The latest update to Elite Dangerous launched last night, and ever since, players have been reporting that the mysterious alien race known as the Thargoids are back in the game, and more dangerous than ever. In a short cinematic trailer for the update, we see just how powerful this race can be:
For a bit of backstory, players have been scouting the galaxy of Elite Dangerous for nearly a year looking for alien life. Players had come into contact with a strange vessel earlier this year, but nothing had come of it until today. Now, the Thargoid race seems to be ready to branch out and take over the galaxy.
According to Frontier Developments, the 2.4 update – dubbed The Return – will continue the Elite Dangerous: Horizons season by throwing players right into the frontline of battle against the Thargoids. In the coming months, the game will update and change to mark the presence of the alien race, and players will have to figure out new ways to counter the threat.
For more information on the Thargoids, check out the following courtesy of Frontier:
For gamers of the eighties and nineties, Thargoid history dates back to 1984, when David Braben and Ian Bell created gaming’s original open-world space adventure: Elite. The Thargoids’ eight-sided craft became an iconic threat, challenging even the galaxy’s most Elite commanders.
In the in-game narrative the Thargoid story is a long one, unfolding during the events of Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, as well as in Elite’s extended fiction. Events in Elite Dangerous take place over fifty years since those in Frontier: First Encounters, and today the facts about the Thargoids have been swamped by stories, myths and legends. It has been unclear what is true and what is an elaborate conspiracy theory… Until now.
Elite Dangerous is out now for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
