Squadron 42 Looks Incredible, but Star Citizen Still Isn’t Finished

• Teaser for Star Citizen single-player campaign Squadron 42 released.
• Graphical tour de force.
• Star Citizen still lingers in development.

To mark the festive season, Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has released a brand new teaser for single-player campaign Squadron 42.

While the trailer is brimming with tantalizing cinematic eye-candy, it doesn’t mean the crowdfunded space-faring MMO’s will be finished anytime soon.

A Stunning Teaser

The new video plays out as a reel rather than a trailer, depicting various environs we can look forward to exploring in Squadron 42. Here’s the official accompanying blurb;

It’s been a while since last we shared a significant look at Squadron 42, even as our global teams work diligently behind the spoiler curtain. So, as a special holiday gift to all of you, we put together this visual update reel, highlighting some of the work we’ve done over the course of 2019.

From stunning passes of distant low orbit weather systems to grand cosmic shots of a vessel careening through multi-colored space dust, Star Citizen once again flaunts its visual prowess.

We also get a sneak peek at a few monolithic structures that pepper the game alongside a handful of vessels with intricate, alien-like designs.

The trailer shifts focus from the cosmic to the human level. It rounds out with shots of interior corridors, landing bays, NPCs, robotic controlled manufacturing facilities, and a control center.

Source: Cloud Imperium Games

Eight Years On, Star Citizen Isn’t Anywhere Finished

It’s hard to ignore the visual delights on offer here, but the lack of a narrative exposing angle is a rather apt metaphor for Star Citizen’s production as a whole. Well-funded, ambitious, promising, and boasting stellar graphics, yet lacking substance and still not released nearly eight years on from when development started.

Star Citizen’s ongoing crowdfunding efforts mean Cloud Imperium has raised over $259 million, breaking existing crowdfunding records by a considerable margin. Such financial security, while integral to giving developers the time and resources to concentrate on developing the best game possible, may be a double-edged sword.

With no release schedule creating a sense of urgency and need to wrangle with investors and publishers over deadlines, Star Citizen is free to remain in perpetual development. Successive delays, the ever-broadening scope of the game, and a share of questionable moves have also plagued Star Citizen’s development.

Squadron 42 looks incredible. We’ll have to see whether Cloud Imperium can stick to the Q2 2020 Beta release window.

This article was edited by Samburaj Das.

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