Normal: Recommended for all.
This contains the tutorial and all mechanics and should be played first.

Plus two more modes that remove enemies and loot, essentially giving you the ship and terrain. I do not recommend these until after you have tried the main game.
I will write more details when I get access to the game again

This is it, straight from the menu to the game, no loading at all.

You will be asked to choose your own name, not much weight to this right now so set it to something you like and we can move on.

WASD to move of course, mouse to look around
Space is jump, press space twice to activate your jetpack
G to activate your flashlight if things get a little dark
Shift to 'walk'

While using your jetpack,
Space to move up,
Ctrl to move down,
WASD to move in the respective direction.
Jetpack recharges while you are on the ground

Right now, you are jumping about on an asteroid, things are a little floaty since there is not much gravity, and well, it would get boring fast if it took you real time to walk everywhere.
Have a look around and explore if you wish
Once you are done, walk towards the green circle and we can find a way to expand our horizons

To get access to the ship, walk up the console on the right and press [F] to interact with it

Buttons descriptions bellow:
Open Airlock In: Opens the ship internally, allowing you to enter and walk around
Close Airlock: Seals both doors
Open Airlock Out: Closes the internal door and opens the external door to allow you to exit this ship be it on the ground or floating through space
Modify Ship Layout: Allows you to customise the interior of this ship. I recommend taking a look at this once you have played a for little while so you can customise it to fit your playstyle and aesthetic.
Remote Pilot Ship: You can fly the ship from the airlock hatch instead of the pilots station inside.

Open the airlock inwards and have walk around to get your bearings.

For a list of the ships furniture and equipment I recommend taking a look at Prof. Astrial Kronos guide here

When you are ready to start flying, walk up to the pilots chair, take a seat, and press [F] on the station to take control.

Follow the guide on screen to learn how to fly, controls are listed below for reference
Space to move up,
Ctrl to move down,
WASD to fly in the respective direction.
[Q] [E] to roll
[Right click] Clutch
Clutch+[W]/[S] Change up/down gear/flight mode

Note:
The gear shift may take some getting used to but can be very fun once you understand it
The ship will automatically level out on a planet. Options menu allows you to adjust how much and lets you turn it off
There have been a few comments on the forums about how floaty the ship is, the reason for this is there is no friction or air resistance in space so you have to put in effort to stop. Flight difficulty and other sensitivity can be adjusted in the options menu.

Once you are up in the air you should see a white + symbol, these indicate loot caches that can have ammo, datasticks, communications keys, and equipment for your ship.


Landing can be an issue as there is no landing gear for you to use.... well, technically there is a landing gear but... look it's hard to land. ok?
A trick some players like to use is finding a flat bit of land and holding [ctrl] as they exit the ship with [tab], this makes the ship continue flying downward 'locking' it to the surface.

I just do whatever works...
<===

Hop out of your ship and scavenge what you can, you don't have to pick up the green/grey barrels (though they sometimes hide fun stuff), what you want to always look for is the pink markers, crystals (later on), and red crates.

One of these things should contain a cruise engine upgrade, this is the 3rd gear for your ship that allows you to fly a little faster and cover more distance at once.
If you look up, you might notice a few more places you can visit now. Every circle is a location you can fly to. Some players are on the mission to explore every single one.
I wonder how well that's going for them.

Once you are done looting, jump back into your ship and try out this new gear and look for the closest asteroid.


Now you might notice something a little different about this next rock
If the green trail doesn't tip you off, the laser fire hitting the side of your hull should. These rocks are guarded!
You can't attack in cruising speed, you'll have to drop down to combat speed to fire back, and jump up to cruise to dodge.
Left click to open fire! (might take a few passes to kill them)

Once you have claimed the lives on the ship it's safe to drop down to loot the asteroid.
If you don't find the crystal on this one, look to see if there's another loot cache on this asteroid or fly to another and keep looking.

After you have picked up the crystal, and returned to your ship, you will notice 4 (?)'s around the sun.

I'll let you experience the next part, shift up into your new gear and head towards one of the markers


Note:
You might want to visit the place with the least amount of red dots around it first... just saying

Some find atmosphear entry a little difficult, I'll just share a few tips to make life a little easier.

• It's ok for your ship to be on fire, just make sure the fire stayes on the outside of your ship.
  
• If a fire starts inside, turn around, get back into space, and press the big red button on the opperations computer.
  
• Keep facing down. So long as you point the nose of your ship towards the ground, you're going in the right direction.
  
• Maintain a safe speed, it's ok to be on fire, but if you start to lose health, pull back just a little.
  
• Difficulty can be adjusted in the options menu

You should now have a strong enough understanding at this point to continue on as well as all of the main mechanics unlocked and open to you.
Keep searching on planets and asteroids to gain safe access to the other planets.

If you have any questions, don't be affraid to post them in the forums if you can't find it in the FAQ
There are a number of players who frequent the forums as well as the developer himself to help answer any questions people may have

Happy Hunting!

--Mirriky