'Elite Dangerous Horizons' Set To Land On Dec 15, Still Considered Early Access
Last week, Frontier Developments kicked off the beta phase of Elite Dangerous 2.0, aka Elite Dangerous Horizons. However, the team still wasn’t willing to announce a release date for the finished version, saying only that it will arrive before the end of the year. But after two weeks in beta, the first expansion for Elite Dangerous officially comes out on December 15.
Aside from the official announcement, company founder and CEO David Braben also brought up the announcement on the game’s forums. He said that the team has been working hard on the expansion’s development, as another update (which Braben called “Beta 5”) is on its way to those who have been playing the beta for the past week. It seems like most of the work has been focused on ensuring compatibility between the base game and expansion, as the goal was to keep all players in the same universe whether they had the expansion or not.
The beta was initially delayed for a week as the team worked on the transition from a 32- to 64-bit client for the game, so if you do plan on picking up the expansion, note that a 64-bit OS is required.
When it comes out next week, only the planetary landings feature will be available from the expansion. The expansion allows pilots to land on many planets throughout the galaxy. However, more features are planned for Horizons, including multi-crew ships, new ships, and looting and crafting mechanics, but those are coming in the next few months. As a result, Horizons will still be considered an Early Access expansion.
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Rexly Peñaflorida II is a Contributor at Tom’s Hardware. He writes news on tech and hardware, but mostly focuses on gaming news. As a Chicagoan, he believes that deep dish pizza is real pizza and ketchup should never be on hot dogs. Ever. Also, Portillo’s is amazing.
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Quixit This game looks good, I can't wait for it to come out so I can buy it. Have they even announced the release date?Reply -
kyle382 This game looks good, I can't wait for it to come out so I can buy it. Have they even announced the release date?
sadly no. Just a lot of very well polished alpha stuff right now. Maybe 2017?
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therealduckofdeath The b*tthurt SC trolls are here, as usual...Reply
Horizons will be out next week, as the headline says. -
Markypoozle I'm not sure why we care about elite dangerous? Isn't Tom's Hardware a hardware oriented site? Could we please stop talking about ED Horizons?Reply -
jasonelmore The developers need to focus on making a single player campaign, or a online campaign. Even to this day, getting started in Elite dangereous is a daunting task. I literally had to spend 2 hours watching video's and reading guides just to get started and complete my first mission.Reply
It's a massive sandbox space game, but it needs lore, a traditional linear plot that teaches fundamentals.
Also they are charging $59.99 for a expansion which is a bit expensive. -
therealduckofdeath You're not paying the full price for the expansion. There is a lore, and it is in my opinion going to be the most exceptional online game experiment ever. It's an entire galaxy evolving in real time, and they're planning to let it evolve for ten years, at least. There will never be a scripted gameplay in it. This is not that type of game.Reply -
sixbone I absolutely love the fact that you have to figure out how to do everything on your own. I'm SICK of all the games that have to hold your hand for the first 2 hours of gameplay.Reply -
jragonsoul The b*tthurt SC trolls are here, as usual...
We reading the same thread? What SC trolls? Not a single comment but your is referencing SC. OH! I get it, you're an ED Troll! Makes sense now.
Horizons will be out next week, as the headline says. -
toddybody The b*tthurt SC trolls are here, as usual...
We reading the same thread? What SC trolls? Not a single comment but your is referencing SC. OH! I get it, you're an ED Troll! Makes sense now.
Horizons will be out next week, as the headline says.
Hey, my mother is a literal troll...and I take great offense by these jokes. -
spectrewind The developers need to focus on making a single player campaign, or a online campaign. Even to this day, getting started in Elite dangereous is a daunting task. I literally had to spend 2 hours watching video's and reading guides just to get started and complete my first mission.
It's a massive sandbox space game, but it needs lore, a traditional linear plot that teaches fundamentals.
Also they are charging $59.99 for a expansion which is a bit expensive.
It has lore. And history... Seems like most of you players are looking for a Call-of-Duty style gaming on rails experience. This is explicitly NOT that. Yes, it is a sandbox... the size of the galaxy... If you align yourself with a powerplay faction and start working with, or against that faction, then the real game starts to appear... and there are plenty of ways to get yourself into stressful situations, plenty of drama, things to learn, things to adapt to...
The game does have on offline mode where you and basically teach yourself how to play against bots only.
Play in OPEN PLAY mode, flying missions, and have wings of other CMDRs try to make you buy your ship again.
Most of the reviewers (including THG) are peddling around an a stock SIDEWINDER, give it a couple hours, then write a (completely clueless) 'review'.