Frontier Developments, developer of the space simulator Elite: Dangerous, released a trailer a little while back announcing the upcoming Odyssey expansion, set to launch in 2021. The trailer was fairly short, but we were able to glean some important info from it. Here's what we know so far.
Fly safe, Commanders
Take to the stars in this massive 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy. Pilot a variety of ships, choose your profession, and engage in power plays, exploration, battles with aliens, and much more.
Development and reveal
On June 3, 2020, developer Frontier Developments released a teaser trailer for Odyssey, showing off two commanders on foot outside their Cobra ship. An Anaconda flies overhead and lands while they pursue it. The camera cuts away after this point while two other Cobras fly overhead.
The other interesting thing of note is that the two commanders are carrying rifles, indicating that we may be getting more than just space legs after all this time. It's cool to theorize what exactly we'll be fighting on foot. Thargoids? Pirates? Other players?
Finally, by the looks of it, there's an atmosphere on the planet they land on. In case you don't know, right now, you can only land on planets without atmospheres and no gas giants. That means rocky and icy planets and moons. Players have found many ruins across these celestial bodies, which is how we knew the Thargoids were out there. But I can only imagine landing on an Earth-like world.
Story and setting
Like the rest of Elite: Dangerous, Odyssey will be set in the Milky Way galaxy and looks to be continuing the stories started in Horizons. The war with the Thargoid aliens is still going on, Colonia expansion continues, and players are still mining away for whatever sells for the highest amount of credits.
With Elite: Dangerous, you make your own story in the grander stage of the galaxy. We don't know how the superpowers will fare as commanders are finally allowed to disembark from their ships (with jetpacks), but it could change things up. Perhaps conflict won't be limited to dogfighting anymore?
Gameplay design
Though the teaser trailer is pretty limited, we can glean a few things from it. Obviously, the first and most important thing is that players will be able to disembark from their ships once they've landed on a planet and explore. It's possible there will be other places that commanders can walk around, like the different starports, but that's not confirmed yet. VR will not be supported at launch.
The other change is that it looks like we'll be able to land on planets with atmospheres. The planet (or moon) that the commanders in the trailer land on has a blue sky and light diffusion, indicating an atmosphere. Whether that means we can go canyon running with lush vegetation, waterfalls, etc. surrounding us instead of rock and ice remains unknown right now.
Finally, we might see some first-person shooting arrive with Odyssey. The commanders in the trailer are carrying rifles, and the game takes place in first-person (except in camera mode), so it's possible we might be getting a whole new genre of game in Elite: Dangerous.
Release date and pricing
So far, Frontier has only told us that Odyssey is coming in 2021, sometime in the early part of the year. That's quite a while to wait, but based on what we've seen, the game's systems are about to be shaken up quite dramatically.
Odyssey is available to wishlist on Steam, which you can do right here. It's unclear how much it'll cost, but Horizons is $30, so it's fair to assume that Odyssey will be at least that. However, it is unknown at this time.
Elite: Dangerous Odyssey will be available on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 at launch. Next-gen consoles have not been confirmed as of yet.
Fly safe, Commanders
Take to the stars in this massive 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy. Pilot a variety of ships, choose your profession, and engage in power plays, exploration, battles with aliens, and much more.
