How to find Corrupted Planets in No Man’s Sky

The Interceptor Update for No Man’s Sky introduced a host of creepy new content, including Sentinel Interceptor ship and planets covered by a bizarre corruption. This guide outlines how to find Corrupted Planets in No Man’s Sky, because you’ve got no hope of encountering the strangest sights the game offers unless you find them.

Related: No Man’s Sky Interceptor Update Hub – Corrupted Planets, Sentinels, Starships & Resources

How do you find Corrupted Planets?

Once you’ve downloaded the latest version of No Man’s Sky, you need to load into a save, make sure you’ve got some fuel for your Warp Drive, and open the galaxy map. Corrupted Planets will only appear in a new type of star system. Search around the nearby systems to find one with the new “Dissonant” descriptor attached. Sometimes this descriptor will say “Water,” but you need to make sure it’s a Dissonant system if you want to find a Corrupted Planet.

Warp to the system and then start scanning the planets around you. It’s worth noting that this system will likely be undiscovered, so register it if you want to give it a funny name. While scanning the planets, you need to be on the lookout for a new item on the list of resources and information that comes up. Corrupted Planets will always have “Corrupted Sentinels” listed in their description. It’s not enough to have Sentinel Activity. These need to be Corrupted Sentinels specifically. Once you’ve found that planet, and there should be one in every Dissonant system, fly directly to it.

Related: No Man’s Sky Release Date on Twinfinite

What are Corrupted Planets?

Corrupted Planets are home to purple crystals that house Radiant Shards and Atlantideum. The Sentinels here have become Corrupted Sentinels because those purple crystals have attached themselves and grown on the machines. Corrupted Sentinels look very strange, with darker metal, spider-like appearances, and a new ability to cloak themselves so they can attack you unawares. It seems as though the Dissonance Resonators one these worlds are pulling the corruption out of the planet so it can infect the Sentinels.

You can also fight the Corrupted Sentinels to find abandoned bases that hold new Multi-Tool technology and crashed Sentinel Interceptor ships. The Interceptor Update added Corrupted Planets and a host of new items for players to collect, but there’s no real explanation for this corruption. Players will need to wait for the next No Man’s Sky update before fully understanding why these purple crystals are being harvested so they can corrupt the Sentinels.