Elite: Dangerous

Elite Dangerous is a massive, living game with plenty to see and do. Like a lot of sandbox, open-world games, you get out what you put in to the game. The various systems at play, including flight mechanics, are just complicated enough to be believable, while not hindering gameplay. It also helps that the game looks gorgeous, and runs solidly.

It isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, especially if you’re looking for instant action or a linear playing experience. That said, with a little patience, and a bit of imagination, Elite Dangerous is an extremely rewarding game that is worth experiencing.

Elite: Dangerous is a step away from being a masterpiece, and it could quietly be so within another year.

If the PS4 edition is you first contact with Elite, you’re in for a treat, as you receive a game that has been evolving for almost 3 years (but hasn’t aged a bit!) along with Horizons expansion. [09/2017, p.30]

Its steep learning curve prevents Elite Dangerous from being accessible to casual players, but if you're willing to invest time into the game, you'll find your patience well rewarded.

Minor shortcomings aside, Elite Dangerous delivers with aplomb on its promise of a massive galaxy for players to explore and write their own stories within. There are very few games on PS4 that will devour your social life as completely as Elite Dangerous.

The strength of the game three years after its release is not in debate, and this new version for PlayStation 4 (although not much "Pro") is well done.

Elite: Dangerous delivers a deep, fascinating space sim experience, with a tremendous potential but also a very steep learning curve.

The pioneering space adventure makes an impressive landing on PlayStation 4, with more content than ever and the promise of even better things to come.

Even after getting over any initial frustrations, the frequently vexing mechanics will test your patience time and time again, but despite these issues there’s a magic to Elite Dangerous that will keep you playing. Whether it’s a close encounter with a white dwarf, an intense dogfight, or a just cruising between star systems, the freedom and opportunity laid across its billions of stars means that Elite Dangerous offers spectacular space-tourism all from the comfort of your sofa.

While the basegame is the same time consuming monster that you can experience on other systems, the technical problems like tearing (even on PS4 Pro) and server disconnects are rather disappointing.

Thankfully, whether you’re soaking in the cosmos around you, banking large sums of credits from a well-planned trading haul, or surviving a harrowing encounter with space pirates in dazzling ship-to-ship combat, Elite Dangerous has plenty to keep me excited to come back.

Elite: Dangerous is a well crafted and complex space simulation in flight, combat, and a number of RPG elements such as resource management, questing, and upgrading gear. With real world science creating the games universe and some very nice graphics, the game’s downfall comes from the overly complex controls used for flight, making the game difficult for newcomers who may be expecting a more user friendly experience.

For every moment awed in the presence of a monumental celestial body, there are ten in which you’re lonely, humbled, and really quite bored. [October 2017, p79]

Elite: Dangerous feels a bit like a lifestyle choice, honestly. Getting good at piloting and traversing this universe takes almost as long as a full length game in and of itself. For those who endure, there's some exciting things happening in space, but for the rest, the price might be too high. This is clearly an example of a niche game, a remarkably thorough space sim that requires patience and tenacity to unearth its many secrets. It also requires caring about the universe you're in, and that can often be difficult to do after extended periods of time fighting with the game itself, whether it be through the controls or long stretches of nothing happening. As Carl Sagan once said, though: "The universe seems neither benign nor hostile; merely indifferent."