Elite: Dangerous’ forthcoming Horizons expansion will introduce a number of new features to the space sim, including the ability to land on planets and take a closer look around for valuable minerals and other treats.
Judging by this brief gameplay clip, much of what you will see will be a great big expanse of brown dirt. This is because early landing zones will mostly be atmosphere-less rocks in space, while developer Frontier prepares the tech for more varied, Earth-like climates.
Okay, so the environment shown off in this brief clip isn’t the most exciting location around, but planetary exploration is an undeniably cool addition to Elite that should only get better with time. Right now you’re limited to zipping around in the Scarab SRV (think Mass Effect’s Mako), but plans for the future include PVP land battles and secret locations to discover.
Horizons is a season of new content rather than a one-off expansion, and the planetary landing module is only the first part to be released. It’s expected out near the end of the year.
