A few weeks ago, meanwhile, the studio announced it will soon be expanding access to Elite Dangerous 4.0 – a version previously exclusive to Odyssey players – to everyone who owns the base game. In March this year, Frontier cancelled all console development of the game to focus on Elite and Odyssey. But the response to the expansion has already resulted in some significant rethinking at the studio. There are things that we could do better here.''īetterton doesn't provide any specifics about Frontier's plans for Odyssey. 'There's never a day that goes by where we don't have a conversation about looking at this thing and going: 'We can still make this better. We want to continue to make the game better,' Betterton says. 'The thing I would say is that we're listening to that feedback.

When I broach the subject of Odyssey, Frontier are keen to stress that it is fully aware of player grievances. Over a year on from release, the expansion still carries a 'Mostly Negative' rating on Steam, standing in stark contrast to reviews for vanilla Elite Dangerous (now bundled with its Horizons expansion), which remain firmly positive. Complaints ranged from extensive bugs and performance issues to more fundamental criticisms about the implementation of the expansion's on-foot exploration and FPS combat. Launched in May last year, Elite's second expansion was, to put it lightly, not well received by Elite's community.

As I gear up to chat with lead game designer Luke Betterton and senior producer Samantha Marsh, the Thargoid in the room is Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. It's an event that has already had a major impact on Elite's universe, and Frontier are excited to discuss the studio's plans for the game and its narrative as it pushes into a new phase for the galaxy, simply known as 'Aftermath'.īut the drama surrounding Elite Dangerous isn't limited to the game's overarching story. The most recent update to Frontier Developments' epic space sim, Update 13, saw the conclusion of the story's Azimuth Saga, culminating in a disastrous attempt to stop the incursion of the Thargoids – Elite's hostile race of insectoid aliens.

The last year or so of Elite Dangerous has been the most dramatic since the game launched in 2014.

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