Note! The hours spent playing E:D shown in my Steam profile do not take into account the fact that I had owned the game since its launch in December 2014.

Also note - this is a review of the BASE game, i.e. WITHOUT Horizons.

It might be strange to start a review by writing about something negative, but it's there, and it needs to be addressed. The trailer for Elite: Dangerous, the one with the loud music and lots of action, is possibly one of the most misleading trailers of all time. If you liked that trailer, and think the game is the same, you are wrong, and despite recommending the game on the whole, I cannot recommend this game to you.

However, if you didn't see that trailer (or didn't like it, or saw other trailers which are a lot better), then you should know what to expect:

• Fantastic audio visual design that will suck you right in
  
• A rich atmosphere which builds incredible immersion
  
• Excellent combat mechanics (if you're into fights, that is)
  
• A vast universe to explore

The game excels on these points. It's really easy to start the game, and feel like you're there, in space, flying your own ship. If you have an Oculus (or some sort of head-tracking system) it gets even better.

Does the game have flaws? It sure does. A lot, in fact. One of the biggest flaws of Elite is that it's severely lacking in meaningful content (a curse of many procedurally-generated games). What little variety there is can be explored relatively quickly.

But it's still a worthy title of one’s time, if only to get lost in space for a while. Just... don't expect the feeling to last indefinitely, as you will hit one of these "repetitive" roadblocks that effectively kill immersion.

PS. The game isn't hard, by any means. Sure, there's no objective marker telling you what to do, but the tutorials give plenty of information in order to start out, and you can freely crash, burn and experiment with the starting ship at no cost until you get the hang of it. People make it seem like starting out in Elite is some impossible task - it really isn't. This **isn't** Flight Simulator where you need to perform 50 actions even before you taxi to the runway.

PPS. Never fly uninsured! ;)

[i]Note! The hours spent playing E:D shown in my Steam profile do not take into account the fact that I had owned the game since its launch in December 2014. Also note - this is a review of the BASE game, i.e. WITHOUT Horizons.[/i] It might be strange to start a review by writing about something negative, but it's there, and it needs to be addressed. The trailer for Elite: Dangerous, the one with the loud music and lots of action, is possibly one of the most misleading trailers of all time. If you liked that trailer, and think the game is the same, you are wrong, and despite recommending the game on the whole, I cannot recommend this game to you. However, if you didn't see that trailer (or didn't like it, or saw other trailers which are a lot better), then you should know what to expect: [list] [*] Fantastic audio visual design that will suck you right in [*] A rich atmosphere which builds incredible immersion [*] Excellent combat mechanics (if you're into fights, that is) [*] A vast universe to explore [/list] The game excels on these points. It's really easy to start the game, and feel like you're there, in space, flying your own ship. If you have an Oculus (or some sort of head-tracking system) it gets even better. Does the game have flaws? It sure does. A lot, in fact. One of the biggest flaws of Elite is that it's severely lacking in meaningful content (a curse of many procedurally-generated games). What little variety there is can be explored relatively quickly. But it's still a worthy title of one’s time, if only to get lost in space for a while. Just... don't expect the feeling to last indefinitely, as you will hit one of these "repetitive" roadblocks that effectively kill immersion. PS. The game isn't hard, by any means. Sure, there's no objective marker telling you what to do, but the tutorials give plenty of information in order to start out, and you can freely crash, burn and experiment with the starting ship at no cost until you get the hang of it. People make it seem like starting out in Elite is some impossible task - it really isn't. This **isn't** Flight Simulator where you need to perform 50 actions even before you taxi to the runway. PPS. Never fly uninsured! ;)