EVE Online's next seasonal update, dubbed Quadrant, heralds the next chapter in EVE Online's ongoing alien invasion storyline. Called Eclipse, the quadrant will launch on April 6 and will introduce a series of smaller updates over the next few months, including new features, new ships, and significant balance changes. It will also continue the ongoing Triglavian alien invasion storyline in EVE (not to be confused with last year's dramatic alien invasion).

But before any of that happens, developer CCP Games wants players to go on a murderous Easter egg hunt.

The Hunt, which begins on April 6, is a temporary event that capitalizes on the ludicrous similarity between EVE Online's escape pods and eggs; for those unfamiliar with EVE Online, a pod is a mini-spaceship, so called by players, that actually contain the bodies of their characters and sit inside the larger ship they pilot. When their ship is destroyed, the player's pod is released, allowing them to escape in a hurry and find a new ship.

However, enemy players may also attempt to destroy your pod. Players who are destroyed lose their physical bodies and the valuable neural implants they were equipped with, and wake up in a new clone hundreds of light years away. This is considered a particularly heinous act by EVE Online's NPC police and carries some heavy consequences if done in certain areas of EVE Online.

Normally, the only benefit of "podding" another player is to prevent them from escaping or to rejoin a battle with a new ship. But The Hunt is changing that: starting April 6, if you destroy another player's escape pod, you may find that player's expensive neural implant (if equipped) in the wreckage. It's a small incentive to go out of your way to be extra evil this Easter season.

The Hunt also makes NPC pods appear around New Eden, which players can find to trigger small mini-scenarios with NPC enemies that "may drop valuable loot." But that is not as exciting as it sounds.

Unfortunately, we don't yet have any details about what else will be available in "Eclipse" besides "The Hunt." In a blog post, CCP Games said, "The overall theme will revolve around the changing balance of power in New Eden, with events, celebrations, login campaigns, visual updates, major balance changes, new and mysterious ships and weapons, and the final chapter of the Invasion expansion." Only it states.

However, we will have to wait and see what that will look like.

For more information, check out the EVE Online Update website.