Elite: Dangerous First Alpha Released to Backers

Pew! Pew! Pew! What’s that? The sound of lasers flying around in space as starships bombard each other with all manner of high-tech weaponry? Well, yes. It’s an impression of the sounds being made in the Alpha trailer for Elite: Dangerous, seen below.

UK-based developer Frontier Developments has just announced that players who backed the title on Kickstarter can now access the first ever alpha build, dubbed Phase One, of the space trading/combat game. The catch is that you’ll have to have donated at least 200 pounds to the Kickstarter program. Everyone else will have awhile yet to wait before they get their hands on the game.

Here’s what the deal is with the first Alpha:

"The aim of Phase One – 'Single Player Combat' is to test key aspects of ship control and combat systems," explains the developer, "Piloting a Sidewinder with varying weapon configurations, players progress through 8 single player scenarios — initially designed to familiarize players with the controls, gradually increasing in difficulty and complexity."

The developers state that Elite: Dangerous will be going through a multitude of alpha “phases” over the next few months. If you’d like to get in on the program, head on over to the official website.