Special Case: Star Citizen
What is Star Citizen? With Star Citizen, developer Chris Roberts wanted to revive the space games with which he was successful under the Wing Commander brand. However, Star Citizen aims to offer a huge, persistent online world in which players act as traders, pirates, or smugglers. You get to decide how you proceed in the galaxy and what you want to achieve there.
What makes Star Citizen special? Star Citizen is an extremely ambitious game. The scope and detail the developers want to offer in the game are impressive.
You will explore space without loading times and can land directly from space on a planet. Furthermore, you need a crew for larger ships, which promotes group play. It is even possible to exit the ship and explore planets and space stations in first-person shooter style. Star Citizen could become the ultimate sandbox.
Can Star Citizen succeed?
What recent innovations have there been? Star Citizen is currently in Alpha 3.2. This phase shows a cohesive game in which some of the largest gameplay elements are already included – albeit still in very rough form.
For instance, the mining system has been introduced, with which you can mine resources and fight over them. Another alpha phase is planned for the end of 2018.
How likely is a release? Cloud Imperium Games has the talent and financial means to complete Star Citizen.
However, many fans believe that the team gets caught up in details and wants to include too many features. This delays the release and could potentially jeopardize the entire project.
A release is certainly forthcoming. The question will be whether it can meet the enormous expectations.
Why is Star Citizen a special case? The budget and team size of Star Citizen do not qualify it as an indie game; however, there is no major publisher or financier behind it, making Cloud Imperium Games regarded as “independent.” Therefore, we list the space MMO separately – although it is not an “MMORPG”.
Planned release: Fans hope for a release no earlier than 2020. But everything is still unclear.
Star Citizen is suitable for you if…
- You have always wanted to be a space pirate, trader, or adventurer in space.
- You want your adventures to have no restrictions like linear missions with a fixed story.
- You have always wished for an open universe where you can travel seamlessly from space to planets.
