The full retail release of Elite Dangerous: Horizons has just launched. Prepare for touchdown.

Horizons is the first release of an overall season of expansion content. Planetary landings will be the first taste of this new content for those willing to shell out €40/$60, the launch price of the original game. However, if you already own the base game, it will only set you back €30/$45 at this time.

https://youtu.be/VKWIJ-H-WxI

In Frontier's words:

This is the first expansion to Elite: Dangerous. Planetary Landings introduces players to planet surfaces and the first all-new Surface Recon Vehicle (SRV) the ‘Scarab’. Scanning airless planets and moons brings new gameplay as players detect signals, crashed ships, mineral deposits, outposts and fortresses. Alone or with friends, players will explore, mine and engage hostile forces as they attempt to infiltrate strongholds guarding valuable rewards. Players will explore new worlds, coasting over mountaintops, diving into canyons, landing on the surface and rolling out onto the surface in your SRV, all without loading times or breaks in gameplay.

https://youtu.be/hsNFPlnNl-s

For those on the fence about getting into the game, friend of the site Scott Manley has uploaded a video showing off what it is like to get started in Horizons, which we have embedded above. Fittingly, new players starting their Elite: Dangerous career with Horizons will begin landed on a planet, with plenty of new mission types and gameplay opportunities. Polygon also has a really nice hands-on article that goes through through the basics of horizons.

The price point of the new content has been controversial for some in the Elite: Dangerous community. While some players may wish to wait for a discount (possibly as the Christmas sales season nears), new updates and features will continue to be made available for both the core game and Horizons. New content will be tailored for both aspects of the game, space and planet-based respectively.

Elite's latest free update, version 1.5 - AKA Ships - brings the total number of flyable spacecraft up to thirty ships (thirty one for Horizons players), and has a laundry list of other changes. In addition to further fleshing out planet-based gameplay, Frontier's list of upcoming features is really promising. Extra loot options, crafting, multicrew ships, sculpting a player avatar, and launching fighters from your ship are coming to Elite: Dangerous in the not-so-distant future. Frontier went over these future updates in a talk at EGX late this September, and it is likely that more information will be released in the coming months.

Players who bought a lifetime season pass, or the Horizons expansion from the Frontier store and wish to play on Steam will need to retrieve a new key for the expansion.

Have you started playing Horizons? Share your thoughts and any stories you have in the comments.