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The massively popular, long-in-development, and often controversial space sim Star Citizen was always supposed to be accompanied by a single-player, story-focused spin-off called Squadron 42. Now, 11 years after the announcement of both projects, Squadron 42 is finally "feature complete," and developer Cloud Imperium Games has detailed what you can expect with a 26-minute-long new trailer.
Squadron 42 is a space combat sim in the mold of Wing Commander and TIE Fighter with a substantial FPS component. Judging by the new trailer, Half-Life 2 was a particular inspiration, since your handheld multitool doubles as a gravity gun and the devs promise environmental and physics-based puzzles to contend with.
The 26-minute trailer-meets-dev-diary-meets-gameplay-demo below is worth checking out if you're even slightly interested in big-budget sci-fi action games. I'd list out some more notable features here, but honestly, a list of stuff is going to sound pretty familiar - there are stealth sequences a la most modern FPS games, gun jamming mechanics a la Far Cry 2, and loadout management much like, well, any shooter with a looting screen.
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You can find a pretty direct analogue to just about every specific feature in Squadron 42, but what's really impressive in the footage here is the scope and visual spectacle of everything on display. There are gorgeously rendered sci-fi environments and damned impressive recreations of real-life cast members like Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies. Seeing it all come together in a single package with this kind of scope is extremely impressive.
Of course, Squadron 42 has looked impressive for a very, very long time, but it seems the end of development might finally be in sight. "We are excited to announce that Squadron 42 is now feature-complete," as the devs say in the video description.
"Ultimately, this is the final phase of gameplay iteration before we fully transition into optimization and stability on the road to release," senior game director Richard Tyrer says in the video. But that doesn't mean that CIG is ready to announce a release date.
"When we have the locked release date, you will be the first to know," CEO Chris Roberts says. "Now we're in polishing phase on Squadron 42, you'll start to see a lot more things coming to Star Citizen, as well as overall progress on the Persistent Universe. The polish phase can take some time. We have come this far, and we want to make sure that Squadron 42 delivers on the promise of being this generation's Wing Commander."
Check out the best space games while you try to remain patient.
