Elite Dangerous

Gameplay

Elite Dangerous combines features from space simulator, first person shooter and massively multiplayer genres with a persistent-galaxy based on the Milky Way. There are 3 game modes: Solo (single player), Private Group (friends and invites), and Open Play (play with everyone).

Upon its release in 2014, Elite Dangerous (ED) began in the year 3300 and has been in sync with UTC albeit 1,286 years in the future. The game is set around 45 years after Frontier: First Encounters. Elite Dangerous retains the basic premise of its predecessors: players start with a spaceship and a small amount of money in a 1:1 scale, open galaxy and roleplay in various activities to acquire more money (credits) and merit. A key difference is the addition of on-foot, first-person gameplay which was added with the Odyssey expansion on 19 May 2021. This enables first person gameplay such as collecting genetic samples of alien flora for exobiology and first-person shooter combat. Other activities for example are trading, mining, exploration, exobiology, passenger carrier, smuggling, bounty hunting, piracy and assassination. Players can also socialize in first person with other players and NPCs in the concourse of a space station or planetary settlement. System Colonisation is a major new feature in the Elite series which requires the Odyssey expansion. Players can claim uninhabited star systems, build colonies with facilities and shape the economies as the system architect. Colonization was added as a free update in beta on 26 Feb 2025 with the full release on 11 Nov 2025.

ED is the first in the series to feature online multiplayer with access to a massively multiplayer persistent galaxy via Open Play, as well as an online-only single player mode. Open Play allows actions that would be considered griefing in other multiplayer games as long as it doesn't violate the terms of service. However, some actions, such as mob mentality persecution of players, exploiting game mechanics, and obscene language to attack others could result in a ban from the servers.

Money (credits) earned throughout the in-game galaxy can be spent on buying or upgrading ships, or on foot equipment for the player character like suits and weaponry. Players can customize their ships by changing modules, e.g. engines, weapons, power plants, scanners, etc. The second in-game currency called ARX (buyable with real money) lets players purchase cosmetics for their ships, vehicles, on foot suits, and handheld weapons. Since mid-2024, new ships and some structures (Dodec station) have a 3 months early access for ARX and subsequently available for in-game credits.

Ships and vehicles

There are over 45 flyable ships with highly configurable builds to suit roles and careers. Every ship is powered by a Frame Shift Drive to supercruise up to 2000+ times the speed of light in a star system. Supercruise Overdrive (SCO) temporarily boosts a ship's speed in supercruise significantly, at the cost of significantly increased fuel consumption. Interstellar travel occurs via a higher dimensional region called hyperspace. Many ships are based on the classic, polygonal shapes of the original Elite (1984) like the Cobra Mk III which continues the rich heritage. The flight model has Newtonian physics with a fly-by-wire layer applied on top. Flight assist is enabled by default. This makes combat feel visceral and seat-of-the-pants, rather than Frontier: Elite II's jousting at huge distances. Players can also acquire capital ships: Drake-Class Carrier and the Javelin-Class Carrier. The Drake is like a mobile base for players with billions of credits. The Javelin has additional features to support the operations of a squadron (guild). There are 2 SRVs (Surface Recon Vehicles): the Scarab and the Scorpion. An SRV Rhino has been announced. These ground vehicles make it easier to traverse a planet surface for exploration, combat or exobiology to find alien flora.

Galaxy

The virtual galaxy is a 1:1 simulation of the Milky Way where players can explore and colonise around 400 billion star systems. It is based on scientific principles, scientific data, star catalogues and theories. It is created using a mix of procedural generation with the Stellar Forge and artistic direction. Planets, moons and gas giants rotate and orbit in real time, reflecting dynamic day-night cycles. Around 150,000 of the game's star systems are taken from real astronomical data. Such as Sol and Alpha Centauri. Constellations can be seen from Sol. A few partially fictional star systems are included of Frontier and First Encounters before new exoplanets were discovered by astronomers. For example, none of the gas giants of the Fomalhaut system correspond with the detected properties of Fomalhaut b. A handful of entirely fictional systems are included. These are named after the original systems in Elite such as Lave. The remainder are procedurally generated according to scientific models. There is also cosmic phenomena like different star types, star clusters, mountains, canyons, craters, ring systems, and black holes like Sagittarius A*. There are 141 nebulae based on the Milky Way. 32 other galaxies are visible from the Milky Way. The classic Coriolis starport was also updated to the modern visuals of ED. The Odyssey expansion added planets with tenuous atmospheres. The atmospheric visuals are based on their composition, Rayleigh and Mie scattering. Minerals and metals can be extracted from asteroids in planetary rings and on a planetary surface. Some planets have alien organisms, mineral formations, plants. There are notable stellar phenomena like seed pods, mollusks and anomalies in space. Players can dock their ships at space stations, outposts and facilities on planet surfaces in star systems to trade goods, purchase spacecrafts or on foot equipment, re-arm their ship, perform repairs and accept tasks from the Mission Board. Players may salvage lost cargo, encounter other ships and megaships, interact with the Thargoid aliens, or explore the ruins of the extinct Guardians. The galaxy map consists of 42 galactic regions, 9 major galactic arms and the galactic plane. It's an evolving galaxy with dynamic star systems, economies, governments that can be shaped by players via system colonisation, and territory control via Powerplay. These changes in the galaxy are processed via the background simulation.

Factions

There are three superpowers, the Empire of Achenar, the Federation, and the Alliance of Independent Systems. Update 1.3 (June 2015) added Powerplay: a grand strategy layer with galactic politics and territorial control. Notable NPC leaders scheme to gain influence in the galaxy via Powerplay. For example the imperial Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval, Princess Aisling Duval, Denton Patreus (Admiral of the Fleet of the Empire and Senator of Eotienses) and senator Zemina Torval (CEO of Torval Mining). The Alliance has prime minister Edmund Mahon, and councilor Nakato Kaine. The Federal leaders are President Felicia Winters and Shadow President Jerome Archer. There are also influential independent powers: Li Yong-Rui (CEO of Sirius Corporation), Yuri Grom (self-proclaimed Dictator of EG Pilots), Pranav Antal (leader of the Utopia Movement), and Archon Delaine (Pirate King of the crime syndicate Kumo Crew). Players can pledge their support to 1 of 12 charismatic powers. Players can contribute by completing tasks while earning various rewards. The collective outcome of each faction's achievements determines a faction's standing, territorial control, and proceeding objectives. There are also competitive, galactic faction challenges. The faction-specific ship manufacturers are Core Dynamics (Federation), Gutamaya (Empire), and Lakon Spaceways (Alliance). The Empire and Federation each have a ship line that are obtained by acquiring ranks within the respective faction. Alliance ships are not locked behind a ranking system. The independent ship manufacturers are Brewer Corporation, Faulcon DeLacy, Saud Kruger, and Zorgon Peterson.

Roles and ranks

Every player is a member of the Pilots Federation and holds the honorific title of "commander" (CMDR) which is separate from their actual rank and experience. They receive a rank based on their in-game achievements and experience. The main rank categories are: Combat, Trade, Explorer, CQC, Mercenary and Exobiologist. The latter 2 ranks were introduced with the Odyssey expansion. The rank for CQC (Close Quarters Combat) requires competing in PVP ship combat matches. Players gain experience points by doing activities that are related to the rank categories. For example, a bounty hunter destroying pirates gains Combat experience and rank progression. On 15 March 2015, the first player who reached Triple Elite status (Elite rank in Combat, Exploration, and Trading), won £10,000, while the first player who reached 1 Elite rank won £1,000. Players who reach triple elite in Combat, Trade and Explorer are awarded with a special Triple Elite crest by the Pilots Federation. The maximum rank per category was increased to Elite V. Certain ranks in major factions grant permits (access) to special star systems. Benefits also include discounts to ship prices.

Synopsis

Setting

Elite Dangerous is set in the 34th century, 50 years after the events of Frontier: First Encounters, starting in the year 3300 (equals 2014). Humanity is expanding from the Core Systems (aka Bubble) into the unpopulated regions of the Milky Way. The Frameshift Drive was introduced by Sirius Corporation in 3297. FSD equipped ships go up to 2000+ times FTL in a star system (the maximum supercruise speed is negatively impacted by nearby planetary or stellar gravitational wells). Hyperspace is used for interstellar travel in a few seconds. Ships are as affordable to the middle-class as cars in the 20th century. Owning a ship expands career possibilities like mining, trading, and bounty hunting. However, little has changed for the underclass. The megacorporations employ entire nations and rule unchecked over sections of the galaxy. Politics is rarely an obstacle in deep space. Most star systems are lawless which necessitates a laissez faire ownership of weapons. Outside the Core Systems are dangerous hazards, factions, pirates and alien creatures. The only known living sapient species are Humans and the insectoid Thargoids. The Guardians are believed to have been driven to extinction 1-2 million years ago. There are also numerous alien flora and fauna on planetary bodies and in space. There are countless facilities on planets and starports in colonized space. As of 17 June 2026, 195,463,043 star systems (about 0.0489% of the galaxy) have been catalogged, of which 97,728,089 have been explored directly, and 97,734,054 we only know the coordinates of because players plotted routes that passed through those stars.

On-demand, anti-gravity tech does not exist in ED. Ships, outposts, and installations are traversed by floating, using suit micro thrusters, or walking with magnetic boots. Starports, megaships, and other very large ships have rotating rings that rely on centripetal force to generate gravity.

The First Thargoid War occurred in 3125-3151 before ED. The humans were represented by the superpower GalCop (Galactic Cooperative of Worlds), founded in August 2696. The war began in 3125 when colonists in the Veliaze system contacted a Thargoid and assaulted it. The territorial Thargoids responded with military force. The humans were severely disadvantaged by the technological superior Thargoids. Scientists of the clandestine paramilitary organization INRA (Intergalactic Naval Reserve Arm) developed the mycoid bioweapon. This was very effective against the ammonia-based Thargoids so they retreated. GalCop's focus on military involvement caused economic exhaustion. Corruption scandals at the highest levels lead to the dissolution on 19 August 3174.

Plot

The plot of Elite Dangerous begins in the year 3300. It covers events that happened over a decade since the game launched on 16 Dec 2014. The player is a newly licensed pilot of the Pilots Federation with the title of commander. In ED: Odyssey, the player starts at a small settlement called Briscoe's Legacy. The base is powered down and on fire. Power must be restored. After defeating the hostile troops, a pilot in a Cobra Mk IV takes the player to a spaceport. The player receives a loaned Sidewinder Mk I and a few credits, after which they are free to decide their own path, whether as an independent operator, explorer, trader, system architect, etc.

On 19 December 3300, Emperor Hengist Duval decreed in the Senate that his son Prince Harold Duval was not of sound mind and unsuitable to succeed him to the Imperial throne. 5 August 3301 was the wedding day of Emperor Hengist Duval with Florence Lavigny. They were assassinated by Brendan Paul Darius, an aide to Senator Denton Patreus. The heir apparent Prince Harold Duval was assassinated aboard his ship while traveling from Capitol to Cemiess by a member of the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army on 14 September 3306. Senator Arissa Lavigny-Duval was the illegitimate daughter of Hengist and Florence and crowned Emperor on 18 October 3301.

Federal President Jasmina Halsey and Vice President Ethan Naylor disappeared while aboard Starship One on 26 May 3301. Zachary Hudson was the Federal President between 2 June 3301 - 31 October 3310. Hudson was a longtime friend of Lucas Vincent (former Admiral of the Fleet of the Federal Navy). Vincent was convicted in 3307 of conspiring with Core Dynamics CEO Jupiter Rochester to sabotage Starship One and assassinate former President Jasmina Halsey in 3301. The Federal High Court found Zachary Hudson not guilty since he lacked any involvement, but the scandal hurt his credibility. Hudson lost the presidential election in 3309 and was succeeded by Felicia Winters of the Liberal Party. Hudson retired from Powerplay on 31 October 3310. The Republican Party gained a new leader Jerome Archer from the Nanomam system.

Kahina Tijani Loren (aka Salomé) was an Imperial noble who briefly served as senator of the Prism system. She left her senatorial position to expose a far-reaching conspiracy and shadowy cabal called The Club. She carried vital information from the Formidine Rift back to civilized space during the Salomé event on 29 April 3303. This was a massive player driven event where players attempted to escort the key NPC, Salomé. However, the event was sabotaged by CDMR Besieger (aka Harry Potter) of the Smiling Dog Crew (SDC). He infiltrated the security force and assassinated her. She became a martyr and inspiration for her followers to break The Club's control.

Development

At the 2011 Game Developers Conference, following a presentation on the development of the original Elite, Braben was asked in a Q&A session at the 2011 Game Developers Conference if Elite 4 was still on the drawing board. He replied "yes, it would be a tragedy for it not to be". The project had difficulty in attracting sufficient funding, which Braben had attributed to the traditional publishing model, which he saw as being biased against games with no recent comparable predecessors. Space sims were unpopular at the time which made it difficult to secure a publisher. When Frontier Developments greenlit the project there were no other major space games since Freelancer (2003). Braben also found it unacceptable to have a publisher steer development in a particular direction.

Starting in 2012, Elite Dangerous was developed with Frontier Development's own, in-house, Cobra engine. Frontier had been working on the game as a skunk-works background activity for some time prior to its Kickstarter launch, with other projects being prioritised.

Braben had previously discussed crowdfunding as a possible solution in April 2012. Public fundraising commenced on 5 November 2012 using the Kickstarter website, the campaign lasting 60 days, with the aim to raise £1.25m and deliver a finished version of the game by March 2014. Braben described the campaign as a way of "test-marketing the concept to verify there is still interest in such a game that extends beyond the individuals who regularly contact me about the game, and raising the funds to do so." The Kickstarter reached its goal 48 hours before the deadline and exceeded it with 25,681 backers who pledged £1,578,316.

Post-Kickstarter, further public funding was sought through the developer's UK website, via PayPal. By April 2014, £1.7m had been raised, and Braben had reacquired the legal rights to the Elite franchise. Although the game's original total development budget had been £8 million, by September 2014 this had, in Braben's words, "grown by quite a lot".

On 14 November 2014, Braben announced the removal of the game's offline single player mode, because they could not deliver an acceptable offline-only experience based on the original design. In December 2013 a playable alpha version of ED was released to Kickstarter backers who pledged £200. In May 2014, the game entered the first beta test phase, focusing primarily on testing the systems and servers with a greater number of players. A pre-release "gamma" build was released to backers three weeks before launch, to give them a head start on other players.

Post-release updates

The first "season" of expansions for Elite Dangerous, named Horizons, was announced on 5 August 2015 at Gamescom, entered beta on 30 November 2015 and was released on 15 December 2015 for PC, followed by a 3 June 2016 release for Xbox One. Frontier Developments currently has no plans to release the expansion for Mac OS X unless Apple provides support for compute shaders, which Frontier believes are required to render planet surfaces and other objects. Elite Dangerous: Horizons is a separately priced product. Original customers who also purchased Horizons received exclusive access to the Cobra Mk. IV ship.

Horizons adds planetary landings, ground vehicles and bases, synthesis of consumables and temporary ship upgrades, ship-launched fighters, passenger missions, a character creator, and co-op multicrew support for larger ships. Planetary landings feature procedurally generated planets, initially supporting only worlds without an atmosphere. Players can choose to set down at planetary bases or at any point of their choosing and can deploy a new eight-wheeled ground vehicle called the SRV ("Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle"). This vehicle is equipped with weapons, a "wave scanner" for finding resources, shipwrecks etc., a datalink system for hacking into bases, and thrusters that can lift it off of the ground for short periods of time, depending on the gravity of a world. Thrusters in the wheels can be used to affix it to the ground on worlds with low gravity. Materials found on planets can be combined to boost ship jump range, synthesize repair materials, or upgrade weapons.

Horizons was billed as a season of five expansions, starting with planetary landings and then followed with a more comprehensive looting and crafting system released in May 2016, ship-launched fighters and passenger missions released in October 2016, and support for multiple players working cooperatively on the same ship planned for a future expansion within the first half of 2017 ahead of PlayStation 4 release and with a 5th expansion to follow after that. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th expansions were announced originally for spring, summer and autumn 2016 respectively. But the 5th expansion had no reference to "winter", was not time-scheduled and had no content description, only stating a cryptic "soon" reference.

On 25 October 2016, an extinct alien race, the Guardians, was added, with players allowed to explore the ruins they left behind in order to gather data and materials to unlock special Guardian modules and specialized Human–Guardian hybrid weapons with increased effectiveness against Thargoid ships. Thematically, the Guardians were discovered in the year 3302.

Reception

Critical response

Elite Dangerous received an aggregated score of 80/100 on Metacritic based on 55 critics, indicating that the game received "generally favorable reviews" (84% positive) from critics.

Chris Thursten of PC Gamer rated the game 86/100, considering it to be "potentially a classic", depending on Frontier's ability to build on the "broad but somewhat shallow foundations" of the released version. Thursten described the gameplay experience as "exhilarating excitement, matched by nothing else this year, contrasted with moments of emptiness, frustration, and boredom". Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer gave the game 8/10 and considered it to be "probably the most immersive and compelling recreation of deep space ever seen in gaming", while finding some of the gameplay repetitive. Andy Kelly of GamesRadar gave the game 4/5, calling it a "compelling space sandbox" and a "welcome return" of the Elite franchise, but felt that the game at launch was "missing a lot of important features, especially when it comes to multiplayer". Roger Hargreaves of the Metro gave it 7/10, describing the game as a "solid start" that had yet to fulfil its potential. Reviewing the game for IGN, Rob Zacny called it "one of the most enthralling and evocative space combat and trade sim games I've ever played" and "also one of the most boring", seeing the balance of "brief, intense emotional peaks and long, shallow valleys of boredom" as "fundamental to Elite's identity". Reviewing a later version of the game in April 2015, after playing the game since launch, Lee Hutchinson from Ars Technica described Elite Dangerous as "so damn good that it transcends its problems". Joel Peterson of Destructoid gave the PlayStation 4 version of the game 9/10, calling it "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage."

The announcement of the removal of the offline mode on 14 November 2014 was met by a number of complaints from customers, with some saying they had backed the game on the understanding that it would feature offline play and others that there had been no prior warning of removal during the whole of the preceding development period. Frontier offered refunds to customers who had pre-ordered the game without playing it, and said that those who had already played the game, in alpha or beta form, would not be eligible for refunds. Later, Braben, speaking for the company, announced that refunds would be judged on a "case-by-case" basis.

Elite Dangerous won "Best of E3" from The Escapist and games.cz in 2014. Elite Dangerous won the Game Developers Choice Award 2015 for best audience. During the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Elite Dangerous for "Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay". It was ranked as the Best VR Game of 2016 from Game Revolution. It was nominated for Evolving Game by the British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA) in 2017. The game was also nominated for the "Still Playing" award at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards. Elite Dangerous: Beyond was nominated for "Evolving Game" at the 2019 British Academy Games Awards. The astronomy news website Space.com ranked Elite Dangerous as the best space flight simulation game of 2025.

Sales

By the end of April 2015, Elite Dangerous had sold more than 500,000 copies, with Frontier Developments expected to generate £22 million from sales. The game had sold around 1.7 million units by the end of May 2016. By the end of December 2016 over 2.1 million paid franchise units were sold of Elite Dangerous. On 15 January 2019, cumulative sales of Elite Dangerous exceeded 4.3 million franchise units, composed of 3 million base game units and 1.3 million Horizons expansion units. In April 2020 the sales of Elite Dangerous base game units had passed 3.5 million. During an interview published on 23 October 2020, Frontier CFO Alex Bevis announced that Elite Dangerous had generated more than £100 million of revenue. By September 2022, over 4.8 million base game units were sold.