Elite Dangerous: Horizons update brings multicrew co-op and much more

By Dan Thorp-Lancaster
published

Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous (Image credit: Frontier Developments)

The latest update for Elite Dangerous: Horizons, titled The Commanders, is now available for both PC and Xbox One. The update packs in a ton of tweaks and features, but the biggest are probably the new multicrew co-op feature and Holo-Me avatar creator.

The Commanders update comes at a critical time in the plot of Elite Dangerous as well:

Elite Dangerous 2.3 – The Commanders arrives at a time when all eyes have turned to Merope, where the Empire and Federation are drawing closer to a collision, and the Commanders of the Pilots Federation have encountered a spacecraft unlike anything designed by humanity. Elite Dangerous 2.3 puts its Commanders front and center, with new ways to play and new discoveries to be made.

Multicrew co-op will let groups of player fly on the same ship, each filling in specialized roles as a pilot, gunner, or fighter. Meanwhile, the Holo-Me avatar creator lets you customize your commander with unique facial features and physical appearances. Horizons' 2.3 update also comes alongside the free 1.8 gameplay update, which adds megaships, ship naming, and more for all players.

The full release notes, which include details on a new camera suite for taking screenshots and video, are rather expansive. If you're down for a deep dive, you can check out all of the changes in full at the Elite Dangerous forums.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. 

12 Comments
  • Anybody playing this one? I played on PC for a while and then moved over to Xbox. I fire it up now and then, but it's few and far between sessions. I stick to trading and exploring so I typically stay in solo, but I can see how this could be fun for combat in open or in private groups.
  • Im
  • Might be finally time to pick this up. I have the HOTAS I want ready in my wishlist to go with it.
  • Big update, gotta start this game again.
  • While the multicrew stuff is fun, they crippled the payouts for crew mates so much that it's hard to want to join another ship.  Right now, at most, crew mates will get half the bounty.  That's if they have Elite Combat status.  If they have the lowest combat status then they get 3% of the bounty. I was looking forward to trying this, but now I don't think I'll bother.
  • GT = Humhead Add me as a friend for multicrew. I have 55 days total play time invested in Elite. About the only thing I play anymore. Fantastic game if you have the time to put in it.
  • Elite Dangerous now on sale on Steam! Tempted to get since it's been on my wishlist for a while.
  • Unless you are doing combat missions, is there any benefit to crew up?  I started this game on the Xbox, but have moved over to VR (Oculus) recently and doing mainly cargo missions.
  • I started playing it on PC this year. I'm exclusively an explorer, since I want to avoid both human players and NPC (because they just usually want to destroy my ship). I've on the long haul to Colonia near galaxy center.  Lots of grinding.
  • Ooh, a reason to spend a few more days in this game.
  • I'm most excited to finally being able to have my son sit in the other seat and maybe being able to help out with that extra pip.
  • Awesome, have touched this game in a while, but starting a new character (my old was kinda screwed) GT: TinyNiceT Add me, if you like to play with a Dutch n00b, that plays for fun....