“Elite: Dangerous” May Be the Most Exciting Space-Based Game of All Time

David Braben, co-creator of the most popular space trading sims ever launched on PC, Elite, is now back with a new project that is trying to bring back the franchise to modern days.

Elite, one of the most successful of the 80s is what we call these days an “open world” game. In fact, Elite was one of the first games that allowed players to freely explore huge space. Back in the 80s, Elite scored another premiere, as it was the first game to offer true 3D graphics.

After another successful sequel launched in 1993, “Frontier,” the franchise rather disappeared, though the David Braben continued to worked with its company for big game publishers, including Sony, Atari and Microsoft.

Several days ago, Frontier Developments, the company founded by Braben kicked off the fund raising for the next title in the series, Elite: Dangerous.

The first trailer along with some of the game's artwork have just been released by developers, so possible backers can get a glimpse of what Elite: Dangerous intends to offer them.

Players will start with a certain amount of money and will be able to multiply it by taking any course of action they think it suits them best. You could be an excellent trader, a famous pirate or a ruthless assassin.

Another interesting aspect of Elite: Dangerous is the multiplayer mode. You can choose to meet your friends in the game and cooperate in escort missions or dangerous adventures.

According to devs, the “technology is already working, using a combination of peer-to-peer (to reduce lag) and server connections.”

An amount of £1.25 million/€1.5 million /$2 million are necessary to successfully fund this project, though the developers already raised a bit more than £400,000/€500,000/$635.000 in the first six days. The funding ends on January 4, 2013, and the game should be out on March 2014.

For more details on the game and some artworks, check out the video below and the project's page on Kickstarter.