There’s nothing like a freebie when you’re desperately trying to upgrade your ship to vaguely resemble Starship One. Enter Frontier Developments, who have announced that the Elite Dangerous expansion Horizons will merge with the core game on October 27.
The space simulator received its first paid expansion in 2015 with Horizons, and now owners of the base game will be able to acquire the expansion free of charge. The developers also stated that players who had previously purchased the expansion would receive a unique skin that can be used to give any in-game ship a fresh look. The Azure paint job will be compatible with all 41 ships, which will add a green hue to the metal vessels and be seen from every corner of the Milky Way galaxy (unconfirmed).
The merger will be available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC after October 27, where both the core game and the expansion will be sold together under the title Elite Dangerous. If the necessity to recreate all 400 billion star systems wasn’t enough to occupy Commander's time, then the Horizons expansion had it covered, allowing players to land on various planets and cruise over the terrain in a six-wheeled rover. Horizons also gave players the opportunity to experience content from past seasons, including ship upgrades and advanced gameplay.
Elite Dangerous is the fourth game within the Elite series, and is part of the one of the longest-running video game franchises. Its predecessor Frontier: First Encounters first released in 1995, and the series is still evolving with its loyal fanbase who once traversed the 1:1 scale planets and star systems on DOS.
The decision to incorporate Horizons within the core game is to presumably make way for Odyssey; next year’s paid expansion. The game’s next onslaught of new content will allow Pilots to essentially park their ships on planets to allow further exploration on foot. This will be the first time in the series’ history that players will be able to scavenge and enter first-person combat on foot, whilst parked on the great expanse of a nearby planet.
Source: Eurogamer