Elite Dangerous will be getting the eleventh update to its Odyssey expansion in early 2022, and the Drake-class fleet carriers are looking pretty swanky inside. Frontier Developments isn’t messing around with the next big patch, and Odyssey has already been a smash hit since it was released in 2020, giving players a chance to explore the galaxy more closely.
Known for having a huge learning curve, jumping into the space flight simulator can be overwhelming, even to the most seasoned gamer. Featuring a realistic 1:1 scale open-world representation of the Milky Way galaxy, it also has open-ended gameplay, giving each person free rein to traverse the galaxy however they see fit. Released in 2014, the massively multiplayer title isn’t what you’d expect–players’ actions impact the narrative of the game’s universe, but Elite Dangerous still plays like a single-player title. Players can explore over 400 billion star systems, with griefing only permitted if players have a decent roleplaying reason, like robbery. It’s a whole thing, and it’s taken pretty seriously. (Did you know that it’s a sequel to the 1995 PC game Frontier: First Encounters?)
During Frontier’s live stream on December 16, Elite Dangerous senior game designer Derin Halil showed off alpha footage of the new carrier interiors, which include shops, bars, crew quarters, and areas to buy equipment and upgrades. Players can also accept missions in the ship, and each gargantuan vessel will include a collection of NPCs to make the entire experience feel more alive. For those who want to make things more personal, the update will allow the carrier’s owner to customize the interior’s color scheme.
On December 9, Frontier released the 1.60 patch for Elite Dangerous, including a number of general fixes and quality of life updates. Core mining fragments will no longer become trapped inside asteroids and various missing translations have been added throughout the game.
Elite Dangerous is available to play on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. The game is currently discounted by 80 percent for the Steam Winter Sale, so if you’re curious, now’s the best time to jump in.
