Last year, players of Elite Dangerous began noticing some odd encounters. A few players managed to come across huge Thargoid ships and soon after, the alien race began attacking spaceports in the game. This has all been building up to Elite Dangerous: Beyond, a multi-chapter series of updates that will explore humanity's next steps in the face of the Thargoid threat.

Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter One is getting an open beta for PC players this month. While this test is under way, players will have access to Wing Missions, team-based challenges, a revamped trading system and ‘reworked planet rendering'. There is a short teaser trailer for the expansion below:

As Frontier explains it, Chapter One features “a range of game-improving updates, including changes to the engineering mechanics, an overhaul of mission rewards, and an altered crime and punishment system”. During the open beta, pilots will have a chance to fly a new alliance warship known as The Chieftain and the GalNet news station will constantly be giving players updates on what it happening throughout the galaxy, bringing story to the forefront of the experience.

Elite Dangerous: Beyond's first chapter will be a free update for PC players at some point in Q1 2018. The open beta will kick off on the 25th of January. After that, Frontier will begin focusing on future chapters.

KitGuru Says: I've been itching to jump back into Elite Dangerous recently, so this has come at a great time for me. It sounds like Frontier is gearing up for a huge showdown between humans and the Thargoid race, which could be very exciting. Are many of you still playing Elite Dangerous at the moment? Will you be jumping back in for ED: Beyond?

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