'The Return' Update Is Live For 'Elite Dangerous'

After two long years, the Thargoids are back in Elite Dangerous, and they’re out for blood. Frontier Developments released update 2.4, a.k.a. “The Return,” and with it comes a lengthy list of patch notes.

In addition to the arrival of the hostile aliens, the studio also made improvements to existing features. This includes adding new hairstyles, eyewear, and outfits for the Holo-Me (character customization) system. You can now save multiple character appearances within Holo-Me as well. Those who use the Synthesis crafting mechanic will now have new recipes to create heat sinks, chaff countermeasures, limpets, and charges to refill your life support system. If you live in the Colonia region of the galaxy, you’ll see new planetary bases to explore.

The updates above are for those who purchased the Horizons expansion for the game, but those without it will still benefit from the new update. For instance, you can now embark on missions that will take more time to complete. Some of these missions will take you to different star systems, so Frontier made sure to update the route plotting feature. Not only does the system work faster but it also tells you the last available star to siphon fuel from before your tank is empty. There are also new stations in the Colonia and Pleiades regions, and new salvage scenarios were added so that scavengers will have more commodities to sell in the galactic market.

The 7GB update also includes a multitude of fixes for many aspects of the game. This includes areas such as audio, faction behavior, missions, multi-crew setups, and even the Elite Dangerous servers themselves. There are also numerous changes to the current lineup of ships, although the patches seem to focus on cosmetic changes, so nothing should change in terms of performance with each spacecraft.

For more details on The Return, you can view the patch notes in full on the Frontier Development forums. This is just the beginning of the war against the Thargoids. The studio said that in the coming months, players will need to devise new tactics and create new weapons in order to repel the Thargoid threat. Otherwise, humanity’s domination in the galaxy will slowly diminish.