The Thargoids. Their very name should strike fear into the hearts of veteran gamers that cut their teeth playing the original space-combat trading game, Elite, back in the 80s. Many a commander lost their nerve in witch-space having encounters the mysterious Thargoids.

Now they are back.

Frontier Developments have just launched Elite Dangerous: Horizons 2.4 – The Return, thrusting players into combat against one of gaming’s most fearsome foes. The Elite Dangerous galaxy will never be the same again.

Since 2014 Elite Dangerous players have scoured the vast simulated Milky Way galaxy as tensions between the Empire, Federation and Alliance have risen. With each new discovery of unknown artefacts, probes and relics, players drew another step closer to the return of the Thargoids.

Humanity’s dreaded enemy will return in an ongoing Elite Dangerous story arc enabled by Elite Dangerous: Horizons 2.4 – The Return, continuing the Horizons season with ongoing story events that will see commanders thrust into battle against the Thargoids for the first time in gaming’s modern age, bringing a new and deadly dynamic to the Elite Dangerous galaxy.

In coming months, the Thargoids’ influence will be felt throughout Elite Dangerous, and players will be forced to develop new tactics and technologies of their own to counter the Thargoid menace, or see humanity’s grip on our sectors of the galaxy recede.

Thargoid history dates back to 1984, when David Braben and Ian Bell created gaming’s original open-world space adventure: Elite. The Thargoids’ eight-sided craft became an iconic threat, challenging even the galaxy’s most Elite commanders.

In the in-game narrative the Thargoid story is a long one, unfolding during the events of Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, as well as in Elite’s extended fiction. Events in Elite Dangerous take place over fifty years since those in Frontier: First Encounters, and today the facts about the Thargoids have been swamped by stories, myths and legends. It has been unclear what is true and what is an elaborate conspiracy theory… Until now.

Elite Dangerous is available now on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Check out the Elite Dangerous Retaliation cinematic, introducing the Thargoid threat, below.