If you have beta access for Elite: Horizons – the space sim’s planetary landings season of updates – you’ll be able to try update 2.2, The Guardians, next week.

Elite: Dangerous certainly deserves its place on our list of the best space games.

From September 20, those with beta access will be jumping into their ship-launched fighters to repel incoming threats, or maybe just to admire your ship as it hangs in the black. Those fighters are sure going to be good for screenshots.

With the addition of ship-launched fighters comes a bunch of new stuff built around the functionality, like passenger missions and the ability to pilot the Beluga liner, a huge ship comparable to an Imperial Cutter in size.

On top of this, the new update adds more varied station interiors, route plotter improvements and the much needed ship transfer option. We had a look at all the new stuff that’s coming, and we even made a video about it:

If you’ve got the PC exclusive beta access already you’ll be able to download the beta and select it from the launcher menu as you usually would. If you don’t have beta access, you can get it now for £6.99, assuming you already own Horizons.

The next big update, 2.3, will give players an avatar, letting us customise our pilot, and allowing us to jump in multi-crew ships, flying through the Milky Way with a friend.