Elite: Dangerous evolves today as the virtual reality supporting space epic gets its first expansion pack Horizons, which brings planetary landings at the start of Frontier’s ‘Season Two’ of expansion packs which will extend into next year. Oh yeah, there’s an awesome trailer which goes along with it.
With Oculus Rift support baked in and HTC Vive support confirmed (and play-tested to boot), Elite:Dangerous is positioning itself as a triple-A player in the first round of virtual reality compatible content battles, due to unfold next year with the launch of both the Oculus Rift in Q1 2016, and the SteamVR powered HTC Vive in Q2.
Horizons is Elite:Dangerous’ Season Two ‘opener’ as it were, introducing as it does the ability to take your craft down to the surface of the planets you used to merely admire from afar. Exploring the terrain is made possible by a new form of transport, an all-terrain buggy.
See Also: Elite:Dangerous Horizons 1.5 Beta Brings HTC Vive Support
This latest feature is the start of a series of gameplay enhancements in the pipeline which will be released as ‘Season Two’ continues into next year. Future updates to include a new loot and crafting system, the ability to man craft with friends with ‘multicrew’ and the epic sounding Ship-launched fighters.
It’s interesting to see Frontier’s approach to expanding the gameplay possibilities from the ground up over time, a very different way of thinking when compared with the now $100M, crowd-funded Star Citizen, which is trying to pack everything in right from the start. The two are sharing more and more in common as time goes on.
You can get your hands on Elite Dangerous: Horizons by heading over to the website here.