4 things you should know before jumping into 'No Man's Sky,' one of the biggest games of the year

After years of anticipation, we'll finally be able to get our hands on "No Man's Sky," an unimaginably massive game about exploring a universe that was generated entirely by math. Boasting a reported 18 quintillion planets for players to explore, people are naturally incredibly excited about the seemingly endless possibilities in the game.

Still, the game has been plagued by many questions since it was announced. What do you actually do? Is it truly endless? Is this going to be the last game you ever need to buy?

To help clear things up, here's an explanation for the four main components of the game: Explore, Fight, Trade and Survive.

Explore

"No Man's Sky" is set in a massive universe that was generated through algorithms, meaning its quintillions of planets were created by math, not by human hands. That means, theoretically, the game's developers don't even know all of what is out there!

Basically, your goal as the player is to get to the center of the universe. In order to do that, you'll need to collect resources on each planet so you can upgrade your ship and character, making it possible to reach new, even more exotic destinations.

Exploration is, first and foremost, what you do in "No Man's Sky." The other three components of the game are important, too, but they all exist in service of helping you explore as much of the universe as you can.

Fight

With exploration comes risk. It's just a fact of life. That's where combat comes in.

Though it's certainly not the point of the game, there will almost surely be situations in "No Man's Sky" that can't be solved with diplomacy. There are entire alien civilizations trying to inhabit the same universe as you, and some of them probably aren't super happy about it.

If you so desire, you can upgrade your ship's weapons and character's guns to make combat your first choice in any situation. It's really up to you!

Trade

If you don't like to fight, don't fret. There are plenty of aliens out there who are totally cool with your existence, and are willing to do business with you.

You can dock at space stations and trade resources for space cash, but be warned: You can't talk to aliens until you learn their language. You'll learn alien languages slowly as you explore the universe by finding relics or talking to aliens, so you won't be able to talk to everyone right away.

If you become buddies with any of the alien races in the game, you might get cheaper prices on goods from them or other benefits. It pays to be friendly!