Frontier, the makers of Elite Dangerous, have released the beta for Elite Dangerous: Horizons, the game's new "season" of expansions. Designed to expand the game's universe with new content, Horizons adds the ability to land and explore billions of full-sized airless worlds, simulated in more detail than you can shake a stick at.
The game's come a long way since its beta, which we previewed.
In Planetary Landings, players will be able to traverse these alien environments in a surface recon vehicle called the Scarab.
The Horizons content expansion will add new stuff for players to experience over the course of the coming year, and the Planetary Landings beta is only the first piece of content within a larger season of content updates.
Future expansions will include new missions, new ships, new Close Quarter Combat (CQC) arenas and the following content:
-
Loot and Crafting, unlocking a world of customization options and adding new value and meaning to every action.
-
Multicrew, allowing teams of players to assume roles aboard the same ship.
-
Commander Creation, giving a unique appearance to players’ in-game avatars.
-
Ship-Launched Fighters, allowing larger spacecraft to carry their own short-range fighter ships for attack and defense.
The expansion is currently available only to players who shelled out for the premium alpha/beta backers, which you can pay for. There's no word on when it'll come out on Steam.