 Frontier just dropped their biggest Odyssey video yet, a full 8 minutes of nearly completely uninterrupted example gameplay from the first person shooter portion of the game. If you haven't yet seen it, it's linked on screen for you now. If you have seen it and like us, you're blown away from what you've seen and struggling to take it all in then sit back, relax and we'll run through some details that you may have missed. If you enjoy this video remember to hit like and subscribe and if you'd like to help support the work of this channel, you'll also find us on Patreon, links to everything you need are in the description below. In the 8 minute gameplay capture then we're treated to a slightly hammy but nonetheless exciting and enticing look at just one aspect of the Odyssey first person experience where a three player team land on a planet, infiltrate a ground installation, shut down the facility's reactor core, steal a vital component from the reactor and then make their escape under fire from the base's inhabitants. Whilst the whole sequence appears to be made up from a couple of different gameplay sessions stitched together to form a continuous flow of action, it does give a much more solid idea of the sort of gameplay that Frontier are aiming for in this portion of Odyssey. In the opening moments we're aboard an Alliance Crusader on approach to the Planet Ville C4. If you've ever wondered what Frontier specifically meant by tenuous atmospheres and just what sorts of planets will be landing on in Odyssey, there's a link to EDSM's current details on Ville C4 in the description below. The gameplay then cuts to a ship approaching the target installation, Dutch Munitions Stockade. Sadly we don't get to see the atmospheric re-entry sequence, remember this is pre-alpha gameplay and Frontier clearly aren't ready to show that off yet, more on that later. On the right hand side you can see a brief look at the layout of the base, it's walled and not of a design that we've seen before in the existing game. There looks to be at least two ways in or out, both on opposite sides of the base, the ship is on approach to a designated landing pad in the dust outside the installation. Next we see two members of the squad running underneath the ship towards the base, we're not shown the exit from the vessel, again Frontier not yet ready to show that much speculated detail off but we do start to get a sense of just how big the ships in Elite really are when compared to a puny human. We have some new HUD elements on the left hand side showing status for members of the wing and also various other HUD elements showing a compass, radar and shield, health and energy level status etc. We next get a good look at a militaristic armour set worn by one of the characters and then another point of view look at the other character in very different armour. The next shot is back in the cockpit of the ship and there's actually something potentially huge shown here, the ship is showing a ground based gun emplacement as a target on the left hand side of the HUD. If this means what we think it does we may well finally be able to target ground based weapons from our ships before they start firing at us, something that is currently nigh on impossible. As the team continues to run into the base the augmented reality on their helmets heads up display is highlighting some objects in their field of view, in this instance an overhead skimmer and again we get to see how huge these diminutive drones actually are. At the 2 minute mark the ship takes off and flies low overhead, slight squee moment I'm not going to lie. As the ship departs the base we get a good look at the new terrain and in particular the cliff feature overlooking the installation, 2 minutes 34 seconds, handily abandoned med kits for infiltrating ne'er-do-wells to loot, 3 minutes and 7 seconds red barrels for infiltrating ne'er-do-wells to be wary of when under fire. As the team approaches the target reactor building we are treated to possibly the most detailed and beautiful futuristic doorway in the history of video games. For reasons that rapidly become apparent we're likely to spend a moderate amount of time looking at doorways like this and Frontier is clearly keen for us to enjoy them. As the ship heads to a holding position in the hills overlooking the installation we can see some oddities in the terrain rendering a present underlining that this is still pre-alpha gameplay and there's going to be some oddities in everything that is shown. Awesome cutting tool shown in action, it's probably wrong that I'm excited to see how different panels fall off in lower gravity situations. Once the panel is off another new tool, the energy link. It appears to have two modes, siphon and overload. We're guessing you can charge up your suit with this as well as the demonstrated overload function which shows a warning on its HUD element that it is an illegal action by the way. The airlock door is open inside we have a blue force field holding the atmosphere inside of the same type that we see on the entranceway to star ports in orbit, this is important. After quietly eliminating the first worker inside the reactor room our player passes an atmospheric control panel on the wall at the bottom of the stairs. This appears to be the same type of hackable panel that we see on the reactor core further in the video and it contains the words deactivate atmosphere. Frontier have mentioned that you can vent the atmosphere in buildings with the outside. The workers inside this room are not wearing environment suits just saying possible grim science required. Take a moment out of your day to look at this reactor room, the lighting, the smoke, the control panels etc. It's like a movie set similar to the burning stations or Thargoid ground installations these set piece like moments are one of the things that Frontier does really well in a game that doesn't really have set pieces. Also note here when the player outside enters the doorway into the shade the temperature shown on their HUD drops. The reactor has been tampered with and the base wakes up, lights are flashing all over, Plaxans are sounding, guards will be coming to investigate the games afoot. More handily placed med kits as with the rest of Elite Dangerous the sound design throughout this sequence is absolutely world-class. The approaching guards are wearing what appears to be heavy armor and look to be very tanky in nature. The player guarding the door has activated their personal shield. There's a new insignia against players names on the HUD, we've not seen this before. Also it appears that your headgear and face covering can be retracted or removed when in an atmosphere. The light here is coming from the player's own torch. Jump assist jetpack is used. As the ship returns to extract the team on the HUD is written lower landing gear for auto-landing. It appears that the days of shuffling back and forth to try and find that perfect alignment for the undercarriage to engage with the floor and land your ship on a planetary surface are over. As the pickup ship returns he attempts to lay down some suppressive fire for his escaping team. The installation superstructure showing the scars of the battle raging around it. More outstanding audio work throughout this whole escape sequence you can hear the guards shouting to each other. It's really eerie and unnerving. There's a marker on the floor that shows where you can board the vessel but the camera cuts away again at the crucial moment. Again this is pre-alpha and frontier and not yet ready to reveal how that's going to work. And then the alpha date is finally revealed. March the 29th is alpha day. So there we have it. A proper meaningful slice of gameplay from the upcoming Odyssey expansion and a release date for the alpha. Without a doubt the most impressive and immersive gameplay we've seen from Odyssey so far it completely blew away our expectations here at the pit and the alpha now really isn't that far away at all. What are your thoughts on what you've now seen? Are you buying into the alpha now as you've seen this or are you holding off for more details on gameplay like exploration and scavenging? Let us know in the comments below. Frontier have another live stream and developer interview starting at 4pm UTC on Thursday. That live stream will again be featuring the purple twitch drops that we've seen before but it will also undoubtedly have more juicy details about Odyssey that we've not been able to cover here. As soon as we have that information we'll bring it to you so make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss out. That's it for now. Thanks very much for watching. We'll be back later this week with more videos until then. O7 commanders follow the greens on the way out and do keep clear of the toast rack. We very much look forward to seeing you next time.