Can you actually get to the center of the universe?

Question

(This question contains spoilers)

I've been trying to find out what happens if you reach the center of the universe in No Man's Sky. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find any actual information about it, since there seems to be some general confusion about the words "universe" and "galaxy".

By now, I'm aware that when you reach the center of a galaxy,

you get transported to another one, where the game appears to start over (except you get to keep all your equipment).

Many players have been angry or at least disappointed about this "ending", but is that really all there is to it?

This wiki page has a list of galaxies (eight at the time of writing), and mentions how the first five have actual names while the others are procedurally generated. Apparently, all players go through these galaxies in the same order, which makes me think they're following a specific direction, but I can't find any info about where all that actually leads.

Do the galaxies just keep generating forever? Or do you eventually get to the promised center of the universe, for a real ending?

Answer 1

Based on this site, there are over 40 named galaxies (though most appear procedurally named). Also, from the link,

According to game data manipulation, the procedural engine can generate up to 256 distinct-looking galaxies (using an 8=bit seed); galaxies after the 256th will start looking like previously generated ones.

From this, it seems like reaching the center of a galaxy will just send you to another. If everyone does go through the same galaxies in order, then an ending seems unlikely. Unless the developers expect the average user to explore 256 galaxies before reaching the "end," which I highly doubt (plus 256 is only the number of UNIQUE galaxies; there could be duplicates), I'd say there is no true ending.

To answer your question, though, at this time, no, it doesn't look like you can reach the center of the universe, just the galaxies.