Play Order (Release = Chronological)Recommended
0 / 4 playedThe four Elite games in release order. The 1990s sequels assume no knowledge of the original, so newcomers can also jump straight to Elite Dangerous.
Classic era
- 1 Elite BBC Micro original, released September 20, 1984. Trade, fight, and earn the Elite combat rank.
- 2 Frontier: Elite II Sequel with Newtonian physics and a realistic Milky Way.
- 3 Frontier: First Encounters Adds planetary landings with no loading breaks. The last Elite game for nearly 20 years.
Modern era
- 4 Elite Dangerous Ongoing MMO with the Horizons (2015) and Odyssey (2021) expansions. The version to play now.
About Elite
Elite began on the BBC Micro in 1984 and defined the open-ended space trading genre across Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters in the 1990s.
This play order follows release order and ends with Elite Dangerous, the ongoing MMO that Frontier still updates.
Good to know
Elite Dangerous launched December 16, 2014 with the Horizons (2015) and Odyssey (2021) expansions, plus the 2025 Trailblazers colonisation update and the Operations update of June 30, 2026. No sequel has been announced.
