At the end of the first day of the CitizenCon 2954 event in Manchester, Cloud Imperium Games showcased a work-in-progress version of the prologue of Squadron 42, the single-player campaign of Star Citizen. The developer also announced a new release window.
What has been showcased was played live on stage. It was not a pre-recorded video. So much so that the game crashed during the presentation twice and there were a few very visible gitches.
Incidentally, we hear directly from Creative Director and CIG CEO Chris Roberts that the team has been hard at work polishing and optimizing the game to meet the high standards of quality they have set for themselves. On top of that, we hear that the story on a regular playthrough is 30-40 hours long.
At the end of the demo, we hear that the game is coming in 2026. The precise release date was not provided.
The prologue mission starts with a look at Henry Cavill’s character, Ryan “Doc” Enright, commander of the titular Squadron 42. At the very beginning, we see that there are four levels of difficulty, Rookie, Wingman, Ace, and Legatus.
After a few cinematics to set the stage, our hero is soon drafted into target practice as a current gunner, followed by an epic speech by Admiral Bishop, played by Gary Oldman. We also get to see other well-known actors like Gillian Anderson and Mark Strong.
Things go from simulated to real as the United Empire of Earth’s fleet encounters the Vanduul fleet led by a massive Kingship. It’s actually the first time we get an extended look at the Vanduul, the hostile alien race that has been kept mostly under wraps.
You can watch it in the video below. It’s quite long, so grab some coffee and a comfortable seat.
The gameplay was followed by a new trailer showing more of the game.
If you’re unfamiliar with Squadron 42, it’s is the stand-alone single-player campaign associated with Cloud Imperium Games’ multiplayer sandbox Star Citizen. It’s a full-fledged cinematic story starring an exceptional cast of famous actors including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and more.
Star Citizen is a crowdfunded multiplayer open-world sandbox space simulator that has been in development for over a decade. It’s directed by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame. Fans of the Wing Commander series will certainly recognize the cinematic style on today’s gameplay.
Earlier today, we got to see plenty of upcoming content, for the multiplayer game, including the next two systems after Pyro, Nyx and Castra, the return of a famous giant sandworm, and much more.
The game has passed $729 million in crowdfunding earlier today ($729,134,009 at the moment of this writing) and counts 5,365,553 registered users. Of course, many of them aren’t paying customers, as they register accounts to enjoy Free Fly Events.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.
