The teaser trailer to the expansion “Horizons” for Elite Dangerous has been released, leaving the imaginations of intrepid pilots and players of ED abuzz. This season of expansions will begin later this year, starting with planetary landings.
Gigantic open worlds await, with the horizons expansion aiming to bring the sandbox experience of the Elite galaxy to the game’s previously overlooked planets. Players have a whole experience and an entire new style of game-play to look forward to on the near-endless amounts of planets in the game, with Braben citing mineral deposits, crashed ships, surface star ports, hidden bases, and other things as planetary features.
Would-be explorers will be able to settle into orbit around, fly over, or land on planets starting with airless, rocky worlds. From there, players will can release a“Surface Recon Vehicle” and be able to travel the planets surface at high speeds. The tiny SRV holds an advantage in its small size, making it hard to be picked up by long-range scanners, and with its speed, ships will find difficulty locking and firing upon them. Players who opt to enter into this new series of worlds will discover items, events, and other content unique to planetary surfaces.
Players who choose to not purchase this expansion will still share the same universe as those that do, and the ED team promises to “keep the community together”. All Elite: Dangerous players will retain all of their progress whenever/if they choose to join the new season of expansions.
Elite Dangerous: Horizons is available to pre-order on the ED store today. All existing ED members have been offered a £10 loyalty discount off the Horizons retail price. The Cobra Mk IV has also been announced as a new, permanent addition to the game, with sales of it open to anyone who joined the game in its first year.
The Lifetime Expansion Pass has also been been placed back on sale due to popular demand, this time with a price tag set at £130, a large increase from the beta access price of £35. It is unclear how long this offer will remain, or if it will be available again. Those players serious about ED that missed it the first time around may wish to consider this new limited offer. Frontier has promised to expand ED with new and exciting content, and from what we can see in the teaser, those new Horizons draw near.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Wolf Merrik.