Star Citizen is an incredibly ambitious, crowdfunded, multiplayer, space flight and combat simulator for PC. It's the brainchild of legendary game developer Chris Roberts, who cemented himself in the early days of PC games with the popular Wing Commander series. He would later go on to develop other space sims, like 2003's Freelancer, to which Roberts considers Star Citizen to be a spiritual successor.
Star Citizen began as a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, which earned over $2 million in backing. Initially set to release in 2014, some controversy erupted as Roberts rapidly expanded his vision for what Star Citizen could be. He now envisioned a sprawling, persistent MMO world, with a single-player campaign which would introduce players to the Star Citizen setting.
It became increasingly apparent that the scope of the game had surpassed the funds raised, so Roberts' company, Cloud Imperium Games, began efforts to raise more money. They soon allowed players to pre-order special ships and other in-game commodities.
The resulting and still-ongoing crowdfunding campaign is one of the most successful in history, having now raised over $300 million as of June 2020. However, there has been no announced release date for the game, which continues to add to some of the controversies around the title. Instead, Star Citizen is being rolled out in modules, each at different stages of completion.
Backers were initially granted access to a hangar that housed a model of their ship. Later, the first bit of gameplay delivered was Arena Commander, an in-universe arcade simulation accessed in the hangar. Arena Commander allowed players to fly their ships for the first time and fight against AI enemies in wave-based combat, as well as PvP battle royale and capture the flag modes. This remains the most flesh-out and functional aspect of Star Citizen to date.
Following Arena Commander came Star Marine, another in-universe arcade simulation, this time allowing players to try out the first-person shooter elements Roberts wished to introduce into the game. It's still rather simple, offering death-match and control point game modes. However, it serves as an important testing ground for the balance and mechanics of the FPS half of the game.
It was also necessary for the launch of the Persistent Universe, the vaunted multiplayer space sim that is Cloud Imperium's ultimate goal -- the true Star Citizen. The PU is out now for alpha testing, available to those who back the game at their preferred level. Players are dropped into a space station and can travel around a small star system (a fraction of the intended size of the final release), where they can fly their ships with other players and test out the quest, reputation and economy systems needed to make the game thrive.
The biggest unknown in the Star Citizen behemoth is the single-player campaign, Squadron 42. Roberts has stated that it is not necessary to own or play Squadron 42 before starting Star Citizen, but the player's pilot from Squadron 42 can be imported into the Persistent Universe following completion. The only bit of gameplay players have had access to so far is a tutorial mission.
Squadron 42 echoes Robert's Wing Commander series, putting players in the role of an elite fighter pilot. The game is set to be released in episodes, with the first episode comprising about 70 missions and 20 hours worth of gameplay. Of note is the star-studded cast who filmed extensive motion capture sequences for the game including Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, Jack Huston and Ben Mendelsohn.
Behind-the-scenes footage has been released showing the actors hard at work on something which certainly looks like it will be impressive if it ever sees the light of day. Fans of Wing Commander were especially pleased to see Roberts reunite with Mark Hamill, who played series protagonist Christopher Blair in Wing Commander 3, 4 and Prophecy. A trailer was released using in-engine graphics, showing Gary Oldman as Admiral Ernst Bishop delivering a rousing call to arms.
There is no final release date to any single aspect of Star Citizen and most deadlines set have come and gone. Still, what Cloud Imperium Games is attempting to create is impressive and those willing to take a leap of faith and back the game can play around in the skeleton of what could one day be one of the greatest video games ever made -- if it's ever finished.