Recent reviews by Battle Brother Dessert

"So Elite is a bit weird. If you are getting into this game alone without at least 1 friend. Watch streams on twitch, join discords of the streamers and find people to play with. The game is a lot more fun with people than alone. if you cant do that. Then go and watch youtube videos and play the tutorials. The game is great. It has its issues, its not perfect. But if you arent here for CONSTANT action but instead a pretty immersive experience. This is the game for you. It truly is a great game. Long journeys, incremental progression that is gratifying, and beautiful vistas. The progression is my only gripe but its because it gets tedious pretty late in the game. After you have bought your second or third career ship. (a ship youll be in for a while) the time it take to get the capital to fully upgrade it mixed with the capital needed for the next ship youre gonna buy, suddenly becomes too great. And the next thing you know the math youve done comes out to like 100 hours of game play to get it. And thats when you need to have already found the fun in the game that doesnt come from the rewards. Once you have that covered. Once you figure out a way to make those 100 hours fun without shiny new ships. You have been successful.

My advice for getting this game. Allow yourself to be immersed in it. And limit your expectations from time to time. It takes a lot of hours to get to the end game. Its just the name of the game. But along that road, there are a lot of things to see and do."

The above review was written at a time when I had just under 1,000 hours in the game. Ive decided to update it after several years due to the changes that the developer, Frontier Developments have released. The changes to this game are dramatic and in many ways a massive improvement from where things stood years ago when this review was published. The game is significantly more approachable now for a newcomer than ever before. With tiers of accessibility built in. What hasnt changed very much is the advice that starting with or alongside a friend of group of people is still preferential. While the time it takes to progress and advance within elite has improved, its still a web work of complicated in and out of game explanations. Cobbled together by hundreds of excellently produced community and official guides. The game is still an unrelenting dive into a complex series of in game systems that dont always get along with one another. This can lead to crashes and glitches that can be maddening to say the least.

Improvements to the trading, mining, exploration, and combat game loops have allowed for a faster income rate per hour than previous iterations of the game. Better transparency from the developers and a now decade old community of dedicated players leads to a greater exchange of information. The addition of Odyssey and its new game loops, Surface Operations, Ground Combat, and Exobiology have shepherded a new way to play, similar in appearance to No Man's Sky. Graphical overhauls have brought many of the already splendid sights and views we have all grown to love, into a more modern feel. However, there is an elephant in this expansive 1:1 recreation of the Milky Way.

Trailblazers. Without getting into the nitty gritty, understand that as with any feature roll out in the game. Its a months long bug squashing process of optimization and development. With Trailblazers itself being the foremost embodiment of this way of developing a game. Its touted as a 'beta'. It is really important to note that this release has lead to greater instability in the game. From glitches, freezes, crashes and bugs. To regular stuttering across all reported PC builds. While I believe this is temporary and most likely not a situation I expect to continue through the end of the year, we are nearing 3 months since release. Things for the moment, are not promising.

Get this game at all costs, partake in the ARX store and in buying prebuilt ships if you can afford to. It goes to support a wonderful developer who is clearly passionate almost to a fault about delivering an immersive and complex simulation experience. But please be warned, this game will without a doubt frustrate and outright upset you on occasion. Its a magnificent spectacle to behold, but as space can be a cruel mistress. So to can this games bugs.

10/10 if you like watching paint dry when it comes to getting meaningful updates to a 4 year old game.

Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain
For we have received orders
For to sail to old England
But we hope in a short time to see you again
We'll rant and we'll roar, like true British sailors
We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas
Until we strike soundings
In the Channel of old England



10/10 would revolt again

DO NOT UNDEr AN CIRCUMSTANCES GET THIS GAME. ITS A WINDOWS LIVE GAME. IT IS TERRIBLY DONE AND MAKES MY BRAIN HURT. PLEASE...DONT...BUY...IT