Expansive worlds and open exploration are as popular as ever, and Frontier Development’s Elite: Dangerous takes it to the next level with over 400 billion star systems for players to explore in a massive-multiplayer online world.

Taking place over 1000 years in the future, Elite: Dangerous brings a period of rapid growth for humanity as well as a cold-war on the brink of igniting galactic destruction and it throws you right in the middle of it all.

With an array of weapon choices, ship enhancements, and gameplay styles, Frontier Development will be giving players a vast amount of choices and their variety of gameplay approaches is exciting. There is a clear emphasis from Frontier Development to immerse their players as much as they possibly can in the game.

“Some may call you a friend, a pirate, a bounty-hunter, a smuggler, an assassin, a mercenary, but you are the pilot of your own starship, and that is what matters.”

A co-operative multiplayer experience is at the forefront of the game as it encourages players to team up for missions and for players to join sides within the cold war between the Federation and the Empire.

The MMO’s greatest concern may be how much depth the world has. The space travel looks incredible but the game outside of that has yet to be extensively detailed. Frontier has stated that they will implement on-foot exploration soon after launch, but the ambition may be too great for it to execute at a high-quality level. Their balance between exciting gameplay and immersion will need to be precise.

The gameplay is clearly complex from its core out. Even a seemingly menial task in other games can be a very in-depth experience in Elite: Dangerous.

To dock in-game you must not only precisely maneuver your ship to and within a docking-station, but also release your landing gear manually, and proceed to correctly center your ship over the landing platform. Frontier clearly tries to get players as invested in the game world as best they can with their gameplay style.

It’s up for debate whether the in-depth features will be enjoyable additions to the game at the final release. Regardless, Elite: Dangerous’ intricacy and comprehensiveness certainly make it stand out among the rest, but those focus points may end up being its downfall when expanding their community. It will be interesting to see how the average gamer reacts to the style that Frontier is after and if their balance of complexity and player engagement is well-received on a grand scale.

A good in-game introduction will be certainly needed to help players understand the game and immediately jump straight into the immersive experience. Along with a solid community to support new players, Elite: Dangerous could flourish if executed well.

Get an early look at the MMO July 29th as Frontier Development will be giving beta access to those who pre-order a $75 package available on their official website.