Elite Dangerous: Odyssey players will play in separate galaxy to base game friends

Elite Dangerous players that want to use the new features found in the space sim's on-foot-focussed Odyssey expansion when it comes to PC on 19th May will be placed into an expansion-exclusive version of the galaxy, developer Frontier has announced - meaning they won't be able to play with Odyssey's new features if they want to play with their base game friends.

Odyssey delivers a considerable shake-up to Elite Dangerous' classic formula, enabling Commanders to step out of their ships for the first time in order to stroll about space stations, settlements, and planetary terrain in first-person.

There's first-person shooting and exploration, plus a host of new missions types (including team-based on-foot PvP), all supported by a new planetary generation system designed to bring some stunning vistas to Elite Dangerous' procedural universe.

Writing in a new post on the Elite Dangerous forum, however, Frontier has confirmed that all this new stuff will come at a cost that Odyssey players may not have previously anticipated. Odyssey's galaxy - with its various improvements - will initially be entirely separate to that experience by those sticking with the base game (AKA Horizons) on PC and consoles.

As such, Horizons players won't be able to share a gameplay session with those Commanders playing within the Odyssey version of the galaxy. Nor will base game players see any of the new graphical updates - including the new planetary tech, organics, and improved lighting and textures - being introduced to Elite Dangerous alongside the Odyssey expansion.

Odyssey purchasers wishing to play with friends that don't own the expansion will only be able to do so by launching the game in Horizons mode - which will temporarily remove access to all Odyssey's new features until they return to that version of the galaxy.

Thankfully, Odyssey's galaxy split - while far from ideal - won't be permanent. Frontier says both versions of Elite Dangerous' galaxy will be merged, reuniting Odyssey and Horizons players on each platform, alongside the expansion's Xbox and PlayStation launch this autumn. At the same time, all Horizons players will finally receive the new graphical updates - although, for obvious reasons, won't be able to get out on foot or enter Odyssey's tenuous atmospheres.