Elite Dangerous
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played Elite Dangerous rate it? TrueGG Rating 83.9%

Release date: Apr 2, 2015 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it higher than Steam overall. Early impressions are weaker, so the first few hours tend to decide whether it clicks.

Good for

  • Players willing to push through a slow start
  • Players looking for hundreds of hours

Think twice if you are

  • Players who judge a game in the first hours (early ratings are lower)
  • Players particular about controls and UI

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
83.9%
▲ +6.6 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 50+ hours (last 180 days) · 1,635 reviews

TrueGG, all time
85.1%
Steam overall
77.3%
Japanese, all time
89.3%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 6.2% of all reviews. Their positive share is 26.5%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (50h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 50 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h17%1141–2 h21%922–5 h42%2105–10 h58%22710–20 h67%24120–50 h81%44850–100 h84%364100–200 h81%364200+ h85%907Positive share by playtime0–1 h11417%1–2 h9221%2–5 h21042%5–10 h22758%10–20 h24167%20–50 h44881%50–100 h36484%100–200 h36481%200+ h90785%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h16.7%—114
1–2 h20.7%—92
2–5 h42.4%—210
5–10 h58.1%100.0%227
10–20 h66.8%—241
20–50 h81.5%—448
50–100 h84.3%0.0%364
100–200 h81.3%—364
200+ h84.8%60.0%907

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 50+ hours. 73% had 20+ hours and 43% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

Elite Dangerous has a TrueGG Rating of 83.9%: the positive share among 1,635 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 50+ hours. That is 6.6 points above Steam's overall 77.3%, so players who really play the current version rate it higher than the headline number suggests (all time: 85.1%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 6% of the total, and only 27% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

In the last 180 days, reviews at 2–5h are 42% positive versus 85% at 200h+: the more people play, the more they like it.

Negative reviews most often mention controls and UI (less than at launch), crashes and bugs (more than at launch), and updates and the developers. Positive reviews praise how fun it feels.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 89.3%, 5.3 points above all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (76.7% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on the game's design (Controls, UI & camera, Grind, Boring / repetitive). These rarely change with updates, so the rating likely reflects the game itself. Judge by whether it suits you. It is also a game many people bounce off early (early reviews are much less positive than those of players who stuck with it).

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Controls, UI & camera16% of negative reviews (5% of positive) · most common among under 2h players · less than at launch
  • Crashes & bugs16% of negative reviews (6% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · more than at launch
  • Updates & developers15% of negative reviews (11% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · ongoing since launch · 5 positive reviews say it improved
  • Grind13% of negative reviews (9% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · ongoing since launch
  • Boring / repetitive10% of negative reviews (5% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · less than at launch

+ What players praise

  • Fun & feel32% of positive reviews (20% of negative)
＋ 情報＋ 傭兵＋ サイト＋ 舞台＋ 追加＋ 意味＋ 没入感＋ 作品− half− broken− awful− launcher− worse− refund− horrible− tried

Counted from 358 recent negative and 555 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating77.3%All time, all languages · 108,039 reviews
Adjusted rating76.7%Weighted by trust (95% range 76.1%–77.4%), −0.6pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews81.5%All time, Japanese-language reviews (+4.2pt vs overall) · 313 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review2%19%
Very short text27%8%
Key activated outside Steam24%20%
Received for free1%1%
Owns very few games13%6%
Over 100 reviews written2%4%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.810.84

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 70.7 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 2015-04: +842 / −251 2015-05: +369 / −100 2015-06: +492 / −150 2015-07: +534 / −187 2015-08: +315 / −203 2015-09: +436 / −242 2015-10: +414 / −155 2015-11: +442 / −272 2015-12: +845 / −667 2016-01: +417 / −342 2016-02: +387 / −211 2016-03: +288 / −136 2016-04: +230 / −102 2016-05: +263 / −156 2016-06: +308 / −134 2016-07: +254 / −100 2016-08: +499 / −112 2016-09: +351 / −85 2016-10: +366 / −123 2016-11: +1,099 / −126 2016-12: +290 / −139 2017-01: +626 / −147 2017-02: +266 / −110 2017-03: +219 / −72 2017-04: +351 / −191 2017-05: +219 / −92 2017-06: +286 / −108 2017-07: +372 / −137 2017-08: +252 / −117 2017-09: +206 / −81 2017-10: +203 / −152 2017-11: +854 / −194 2017-12: +419 / −304 2018-01: +547 / −271 2018-02: +389 / −185 2018-03: +394 / −229 2018-04: +246 / −149 2018-05: +169 / −100 2018-06: +216 / −109 2018-07: +246 / −100 2018-08: +156 / −88 2018-09: +146 / −98 2018-10: +124 / −57 2018-11: +1,044 / −87 2018-12: +477 / −350 2019-01: +328 / −126 2019-02: +189 / −120 2019-03: +138 / −51 2019-04: +271 / −195 2019-05: +159 / −56 2019-06: +584 / −94 2019-07: +816 / −137 2019-08: +174 / −95 2019-09: +205 / −136 2019-10: +300 / −76 2019-11: +1,419 / −145 2019-12: +1,437 / −193 2020-01: +1,240 / −161 2020-02: +626 / −70 2020-03: +676 / −111 2020-04: +1,361 / −330 2020-05: +967 / −171 2020-06: +1,743 / −352 2020-07: +1,170 / −213 2020-08: +663 / −157 2020-09: +659 / −116 2020-10: +1,051 / −228 2020-11: +1,752 / −240 2020-12: +1,206 / −226 2021-01: +1,196 / −179 2021-02: +976 / −183 2021-03: +1,003 / −132 2021-04: +1,095 / −251 2021-05: +1,617 / −571 2021-06: +735 / −408 2021-07: +492 / −251 2021-08: +394 / −155 2021-09: +366 / −122 2021-10: +373 / −96 2021-11: +568 / −130 2021-12: +637 / −162 2022-01: +691 / −171 2022-02: +529 / −156 2022-03: +422 / −115 2022-04: +443 / −219 2022-05: +318 / −140 2022-06: +373 / −110 2022-07: +359 / −168 2022-08: +335 / −86 2022-09: +329 / −109 2022-10: +305 / −111 2022-11: +411 / −90 2022-12: +429 / −149 2023-01: +400 / −130 2023-02: +246 / −79 2023-03: +318 / −86 2023-04: +362 / −224 2023-05: +309 / −143 2023-06: +224 / −113 2023-07: +251 / −140 2023-08: +198 / −81 2023-09: +278 / −126 2023-10: +187 / −68 2023-11: +255 / −72 2023-12: +243 / −83 2024-01: +234 / −95 2024-02: +212 / −53 2024-03: +241 / −76 2024-04: +299 / −179 2024-05: +297 / −336 2024-06: +177 / −78 2024-07: +219 / −84 2024-08: +233 / −103 2024-09: +257 / −105 2024-10: +239 / −82 2024-11: +512 / −146 2024-12: +535 / −143 2025-01: +484 / −247 2025-02: +363 / −88 2025-03: +497 / −186 2025-04: +393 / −169 2025-05: +341 / −110 2025-06: +290 / −112 2025-07: +337 / −134 2025-08: +361 / −123 2025-09: +248 / −129 2025-10: +473 / −293 2025-11: +464 / −145 2025-12: +327 / −141 2026-01: +303 / −135 2026-02: +246 / −92 2026-03: +291 / −96 2026-04: +301 / −127 2026-05: +308 / −108 2026-06: +293 / −131 2026-07: +314 / −167 2026-08: +219 / −99 2026-09: +258 / −120 2026-10: +158 / −62 2015/042016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 75.3% 2024-09: update2024-11: update2025-02: update2025-03: update2025-04: update2025-05: update2025-07: update2025-10: update2025-12: update2026-07: update 2015-04: 77.0%2015-05: 78.7%2015-06: 76.6%2015-07: 74.1%2015-08: 60.8%2015-09: 64.3%2015-10: 72.8%2015-11: 61.9%2015-12: 55.9%2016-01: 54.9%2016-02: 64.7%2016-03: 67.9%2016-04: 69.3%2016-05: 62.8%2016-06: 69.7%2016-07: 71.8%2016-08: 81.7%2016-09: 80.5%2016-10: 74.8%2016-11: 89.7%2016-12: 67.6%2017-01: 81.0%2017-02: 70.7%2017-03: 75.3%2017-04: 64.8%2017-05: 70.4%2017-06: 72.6%2017-07: 73.1%2017-08: 68.3%2017-09: 71.8%2017-10: 57.2%2017-11: 81.5%2017-12: 58.0%2018-01: 66.9%2018-02: 67.8%2018-03: 63.2%2018-04: 62.3%2018-05: 62.8%2018-06: 66.5%2018-07: 71.1%2018-08: 63.9%2018-09: 59.8%2018-10: 68.5%2018-11: 92.3%2018-12: 57.7%2019-01: 72.2%2019-02: 61.2%2019-03: 73.0%2019-04: 58.2%2019-05: 74.0%2019-06: 86.1%2019-07: 85.6%2019-08: 64.7%2019-09: 60.1%2019-10: 79.8%2019-11: 90.7%2019-12: 88.2%2020-01: 88.5%2020-02: 89.9%2020-03: 85.9%2020-04: 80.5%2020-05: 85.0%2020-06: 83.2%2020-07: 84.6%2020-08: 80.9%2020-09: 85.0%2020-10: 82.2%2020-11: 88.0%2020-12: 84.2%2021-01: 87.0%2021-02: 84.2%2021-03: 88.4%2021-04: 81.4%2021-05: 73.9%2021-06: 64.3%2021-07: 66.2%2021-08: 71.8%2021-09: 75.0%2021-10: 79.5%2021-11: 81.4%2021-12: 79.7%2022-01: 80.2%2022-02: 77.2%2022-03: 78.6%2022-04: 66.9%2022-05: 69.4%2022-06: 77.2%2022-07: 68.1%2022-08: 79.6%2022-09: 75.1%2022-10: 73.3%2022-11: 82.0%2022-12: 74.2%2023-01: 75.5%2023-02: 75.7%2023-03: 78.7%2023-04: 61.8%2023-05: 68.4%2023-06: 66.5%2023-07: 64.2%2023-08: 71.0%2023-09: 68.8%2023-10: 73.3%2023-11: 78.0%2023-12: 74.5%2024-01: 71.1%2024-02: 80.0%2024-03: 76.0%2024-04: 62.6%2024-05: 46.9%2024-06: 69.4%2024-07: 72.3%2024-08: 69.3%2024-09: 71.0%2024-10: 74.5%2024-11: 77.8%2024-12: 78.9%2025-01: 66.2%2025-02: 80.5%2025-03: 72.8%2025-04: 69.9%2025-05: 75.6%2025-06: 72.1%2025-07: 71.5%2025-08: 74.6%2025-09: 65.8%2025-10: 61.7%2025-11: 76.2%2025-12: 69.9%2026-01: 69.2%2026-02: 72.8%2026-03: 75.2%2026-04: 70.3%2026-05: 74.0%2026-06: 69.1%2026-07: 65.3%2026-08: 68.9%2026-09: 68.3%2026-10: 71.8% 2015/042016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.

Updates and ratings before and after

DateAnnouncement2 months before → after
2026-07-09 Elite Dangerous | Operations Update | Update 3 72% → 69% (−3.0pt)
2025-12-11 Elite Dangerous: Caspian Explorer | Update 1 68% → 71% (+2.6pt)
2025-10-16 Type-11 Prospector Update 2 71% → 73% (+2.7pt)
2025-07-03 Trailblazers | Update 3.4 74% → 71% (−3.2pt)
2025-05-07 Elite Dangerous | Trailblazers | Update 3.1 71% → 72% (+0.3pt)
2025-04-25 Elite Dangerous | Trailblazers | Update 3 76% → 74% (−1.9pt)
2025-03-05 Elite Dangerous | Trailblazers Update 1 72% → 72% (+0.8pt)
2025-02-26 Elite Dangerous | Trailblazers out now! 72% → 71% (−0.8pt)
2024-11-20 Elite Dangerous | Ascendancy Update 1 - 21st November 73% → 72% (−0.3pt)
2024-09-18 Elite Dangerous - Update 18.09 | 19 September 71% → 77% (+6.0pt)

Picked automatically from the titles of Steam announcements by the developer (one per month, last 3 years, up to 10). The dotted lines mark those months. Before and after are the positive rates of the two months before and after (excluding the month itself); shown as "—" under 50 reviews or when the two months after are not complete. An update is not necessarily the cause of a change.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 5 10 15 20 2026-09-19: +7 / −3 2026-09-20: +9 / −4 2026-09-21: +4 / −2 2026-09-22: +11 / −3 2026-09-23: +5 / −0 2026-09-24: +7 / −4 2026-09-25: +8 / −4 2026-09-26: +3 / −1 2026-09-27: +5 / −2 2026-09-28: +8 / −3 2026-09-29: +3 / −0 2026-09-30: +4 / −6 2026-10-01: +13 / −1 2026-10-02: +5 / −6 2026-10-03: +8 / −2 2026-10-04: +8 / −5 2026-10-05: +12 / −4 2026-10-06: +9 / −2 2026-10-07: +7 / −2 2026-10-08: +7 / −3 2026-10-09: +4 / −3 2026-10-10: +16 / −3 2026-10-11: +6 / −7 2026-10-12: +9 / −5 2026-10-13: +7 / −4 2026-10-14: +8 / −0 2026-10-15: +11 / −1 2026-10-16: +9 / −0 2026-10-17: +13 / −7 2026-10-18: +6 / −7 09/1909/2610/0310/1010/17
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2015-0484225177.0%
2015-0536910078.7%
2015-0649215076.6%
2015-0753418774.1%
2015-0831520360.8%
2015-0943624264.3%
2015-1041415572.8%
2015-1144227261.9%
2015-1284566755.9%
2016-0141734254.9%
2016-0238721164.7%
2016-0328813667.9%
2016-0423010269.3%
2016-0526315662.8%
2016-0630813469.7%
2016-0725410071.8%
2016-0849911281.7%
2016-093518580.5%
2016-1036612374.8%
2016-111,09912689.7%
2016-1229013967.6%
2017-0162614781.0%
2017-0226611070.7%
2017-032197275.3%
2017-0435119164.8%
2017-052199270.4%
2017-0628610872.6%
2017-0737213773.1%
2017-0825211768.3%
2017-092068171.8%
2017-1020315257.2%
2017-1185419481.5%
2017-1241930458.0%
2018-0154727166.9%
2018-0238918567.8%
2018-0339422963.2%
2018-0424614962.3%
2018-0516910062.8%
2018-0621610966.5%
2018-0724610071.1%
2018-081568863.9%
2018-091469859.8%
2018-101245768.5%
2018-111,0448792.3%
2018-1247735057.7%
2019-0132812672.2%
2019-0218912061.2%
2019-031385173.0%
2019-0427119558.2%
2019-051595674.0%
2019-065849486.1%
2019-0781613785.6%
2019-081749564.7%
2019-0920513660.1%
2019-103007679.8%
2019-111,41914590.7%
2019-121,43719388.2%
2020-011,24016188.5%
2020-026267089.9%
2020-0367611185.9%
2020-041,36133080.5%
2020-0596717185.0%
2020-061,74335283.2%
2020-071,17021384.6%
2020-0866315780.9%
2020-0965911685.0%
2020-101,05122882.2%
2020-111,75224088.0%
2020-121,20622684.2%
2021-011,19617987.0%
2021-0297618384.2%
2021-031,00313288.4%
2021-041,09525181.4%
2021-051,61757173.9%
2021-0673540864.3%
2021-0749225166.2%
2021-0839415571.8%
2021-0936612275.0%
2021-103739679.5%
2021-1156813081.4%
2021-1263716279.7%
2022-0169117180.2%
2022-0252915677.2%
2022-0342211578.6%
2022-0444321966.9%
2022-0531814069.4%
2022-0637311077.2%
2022-0735916868.1%
2022-083358679.6%
2022-0932910975.1%
2022-1030511173.3%
2022-114119082.0%
2022-1242914974.2%
2023-0140013075.5%
2023-022467975.7%
2023-033188678.7%
2023-0436222461.8%
2023-0530914368.4%
2023-0622411366.5%
2023-0725114064.2%
2023-081988171.0%
2023-0927812668.8%
2023-101876873.3%
2023-112557278.0%
2023-122438374.5%
2024-012349571.1%
2024-022125380.0%
2024-032417676.0%
2024-0429917962.6%
2024-0529733646.9%
2024-061777869.4%
2024-072198472.3%
2024-0823310369.3%
2024-0925710571.0%
2024-102398274.5%
2024-1151214677.8%
2024-1253514378.9%
2025-0148424766.2%
2025-023638880.5%
2025-0349718672.8%
2025-0439316969.9%
2025-0534111075.6%
2025-0629011272.1%
2025-0733713471.5%
2025-0836112374.6%
2025-0924812965.8%
2025-1047329361.7%
2025-1146414576.2%
2025-1232714169.9%
2026-0130313569.2%
2026-022469272.8%
2026-032919675.2%
2026-0430112770.3%
2026-0530810874.0%
2026-0629313169.1%
2026-0731416765.3%
2026-082199968.9%
2026-0925812068.3%
2026-101586271.8%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-1973
2026-09-2094
2026-09-2142
2026-09-22113
2026-09-2350
2026-09-2474
2026-09-2584
2026-09-2631
2026-09-2752
2026-09-2883
2026-09-2930
2026-09-3046
2026-10-01131
2026-10-0256
2026-10-0382
2026-10-0485
2026-10-05124
2026-10-0692
2026-10-0772
2026-10-0873
2026-10-0943
2026-10-10163
2026-10-1167
2026-10-1295
2026-10-1374
2026-10-1480
2026-10-15111
2026-10-1690
2026-10-17137
2026-10-1867
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days74.3%400
Last 180 days72.8%2,956
All time77.3%108,039
Japanese, last 180 days57.1%7
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About

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