Star Citizen
Star Citizen sits in a strange but fascinating space between MMO, space sim, and shooter. It aims to deliver dogfighting, trading, and on-foot FPS action in one persistent sci-fi universe. It is buy-to-play rather than subscription based, which makes the entry model simple even if the larger project is still evolving.
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Publisher: Cloud Imperium Games Playerbase: TBD Type: MMO Release Date: 2072 (estimate) Pros: +Blends on-foot FPS with space sim style flying. +Heavily shaped by players and emergent activity. +Development is unusually open and community funded. Cons: -No locked-in launch window. |
Star Citizen Overview
Star Citizen is an ambitious sandbox project built around spaceflight combat and a shared online universe, with first person gameplay intended to matter just as much as time spent in the cockpit. Instead of arriving as one finished package, it has historically been delivered in separate playable components, with the Hangar Module and Arena Commander being the earliest publicly available pieces. Chris Roberts (best known for Wing Commander in 1999) leads the project, and the overall pitch, a big player-influenced universe with a broad range of careers, naturally draws comparisons to games like Eve Online even though the moment-to-moment feel is very different.
The game’s development and funding story is almost as notable as the design goals. Star Citizen has raised over $900 million in crowdfunding, placing it among the biggest crowdfunded projects ever and also among the most expensive MMORPG-scale productions currently in development.
Core highlights players should know:
- Gunplay and spaceflight in one package – the long-term vision combines FPS gameplay on locations like planets with a persistent universe built around ships and travel.
- Ship loadouts and crew roles – ships can be configured to suit different styles of play, and larger vessels are designed with multi-crew gameplay in mind.
- High-end presentation – it targets realistic physics and detailed visuals, leaning hard into a simulation-like look and feel.
- Economy and industry aspirations – the plan includes a player-driven economy supported by crafting and resource collection systems.
- Options beyond pure MMO play – a separate story-focused single player and co-op campaign is also planned as part of the wider Star Citizen universe.
Star Citizen Screenshots
Star Citizen Featured Video
Star Citizen Review
A complete review will be published closer to launch, once the game’s core MMO loop, stability, and long-term progression are available in a finalized form.
Star Citizen Links
Star Citizen Official Site
Star Citizen Wikipedia
Star Citizen Gamepedia [Database / Guides]
Star Citizen Wikia [Database / Guides]
Star Citizen Subreddit
Star Citizen System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 / 8
CPU: Quad Core CPU
Video Card: DirectX 11 Graphics card with 1 GB Video RAM
RAM: 8 GB
Hard Disk Space:~100 GB
Star Citizen has yet to release official system requirements for final release. The above Minimum requirements are for the Star Commander module. The filesize estimate is based on the full release of the game and based on developer interviews.
Star Citizen Music & Soundtrack
No soundtrack listing has been provided yet.
Star Citizen Additional Information
Developer: Cloud Imperium Games
Director: Chris Roberts
Other Platforms: Linux
Game Engine: Amazon Lumberyard
Open Beta Date: TBA
Development Milestones
Hangar Module: August 29, 2013 (Gives players a way to view and inspect owned ships in a 3D space)
Arena Commander: June 4, 2014 (Introduces a focused environment for ship combat tests and racing)
Development History / Background:
Star Citizen is being built by the US studio Cloud Imperium Games. Early work used a customized CryEngine 3 foundation, and the project later moved to Amazon Lumberyard in December 2016. Chris Roberts, who founded the company and directs the game, previously designed Wing Commander (1999), which helps explain why Star Citizen puts such emphasis on cockpit play and cinematic sci-fi presentation. Production started in early 2012, and crowdfunding began in October 2012. The Kickstarter period closed with $6.2 million raised, and the total continued to climb rapidly, reaching $75 million by March 2015 and becoming widely known as the highest-funded crowdfunding effort at the time. Progress has been gradual, with early public access centered on the module releases, starting with the Hangar Module on August 29, 2013 and Arena Commander on June 4, 2014. Alongside the online universe, a separate single player and co-op campaign, Squadron 42, is also in development.