Announced in 2012 as the spiritual successor to space flight simulation games such asWing Commander,Star Citizenhas evolved far beyond its initial $2 million Kickstarter project. The scope of the game remains as lofty and ambitious as ever, and thoughStar Citizenamassed a staggering $400 millionin crowdfunding over the course of the decade, its release date keeps getting pushed back on a yearly basis, with no discernible end in sight.
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Whether or notStar Citizenis Chris Roberts' pipe dream, the tech demo available to players is very much real, and in its 3.16 Alpha patch slated for the fourth quarter of 2021, it has brought back Jumptown to the game – an event based on the original incarnation of Jumptown, where, simply put, space cops and crooks battled for illegal narcotics.
The new update has – in addition to Jumptown 2.0 – also introduced a physics rework to grav-lev vehicles, the Area 18 hospital that serves as a respawn point where players can buy life insurance, as well as a Dying Star map. In January’s 3.16.1 patch,Star Citizenwill also release Derelict Ships, a point of interest not unlike dungeons for players to explore.
For the most part, players who have been intently following and enjoying their time in the game have had a positive experience with the new Jumptown iteration, citing that the general spirit of the event has passed unto its successor, with all its highs as well as its conceptual pitfalls such as not accounting for players calculating optimal ways to obtain the game’s currency, and collaborating among themselves to achieve it.
Yet increasing frustration is slowly seeping into theStar Citizencommunity. BetweenSquadron 42’sbeta being delayed, and many of the promises and features depicted in the road map forStar Citizen’spatches remaining thoroughly unfulfilled, players are getting fatigued by the long development time that a game of this scope demands, wondering if it will ever truly release.
Whatever the case may end up being in the long run, it cannot be denied thatStar Citizenis the most expensive tech demoever made, and despite its shortcomings in failing to launch, the game’s unfinished state still remains a technical marvel.
