Star Citizen Stirs

 I don't believe it...

One of the largest investigations I ever performed for this blog was looking into the vast and disturbing world of the 'Star Citizen cult' and figuring out a timeline of events for all that went down within the many years that the delays tumbled out. During all that time I came to the conclusion that the project was never the scam that it appears to be on the outside, but just a deeply mismanaged and overambitious project that once attempted to leapfrog the entire industry only to end-up just jumping from trend to trend in constant effort to stay relevant sounding. As the lord-like rule over the community clamped down tighter and tighter, squeezing non-cultists out of the fold, the flow of internal information became harder to pick up on and for the past four years I can safely say I've no idea what has been going on in the Star Citizen development scene. Until now, that is.

For the longest time the tale of Star Citizen contained two distinct stanzas, one of the online MMO portion that would attempt to simulate future space living to such a specific degree that one could lose themselves totally in the illusion (which is still incoming) and another would be a modern AAA variation on the old school space sim campaigns with 'Hollywood' level talent, pristine production and a blockbuster budget. This was so tyrannical god-king of the production, Chris Roberts, could cater to all sides of the flagging space sim market by drawing in single and multiplayer eyes. And to be honest, the idea did fascinate me. Squadron 42, as this campaign was to be called, would benefit from all of the insanely intricated detailing and design fundamentals that went into the ten plus years building this game, but be free of the scandalous buy-in fees which had rendered the in-game economy totally screwed before the full game has even been finished. It would be the best of the Star Citizen package when it releases. 9 years ago.

Oh sorry, that was when it was supposed to have released. You see, we've been fed on pipes dreams and promises about what this Squadron 42 campaign would be for long enough to boggle the mind. Whereas Todd Howard is dedicated to bringing down the hype train of announcement to that perfect sweet spot of six months, Chris is busy fighting a damn tsunami in the other direction! Giving release windows that have been out by nearly a decade, whittling down the common man's patience as they whet their appetite playing the dozens of other high quality space games that decided to fill their pointed release gap. I doubt any of the big name stars, like Mark Hamil or Gary Oldman, can remember the first thing about their work for Squadron, and probably just assumed the entire project had been canned quietly. I know I did. But lo and behold, a dozen delays later, and a fundamental reworking of core gameplay components to boot, and we have... another trailer. Which is something. 

Because now the game is 'feature complete' guys! Whatever 'feature complete' means in a mind as terminally warped as Chris Robert's. Remember well that this is a guy who habitually vacuums up all sci-fi media he watches and then mandates it's integration into Star Citizen. Why? Because strong and concise leadership is the way we get speedy production timelines and Robert would much prefer to keep this as his forever job for the rest of his life. Like one of those union bosses at a construction site that puts the screws on anyone working a little too hard, Roberts knows the second they put a ribbon on the game and ship it he'll lose the only thing that has given him purpose for the past ten years of his life- can you blame his sabotage when personal fulfilment is on the line? I sure can, but I'm a heartless monster. You may feel differently.

Now that I've got all the pessimism out of the way I will say this: conceptually Squadron 42 does look really cool. I was never one for the space sims of yesteryear so I can't speak for Chris Robert's past games and how this squares up to them or doesn't, but one of my pet peeves with games are those in which the player is forced to forever play the vehicle when their pilot should exist too. Squadron 42 doesn't just present the person inside the ship as a character, but has scenes of interaction with the world for basic puzzle solving and even action combat scenes! I know that Star Citizen has first person shooting but I just never thought that would somehow make it's way to the single player portion too! It's looking like this game might actually be a fun time and a special kind of campaign that brings people in- even if the MMO portion is headed down a toilet thanks to some rough monetisation choices.

Of course what matters is the space movement and Star Citizen has spent a long time making sure that their space feels good. In the exact opposite fashion to how Starfield gave it an errant afternoon, Star Citizen's first module to ever release pertained to flight travel and putting it in the player's hands, and even then it was getting praise. (Of course, it was getting praise from the cultists, so take that feedback with a dose of salt.) Now we've nearly 5 years of improvements and the game looks to be leaning into the action game stereotypes in a positive fashion rather than slinking too deeply into simulation authenticity as I believe was the original intention. Not that the 'realism' aspect has taken a step back, Roberts is still committed to this bizarre pursuit of fabricated 'authenticity' which the brand was built on in tiny quirks of the character's in-cockpit animation or the subtle movements of the ship bulkheads, which is no doubt going to lead to a whole slew of those eye-rolling Youtube videos with titles like "When a developer cares they put this in the game" or "Yes, the devs actually put this in the game." If there's one thing I think Hogwarts Legacy brought foul to this world, it's that kind of clickbait trash content.

And after playing some Assassin's Creed Valhalla can I just say it's so nice to have a cast of actors who actually act their lines instead of just saying them? Good god have I missed effort. (Even if Star Citizen might have entirely too much effort in it at times.) Of course, I have my concerns. There's so much going on I wonder if it's all going to hold together. This game was originally pitched for exciting ship combat but now I'm seeing physics puzzles and cinematic narrative moments- it's a huge undertaking for a studio that has yet to put out anything finished and polished yet. And if this doesn't come out polished to a mirror sheen you just know people are going to tear RSI apart for all the years we've waited for the damn thing. But if everything comes together (on ground AI looks a little rough, but conclusions are hard to draw right now) I could really see myself coming to enjoy this campaign, which isn't at all what I thought I'd be saying about a Star Citizen product. Then again, I have been optimistic about what I've seen before...

When I see Star Citizen Squadron 42 I get the same feeling I get when playing Cyberpunk. This complete sense of immersion and visual aplomb, grand cinematic scale and maybe a kickass campaign to blow me away. But there's also the tension, that little bug at the base of your spine, tingling your nervous system and warning that it could come crashing down in a single moment if you let it. I don't want this game to fall apart. We don't have a release date, but the game is currently in it's polishing stage so let's pray beyond prayer that no sci-fi movies release between now and this game going gold else we'll be shot another three years down the development rabbit hole. And yes, I will be playing Squadron 42. I've covered this game enough, might as well be there for it's big grand reveal.