Greetings Commanders,
The Thargoids have returned, and yes, you should be very afraid.
Last night we managed to pull off something special; our fantastic community joined together to take part in a Community Goal that would reveal information to change the galaxy forever. Thanks to you, we were able to transfer enough data to Professor Palin who was able to confirm our suspicions: The Thargoids are back… the same enemy so many of our Commanders feared from the original 1984 Elite.
Today we’re excited to announce that Elite Dangerous 2.4 The Return will launch Quarter 3 of 2017, and you will be in direct conflict with our insectoid friends. These fearsome creatures are unlike anything you’ve come across before in Elite Dangerous, meaning that you’ll have to discover new ways to fight, work together, and defend against their new types of weaponry and armour.
The Return will play out differently to previous releases in Elite Dangerous: Horizons, with content and story beats affecting all Commanders releasing in the months following its initial release.
As a story-centric update, showing too much ahead of time would spoil the surprise and make for a lesser experience for the community. We want The Return to surprise and shock you as much as possible, but that said, you can expect for further reveals and information about the future of Elite at various community and gaming events throughout the year, such as the upcoming Lavecon.
David Braben talks about the history of the Thargoids, and about how 2.4 The Return will unfold, in the video we posted to our YouTube account:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX49v8zYutI