Elite Dangerous has been captivating thousands of players for several years. There is a lot happening at the moment, and with new updates and a fresh story, the developers are preparing for the future. MeinMMO spoke with the lead developer about what’s to come.
The space MMO Elite Dangerous is considered by many fans to be the current competition to the highly anticipated Star Citizen, especially since it is already fully playable.
In 2021, the major expansion Odyssey was released for Elite Dangerous, which fundamentally changed the game. A big feature of the game back then was the “Space Legs,” the ability to land on planets and exit the ship.
Over the past two years, a significant story called the “Azimuth Saga” has been told in the game, which abruptly ended in August 2022. A weapon that was supposed to eradicate an alien species known as Thargoids instead turned them into a threat that could consume the entire universe.
Since then, players have been confronted with strange objects in the game, as reported by colleagues at GameStar. Now the “Aftermath” begins with a new threat and apparently has a lot to offer. Lead Game Designer Luke Betterton answered some questions for us about it.
A significant step in the current story of Elite Dangerous was the firing of the Proteus wave. Here is the cinematic:
“Speculation is part of the joy”
MeinMMO: Why did the weapon, which was supposed to defeat the Thargoids, instead evolve them further?
Luke Betterton: We are keeping many things to ourselves at the moment. Part of what is happening right now is piecing together exactly what happened and how it affects the game world. This includes the exact nature of what it meant for the Thargoids when the weapon was fired.
At the moment, we are focusing on exploring the status quo that has been altered by the Thargoids and how that translates to changes in their behavior. More narrative context about what has happened and what will happen next will still come into the game. We just can’t say when yet.
MeinMMO: What exactly is this anomaly and when will players learn more about it?
Luke Betterton: We cannot say anything about the exact nature of the anomaly. It is a mystery that we deliberately leave to the players. Speculation is part of the joy.
What we can say is that we know exactly what it is and we have been planning for it for quite some time. Stay tuned. Interesting things are happening in Elite Dangerous, and now is the right time to get involved if you want to be part of the great narrative.
“We learned a lot from Odyssey”
MeinMMO: Odyssey received some good reviews, but also players who did not like the new features or had performance issues. What did you learn from that for Aftermath?
Luke Betterton: Ultimately, we underestimated the issues that some players would have with the Odyssey launch. We knew we had to improve it, and that’s exactly what we have been doing for the last 16 months: enhancing the player experience in Odyssey with updates for performance, UI, and many other features, not to mention the added gameplay experiences like the interiors of fleet carriers. We have significantly improved the Odyssey experience since launch and learned a lot from it.
What you will see in the game with Aftermath in future updates for Elite Dangerous is more focus on narrative and gameplay features that support the story we are telling. We are now focused on expanding the overall gameplay of Elite Dangerous as part of this larger story arc in the game. We are looking for new ways to excite our players. What you saw in Update 13 was really just the beginning. We are looking forward to what will come with the next Update 14 and beyond.
MeinMMO: What are the best new features in the current update that will be further expanded in the future?
Luke Betterton: With Update 13, you saw the ideal version of how players should experience the narrative of Elite Dangerous. They could log in after the Proteus wave was activated, see it in the cinematic, and then discover the aftermath in HIP 22460 themselves – with countless destroyed ships and the Thargoids aggressively attacking everything.
This is our perfect version of a major story moment in Elite: we are trying to show more than tell, and we want the gameplay experience to change based on the twists and turns of the narrative. We are very proud of what we achieved in Update 13 and we definitely want more of that in the future.
MeinMMO: How many players will actually need to cooperate to withstand the new dangers?
Luke Betterton: It’s too early to go into detail here, but how players collaborate in Elite Dangerous is extremely important for any contest that comes into the game over the next year.
“An apocalypse is an interesting thesis”
MeinMMO: There were rumors that Elite Dangerous should last for 10 years, which means two more years from now. Are you preparing for an apocalypse?
Luke Betterton: It’s true that Elite Dangerous has been around for a while. But it’s too early to discuss anything beyond 2023. Right now, Aftermath is about the Thargoid crisis. Expect this to reach its next level in Update 14, which will be another significant moment in the narrative. We have already seen Thargoids behave like never before. The narrative is a key point for Elite Dangerous in 2023 – with the Thargoids at its heart.
Otherwise, we already revealed in May that we are planning a major overhaul for 2023. This is still in progress and we want to share more about it next year.
An apocalypse is an interesting thesis. We would never reveal what will happen in the story of Elite Dangerous next year. We want players to discover that in the game itself. However, community theories about what will happen next are exciting. As we pay close attention to our players and their reactions, it sometimes allows us to subvert expectations as we plan the plot of our story.
MeinMMO: Are you planning to resume console support?
Luke Betterton: We understand that console players are disappointed with the decision to halt Odyssey development for those platforms and focus on PC development. This decision was made with the intention of allocating resources appropriately to support Elite Dangerous on PC for the long term. We cannot share anything else regarding Elite Dangerous on consoles with you.
However, we should mention that the Console Copy Portal was designed to help console players join us on PC when they can. This initiative exists to provide console players with a relatively easy way to enjoy the future of Elite on PC without additional costs. We are already seeing large numbers of players making the transition. We recognize that this is not the same as further support for consoles, but it was very important to us to clarify that.
If you missed it:
“The finale is just the beginning of your suffering”
MeinMMO: What happens after players endure whatever awaits them?
Luke Betterton: We will make them endure even more. The finale of the Azimuth Saga is just the beginning of their suffering! We won’t say more about that.
MeinMMO: When can we expect Elite Dangerous in VR, or at least to see our ships there?
Luke Betterton: We can’t say anything about VR right now.
MeinMMO: What new ship types are planned for the future?
Luke Betterton: We can’t say anything about that at the moment either.
MeinMMO: Thank you for the answers!
Many fans of Elite Dangerous are also looking forward to the upcoming Starfield. However, Bethesda’s upcoming RPG has one crucial difference:
