We’re guessing there are lots of new Elite Dangerous players roaming around now, what with the game having been just 7 bucks on Steam over Christmas, but that just means a bigger playerbase to cheer today’s news. Early this morning, Frontier announced that the game’s third season of content is on the way, beginning with Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One (they have never been good at names, let’s be honest) coming in “Q1 2018.” The beta itself for the new content will be free for all players and begin on January 25.
“Launching Q1 2018, Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One is the first update of Elite Dangerous’ third season, following the Thargoids devastating assault on humanity’s starports. Beyond advances the ongoing player-driven narrative and introduces a variety of gameplay enhancements, upgrading the gameplay experience whether players prefer to trade, fight or explore in Elite Dangerous’ massively multiplayer galaxy.”
Of note, Frontier is touting team-based objective-oriented wing missions, retooled planet-rendering tech, updates to the data trading system, in-game audio news updates, tweaks to engineering mechanics, a new ship, revamps for mission rewards, and “an altered crime and punishment system.”
Elite took home Massively OP’s best indie or crowdfunded MMO of the year last month.
