The Azimuth Saga has come to an end in Elite Dangerous and from that end comes a new beginning. Aftermath is the next phase of the game’s narrative for the coming updates this year and moving forward.
The Azimuth Saga began in late 2020, so for those who've been following along, this conclusion comes after a while of loyalty, some major changes to the game, as well as the abandonment of active console development. However, Frontier developments has plans to let all players, even those without Odyssey, experience both this finale and continued narrative updates.
Spoilers ahead, but the finale of the Azimuth Saga features Salvation trying to stop the Thargoids with an anti-Xeno weapon called the Proteus Wave. However, this failed in a catastrophic way, with Salvation gone, and now we are on to the aftermath.
The arrival of Update 13, with that consequential failure, will include scenarios and features that reflect what happened in the finale. Update 13 also set the stage for what Aftermath will bring down the line. The Heart of Taurus has been destroyed,along with the Megaships Bright Sentinel, shipwrecks are all over, and Thargoid attacks are ramped up. When we say consequential failure, Frontier means consequential.
It remains to be seen just where the storyline will go, but after a narrative journey that has lasted for nearly two years, expect things to continue to change and expand. Frontier has made a change to allow the storyline to continue being accessible to PC players without Odyssey via an as-yet unannounced method to let them access narrative updates (but not new events or special gameplay) on the 4.0 codebase without the expansion. Console players will soon have an opportunity to transfer their accounts over to PC (and thus have 4.0 access) without having to buy a new copy of the game.
For more on the update, including full notes, head over to Elite Dangerous.
