At long last, here is Elite Dangerous: Odyssey's first-person gameplay in action

Six years after its release, Elite Dangerous is getting an incredible new feature: legs. With the arrival of the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey expansion next year, players will finally be allowed to exit their spacecraft and ground vehicles in order to mingle (or shoot at) their fellow leg-havers. The video above is the first real in-engine footage of the expansion.

That was shown tonight at The Game Awards, and it corroborates a lot of what we've already been told about the expansion. The first-person combat will allow for a more stealthy approach if you'd prefer, and there's a bunch of gear, suits, and weapons to find and adapt to your playstyle. The galaxy will be strewn with social hubs, where you'll meet other Commanders and presumably celebrate the simple act of walking.

The expansion still has no release date, but pre-orders have opened: it'll be £30 / $40 for the base expansion, or £40 / $55 if you also want alpha and beta access and the official soundtrack. Dates for those testing periods have yet to be announced.

If you've not logged in to Elite Dangerous for a while, you may be pleased to hear that the Elite Dangerous: Horizons expansion is now free and rolled into the base game. Now's the time to relearn how to land your ship ahead of next year's update.

Shaun Prescott

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.