the rewards are usually items that make it so you don't ever need to grind - like, just *going* to a red star rewards you with tons of the metal you usually mine from red systems, so you don't have to land and mine, you can just pass through and check it off the list. So, you're spending all of your time actively playing the game and learning new systems.

And that leads to the best part - NMS has always been difficult to figure out the basics of, for a lot of people. Often all that works is someone explaining things in real time. In this mode, since everyone is following the same route, you'll be surrounded by other players who can help you. Chat reaches everyone in the same star system, so it's no trouble for them, either.

After this event is over, in two months, your Expedition mode profile will just turn into a regular mode profile, so you don't lose any of the awesome endgame stuff you earned when you start playing the game normally, and you'll be fully prepared.

If the reason you'd like NMS is the solitude and vastness, avoid this mode like the plague. But for social players this is perfect.