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Elite Dangerous Review

Posted: 14 months ago, last updated 9 weeks ago.

Author: @GeekDadGamer and Jo Robertson.

Overview

This is a new version of the classic 1980s space game Elite. Like the original it’s a space exploration, trading and combat game that provides a huge and rich universe rather than a specific story. You can trade goods, become a bounty hunter, fight for one of the many factions or become a space-miner. Your ship can be customised for every roll.

The scope of the universe is one of the attractions, as there is an endless array of systems to explore. Finding ways to earn money and progress through these systems is another unusual aspect of the game. It’s a sedate space simulation to inhabit most of the time, interspersed with trading, combat and navigation.

There are ongoing updates grouped as follows:

Elite Dangerous Horizons: In this expansion it’s also possible to land on the surface of rocky planets in order to explore them. The game can be played offline, or online.
Elite Dangerous Beyond: Expansion that focuses on improvements to the core gameplay along with improvements to the game's crime and punishment system, better trading data, new wing missions, new ships.

Game Details

Rating:

Release Date: 15/12/2015, updated in 2016

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One

Genres: Action, Adventure, Open World, Shooting and Simulation

Developer: @Frontierdev

Tips

View our choice of games like Elite Dangerous. This game is good if you want to:

Commitment

Duration: This game will take between 60 hours and 100 hours to complete.

Players: This is a single player game. You can play with up to 32 players online. You can encounter up to 32 other players in your immediate vicinity. But there will be thousands of other players to engage with in the wider universe.

Costs

Additional in-game purchases are offered for items that enhance the experience. There are expansion packs. "Horizons" is a paid pack that adds important enhancements to the game allowing players to land on non-atmospheric planets, modify their ships and use the character creator. "Beyond" is a free pack that advances the narrative and introduces upgrades and enhancements. There are smaller paid cosmetic items to customise your ship.

Age Ratings

This game has been rated ESRB EVERYONE 10+.

This game was rated PEGI 7 because it contains violence against humans that is not shown but is implied The examiners report expands this rating with the following: All violence featured in this game is implied. You can hunt down enemy ships, shoot them with lasers, rockets and other projectiles. When a ship/vehicle’s shields are depleted and the hull has been compromised, the vehicle/ship explodes into a fiery ball which disappears rather fast. Some debris is left being. No bodies can be seen afterwards.

The game is set apart by the fact that players can partake in a number of illegal activities, such as shooting down civilian ships or the buying and selling of slaves, stolen goods, narcotics and weapons on the black market. These transactions are never directly seen, however, but rather simply referenced from a transactions menu and bulletin board.

Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.

Accessibility

Accessibility for this game is as follows:

Difficulty

How you can adjust the challenge of play, and assistance the game offers when you fail or get stuck.

View Game Map: View a map of the game world during play, with points of interest and missions highlighted throughout entire game.

System Settings

Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators. PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping). Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games... read more about system accessibility settings.

Supported by PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors: @GeekDadGamer

Games Like Elite Dangerous

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Drone The Game

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Earth Analog

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No Man's Sky

Outer Wilds

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Star Wars: Squadrons

The Falconeer

New World

Planetside 2

DayZ

Mass Effect

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The information on this database is designed to support and complement the in-depth discussion and advice about video game "addiction", violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. If you have any concerns or questions in these areas, email our editor who is quick to respond or can arrange for a one-to-one conversation.