'The galaxy won't be the same' after Elite Dangerous Update 14, say devs

pcgamer.com:

A two-year-long storyline in Elite Dangerous ended with a bang this month. Actually, there were two bangs in Update 13: the first was the firing of a superweapon in an attempt to destroy the alien Thargoids… quickly followed by the second bang of the Thargoids totally not being destroyed and blowing that superweapon into space-smithereens.

These disastrous events, which were viewable to players via an in-game cinematic, bring Elite Dangerous into its next story arc, Aftermath, as the fallout from the failure of the superweapon opens up new events and plenty of questions for players. What exactly went wrong? What will happen next? How will the galaxy, its factions, and players react after the catastrophe?

I recently spoke with members of the Frontier Developments team about the future of Elite Dangerous, and what Update 14 will mean for the long-running simulation of Milky Way Galaxy. Naturally they prefer to let the story unfold for players instead of straight-up telling me every single detail (darn), but they did drop a few hints about the ongoing alien threat, as well as something they themselves find threatening.

«As we move towards Update 14, and the Aftermath, we'll be really escalating the Thargoid threat, to the extent commanders have not seen before,» said senior producer Samantha Marsh. «I think everyone can see that bad things are coming. But the Aftermath will continue to kick that into higher and higher gear, and we're really excited to see exactly [how] everyone deals with it.

»And it's definitely safe to say the galaxy won't be the same," she added.

The in-game cinematic that ended the Azimuth Saga was a new way to share a story with players, but it's not the only tool Frontier Developments will be using as