Elite Dangerous: Beyond—Chapter Two release date set

In the wake of its spaceport-stroming Thargoid invasion last year, Elite Dangerous rolled out Beyond—the first part of the online space 'em up's third season. Now, Beyond Chapter Two has a launch date: June 28.

With it comes the Alliance Challenger, billed as "the Alliance's newest Chieftain variant", as well as a handful of new wing missions, installation interactions, new explorable settlements, and new Tech Broker-supplied weaponry.

Here's a trailer:

The Alliance Challenger is equipped with stronger armour than the Chieftain, which means it can soak up damage while combating the ever-relentless Thargoid threat.

Similar to Beyond Chapter One's Megaship interactions, Installation Interactions now let us scan and interact with space installations—be that utilising and/or hacking turrets, comms arrays and cargo bays.

As noted above, Tech Brokers supply weapons—allowing commanders to unlock larger variations of existing guardian tech firearms. "These Tech Brokers will issue missions to collect Guardian data as well as materials and then, once delivered, will unlock certain Guardian modules of weapons for purchase," says Frontier in a statement. "Will you turn your weapons on Thargoid or use them to pirate rival Commanders?"

The choice is yours, but Frontier suggests the Thargoids continue to be an "intergalactic menace" in Beyond's second outing. In light of our new toys, the developer also warns that the Thargoids are likely to up their game in turn, with new Scouts that can buff other Scouts. Yikes.

Elite Dangerous' Beyond Chapter Two is due June 28. Expect full details and patch notes at launch.