I am on a quest to make a chocolate cake. Not a real one I could do that in half an hour downstairs. No, this is a No Man’s Sky cake; an item which has arrived in the game after the Beyond update as part of a new food crafting system. After carting refined flour (which I crafted from Heptaploid Wheat), churned butter (Wild Milk), bittersweet cocoa (Impulse Beans) and processed sugar (Sweet Root) around the galaxy map for days I gave up on trial and error and consulted the wiki. Turns out I need Creature Eggs.
Prior to Beyond, the thing which kept me exploring No Man’s Sky was the photo mode. I’d bounce from planet to planet, solar system to solar system in search of stunning vistas and weird creatures to record. This time, as a result of the food crafting, I’ve found myself more engrossed in the game itself rather than its aesthetic, seeking out ingredients and unexpected combinations.