Multiplayer ships, custom avatars coming to Elite Dangerous next year

Elite: Dangerous will sport a couple of cool new features after the Horizon expansion drops.

Elite Dangerous: Horizons will deliver co-op multiplayer and character customisation, Frontier Developments has announced.

PC Gamer reports Multi-Crew allows you to fly a single ship together with friends, sharing control of weapons systems, turrets and flight duties.

"Even to the extent of piloting a ship-launched fighter and working in combination with the mothership. It’ll be especially useful in some of the very large trading ships coming in season two," Frontier said.

Since you'll be standing on a bridge with your crewmates, able to glance over at their avatars, Frontier has elected to introduce customisable player characters, too. Cool.

It's not clear when these features will release, beyond "next year". They'll be part of ongoing content and feature updates courtesy of Elite Dangerous: Horizons, the expanded re-release launching during the holiday season. Its first major feature will be planetary landings.