No Man's Sky: How to Get a Pet Companion


Companions were added to No Man's Sky in 2021, allowing players to adopt creatures that they find as pets. You can feed them, add cosmetic items to them, and even get robot pets. Getting started isn't exactly straightforward, so we wanted to give you all of the info you'll need to get your first Companion. Let's take a look at how get a pet in No Man's Sky.

Read More: Why You Should Be Playing No Man's Sky in 2021

No Man's Sky: How to Get a Pet Companion

To get a pet in No Man's Sky you will need to land on a planet that has local fauna (most do), and then follow these steps:

  • Craft Creature Pellets, these are made from Carbon.
  • Approach the creature you'd like to adopt and feed them.
  • You'll then get the option to adopt them while they're eating.
  • They will be assigned to one of the slots in your creature menu, where you can manage their appearance and more.
  • To access the creature menu you need to head into the quick-menu (down on d-pad), and select the paw print icon.

adopting a creature in No Man's Sky. An information box is displayed on screen, detailing the pet's associated menus
click to enlarge
+ 2

Summoning a Companion

You can summon a pet by heading into the quick menu. Select 'Creatures' and then 'Summon'. You can choose between all available Companions. There are certain areas where you won't be able to do this, and on the Anomaly your pet will display as a hologram.

How to Unlock More Pet Slots


At the start of No Man's Sky you will only have a couple of slots for Companions. These can be purchased from the Creatures menu for Nanites. Each slot costs more money than the last, and you can have up to six pets in total.

The Animal Companions menu in No Man's Sky, showing locked pet slots that can be purchased for Nanites
click to enlarge
+ 2

Finding Robot Pet Companions

If synthetic Pets are more your thing, you'll want to look for robots. The first thing you need to do is fill your Hyperdrive with fuel, get some Ion Batteries, and then follow these steps:

  • Warp to an uncharted system. These will not have a race listed, and will say No Data in the economy information
  • Land on a planet, open the Creatures menu from quick-select
  • If Creature Pellets are listed here, go to another planet
  • Keep doing this until you see Ion Batteries in the Creatures menu, this means that a planet has robots
  • Look for robots and feed them Ion Batteries. You can then adopt them in the same way as animals.

Change Your Pet's Colour

You can change the colour of a pet by allowing it to lay an egg. Keep it on its native planet and feed it. If it's happy it will lay an egg. This will take 24 in-game hours. Take the egg to the Anomaly. The Egg Sequencer can be found next to the merchant that rates food. Up to the right if you are facing the Nexus from where you land. You'll see a Dye Injector option. Fill this with an item of the colour that you'd like to apply to the creature. It'll hatch as a different colour to its parent.

That's all you need to know about getting a Pet in No Man's Sky. For more help with the game be sure to check out our Essential Tips Guide. Once you're done there, visit our guide on getting a free Freighter.

For more articles like this, take a look at our No Man's Sky and Guides page.