Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games is continuing its quest to improve the playability and content of the growing space simulator.
The giant sandwork named Valakkar has been a promise for a long time, since its debut at CitizenCon in 2016. It was then re-revealed last year, and it’s finally about to be officially implemented in the live servers.
Yet, players have already received the first taste on the Public Test Universe, where the massive Valakkar i already active and is currently being tested before implementation in the upcoming update Alpha 4.2.
Of course, what happens in the PTU rarely stays in the PTU, and footage of the encounter is already making its way across the internet.
Funnily, considering the novelty, the massive worm goes down rather quickly under the firepower of several tens of players, as you can see in the videos below, courtesy of YouTube user do_minguez.
Incidentally, we also get to see another feature coming with alpha 4.2, which is the addition of stormy weather. It’s definitely very scenic.
Before, players had to be content with facing much smaller juvenile forms of the Valakkar, and it’ll be interesting to see how Cloud Imperium Games will balance the encounter when it hits the live servers soon.
One thing is for sure: CIG’s new focus on content and playability with regular monthly patches certainly looks like it’s paying dividends.
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a PC exclusive crowdfunded project directed by Chris Roberts, who you may know for his work on the beloved Wing Commander series in the days of early PC gaming. It’s a multiplayer sandbox space simulator that has been in development for over a decade and in alpha for several years.
In the meantime, the crowdfunding total continues to grow, and it just passed $836 million. To be precise, it’s currently at $836,239,435. The game also has 5,721,925 registered users, albeit not all of them are paying customers. Many simply create an account to enjoy the occasional free-to-play periods like the one that ended a few days ago.
A single-player campaign titled Squadron 42 is also in active development with a 2026 release window, starring an exceptional cast of famous actors, including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and more.
Since the project has been in development for over a decade, you can see how Squadron 42 has evolved since its first reveal.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.
