Today, Cloud Imperium Games released a new major update for Star Citizen, numbered Alpha 4.2 and titled “Storm Breaker.”
The update, which was revealed in-depth a few weeks ago, includes a large new sandbox activity that will see players delve deep within a storm to perform a dangerous mission, on top of weather effects.
We also get a new combat mech suit, various updates to the ships, and even new gear.
A trailer has been released to illustrate what you can expect. You can watch it below.
Below you can find a list of highlight features and read the full patch notes. The patch also includes 190 Bug and Crash fixes.
This update focuses heavily on content according to this year’s plans for Star Citizen, which focus on content and polish over the addition of new features that might introduce instability and issues.
Gameplay
- New Persistent Sandbox Activity: Storm Breaker
- New Environmental Hazard: Radiation
- Wikelo Emporium Exchange Updates
- Equipment Swapping Hierarchy
Locations
- Stanton Space Station and Landing Zone Exterior Proxy Pass
Characters & AI
- Four New Player Hairstyles
- New Valakkar Fauna
Ships & Vehicles
- New Vehicles: ARGO ATLS IKTI, GEO IKTI, and IKTI RAD
- New Vehicle: Esperia Prowler Utility
- Scanning Mode and Targeting UI Updates
- Shield Regen Updates
- Prowler, Idris, and Starlancer Series Updates
- Missile and Torpedo Balance Updates
- Ground Vehicle Scanning Adjustments
- Flight turbulence
- Sweeping Component Health Updates
- ATLS Freight Elevator Useage
Weapons & Items
- Volt “Prism” Shotgun
- New CureLife DeconPen Xtra
- R97 Shotgun Balance
- Armor Radiation Resistances
Core Tech
- Dynamic Rain
- Harvestables, Flight Blades, and Bomb Rack LTP Additions
- Various Client, Server, and Networking Performance Optimizations
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a PC exclusive, crowdfunded project directed by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame. 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 has recently passed $842 million. To be precise, it’s currently at $842,542,547. The game also has 5,745,212 registered users, albeit not all of them are paying customers. Many simply create an account to enjoy the occasional free-to-play periods..
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.