If you’ve been thinking about taking a stroll around EVE Online’s galactic block, you might be interested in the free-to-play version that recently went live. Well, while it can be downloaded and played right now, there are a few restrictions compared to the paid game.

Blues spotted the news from over on the official EVE Online website, where they have a basic comparison between the free “Alpha” version and the paid “Omega” version. Keep in mind that the game is not actually in alpha, it’s just that the name of the free version is called an “Alpha”.

As you can see, the free version lets you create up to 21 ships per character, compared to the Omega version that allows you to house up to 326 ships.

The training and leveling speed is standard in the free version, but you can train up to 428 skills to their maximum level in the paid version, and you get double the training speed. Also, there’s an infinite skill queue when learning new abilities compared to the 24-hour wait in the free version.

All that said, the free version isn’t that bad considering that you don’t have to pay a dime to play it.

This isn’t that bold of a move from CCP given that EVE Online has already had a long running, strong life on the internet as a paid MMO. The game came out 13 years ago, so they’ve managed to get some good mileage out of a game more than a decade old.

This new free version also arrived along with the latest EVE Online: Ascension update, which came out recently and offers lots of new content. If you missed it before there’s a promo video showing all of the new content in the new version.

The update that they dropped today has a changelog of notes and it’s doozy. There are far too many changes to list here without turning into a multi-page article. However, some of the highlights include improved graphics and sub-capital shipwreck improvements, as well as new modules, new areas to explore, new mining drones, new balances to the gameplay, as well as an improved user interface.

You can learn more about the recent updates for the EVE Online: Ascension expansion by visiting the official website. Alternatively you can grab a free copy of the Alpha version of EVE Online from the download page.