They're no longer myth and legend in the Elite Dangerous universe: the Thargoids are back (like, fully back), and they don't have time for humans and their puny politics. In the months leading up to today's launch of Elite Dangerous: Horizons–The Return, interactions have been apparently hostile between humans and Thargoids. So, despite the video below making it look like humans were very much the first ones to shoot, the Thargoid alien race allegedly initiated hostilities, and are now here for your blasting entertainment.
I mean, humanity ain't too bright. I'd believe it, 100 percent, if we were the first to fire at an alien race with asteroid-sized spaceships. Also, it seems viable that were we to find the only other sentient species in the known universe, that we'd of course have to launch missiles at it. Sigh. But this is video games. What else are we going to do? It's not like this is the movie Arrival. It's not like we're going to take the time to communicate with one another and learn to speak each other's language. And there's nothing like the introduction of an alien race in order to unite your own people, am I right? Finally all this petty factional warfare can be set aside so we can all go "weapons hot" on some other species.
The Return introduces new technological and tactical options to combat the Thargoids. Massive-scale community goals will unlock powerful anti-Thargoid weapons and equipment.
Elite Dangerous: Horizons–The Return launches today, September 27, on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is included in the Elite Dangerous: Horizons season pass.
[Update: For a look at what an actual gameplay encounter with the Thargoids looks like—as opposed to a cinematic—check out this video from YouTuber ObsidianAnt.]
The Thargoids Return in the Fifth Update of the Horizons Season
Cambridge, UK -- 27 Sept. 27, 2017 -- Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) today launched Elite Dangerous: Horizons 2.4 – The Return, thrusting players into combat against one of gaming’s most fearsome foes. The Elite Dangerous galaxy will never be the same again.
Since 2014 Elite Dangerous players have scoured the vast simulated Milky Way galaxy as tensions between the Empire, Federation and Alliance have risen. With each new discovery of unknown artefacts, probes and relics, players drew another step closer to the return of the Thargoids.
Today humanity’s dreaded enemy will return in an ongoing Elite Dangerous story arc enabled by Elite Dangerous: Horizons 2.4 – The Return, continuing the Horizons season with ongoing story events that will see commanders thrust into battle against the Thargoids for the first time in gaming’s modern age, bringing a new and deadly dynamic to the Elite Dangerous galaxy.
In coming months the Thargoids’ influence will be felt throughout Elite Dangerous, and players will be forced to develop new tactics and technologies of their own to counter the Thargoid menace, or see humanity’s grip on our sectors of the galaxy recede.
About The Thargoids
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.
