SHIP SHAPE
Combat suits have positive and negative traits to keep things balanced.
Space hasn’t been neglected. Planets look better from above too.
One of the new social hubs, where you can pick up missions from NPCs.
“The ship is still really important, but we now have an added level of importance on the player character,” he adds. “And that comes in two flavours. One is the gameplay element, which is what suit am I currently wearing and what equipment am I carrying with it, and how do I use that to express myself in the game. And then there’s how you represent yourself in the universe to other commanders you encounter.”
A big part of Elite is, of course, showing off to others. In the same way you can kit out your ships with cosmetics, you can do the same with your suits. This will also give groups of like-minded players, whether they’re deep space explorers, bounty hunters, or communities like the famous Fuel Rats, a way to adopt a uniform. “We allow you to apply cosmetics over the top of your suit, in the same way we allow ship kits to be applied. So you can express yourself however you want.”
Frontier hasn’t worked on an FPS before, so this is new territory for them as a collective – but not as individuals. “While Frontier doesn’t have a vast amount of experience in first-person games, a large number of the Odyssey dev team have,” says Jackson. “There are people, including myself, who have worked on first-person games, and we’re all bringing our expertise to the table.”
Odyssey is shaping up to be the most dramatic, game-changing Elite Dangerous update yet; even bigger than Horizons, which added the first iteration of planetary landings. Being able to disembark and stretch your legs, fighting, exploring, and making your mark on uncharted worlds is the stuff of science fiction dreams. When you first make footprints in the alien dirt on some faraway planet, you’ll know you’re the first person in the world – in the universe – to do so, and that’ll be a truly special feeling.