The iconic and unquestionably classic Elite is considered by many to be the best game ever made. It may have first tried to dock with spinning, cube-shaped space stations way back in 1984 on the BBC Micro, but since then it’s seen re-releases on several formats, including, amazingly, the NES, and is still one of the best space-based flight sims you can find.
Why was it so good? Well, consider that it was 1984, that’s 28 years ago, and it was already rocking a massive open world (or should that be open space?), open-ended gameplay, 3D game engine and fully functional trading system.
Its sequels, Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters were technically more advanced, and good games in their own right, but most Elite fans still consider the original as the yardstick by which space trading sims are measured.
Well, it’s been nearly 30 years since the original launched, and 17 years since First Encounters, but there are signs that a new Elite is on the way. Elite: Dangerous has been launched on crowdfunding website, Kickstarter, and the game’s original designer, David Braben, is asking fans for £1,250.000 to get the game out of dry dock.
Elite: Dangerous will be a sequel to the original title and its direct followup, Frontier, and will see players once again take a meagre purse and underpowered ship into the big black in order to turn a profit and rule the stars of commerce. You’ll be able to trade your way to glory, or do away with all that hard work and loot and pillage other ships for their valuables as a down and dirty pirate.
Being a new, modern release, it’ll feature a swanky new engine, of course, but will also feature multiplayer, if Braben’s plans come to fruition.
“Elite: Dangerous is the game I have wanted Frontier to make for a very long time. The next game in the Elite series - an amazing space epic with stunning visuals, incredible gameplay and breath-taking scope, but this time you can play with your friends too. I want a game that feels more like the original “Elite” to fly, and with more rapid travel (to allow for the multi-player nature of the game) – so you travel quickly using local ‘hyperspace’ travel rather than by fast-forwarding time – but with the rich galaxy of Frontier – and more, so much more.”
At the time of writing, the Kickstarter project has 59 days to go and has already netted a cool £226.961. As with most Kickstarter projects, there are varying rewards for backers, and you can visit the link below if you want to help out.
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