The Milky Way has been a pretty lonely place for humans in the space trading and combat simulation Elite: Dangerous. All that seemed to lie beyond the bubble of colonised space was a seemingly endless expanse of lifeless solar systems.
That is, up until yesterday, when Commander DP Sayre was pulled out of space and temporarily disabled by an unidentified and unrecognisable ship. The symmetrical disc-shaped vessel resembled an enormous flower head with eight over-lapping blades, suggesting it may be organic in nature. It then proceeded to perform a scan before promptly disappearing, leaving the Commander unharmed.
You can can watch the various clips DP Sayre captured here. Since this first contact, other players have reported similar experiences within the same region of the galaxy. You can watch the video of my own meeting with these strange aliens below.
Of course, it was possible to encounter a hostile race of aliens known as the Thargoids in the previous games, but this is the first confirmed sighting of a non-human ship in Elite: Dangerous. Since its launch back in 2014, Frontier Developments have teased the possibility of aliens both outside and within the game.
Over the past two years, an increasing number of strange artefacts and probes have been discovered in orbit of celestial bodies in the region around the Merope system in the Pleiades Nebula, as well as bizarre organic structures and mysterious ruins and wreckages on nearby planetary surfaces. These have all fuelled massive speculation of eventual Thargoid encounters.
However, Frontier have yet to confirm whether this really is a Thargoid vessel or something else entirely different, stating (according to various sources): “We are currently investigating reports of unusual sightings around the Elite: Dangerous galaxy, but we are otherwise unable to comment on galactic rumour and speculation.”
Pfff… we all know it’s Thargoids. Either way, it looks like the Elite universe just got a little more lively. You can read a nice summary of Thargoid lore here.
