The scale of the Star Citizen project is astounding, with Kickstarter funding far beyond even what the game’s creator, Chris Roberts, could have expected. With over $400 million raised as of the end of 2021, mostly garnered from individual backers via crowdfunding, it is a game that literally has more people invested in its future than any other in history. Because of this, it has faced a significant amount of criticism for a glacially slow development process that began almost 10 years ago, with a full release still a far-off dream.
However, there might be a sliver of hope heading into 2022. Many of the promised upcoming features and the development roadmap for the year suggest it could be a significant one for Cloud Imperium Games, depending on whether the studio can deliver its promises to the high standards of an expectant player base.
Cloud Imperium Is Promising a Lot for 2022
Across all of Star Citizen’s development teams, hundreds of “deliverables” are planned for release before the end of the year. Ranging from minor tweaks to entirely new features, they amount to hugely ambitious upgrades for the existing game. Atmospheric pressure damage, mining tools, and refinery ships are all part of the upcoming plans for the EU gameplay feature team.
In other areas, the narrative team has 84 different projects to complete before the year is out (for both the base game and the Squadron 42 offshoot). It all sounds great, but there is a significant history of overpromising on extremely tight deadlines, resulting in numerous delays. This has led to a lack of faith from the game’s core audience in the ability of the developer to create a game of the incredible ambition promised.
Star Citizen Must Address The Game Defining Bugs
One of the other main problems the game currently has is the myriad bugs and issues relating to mechanics, tasks and player movement. For example, not crouching before placing certain items in the ship will result in instant death, while randomly falling over and being unable to self-right is commonplace. Though bugs like this are undoubtedly hilarious when playing with friends, at least the first couple of times, they certainly are not helpful. These issues have also existed for some time, and Cloud Imperium’s failure to address them in a timely manner has only led to further criticism of the developers.
The other side of the coin is that Star Citizen is in the most playable and enjoyable state it has ever been in. The game offers an extraordinary sense of scale, while combat and exploring the endless universe completing missions is finally something to look forward to and enjoy. Much of the scenery and internal design (particularly areas within space stations and large ships) are some of the best and most detailed available in any sci-fi game in history. The world is also starting to feel populated, with factions akin to what players would expect from a Bethesda title.
If the developer manages to deliver on its promises for 2022 while still addressing the issues in the current build of the game, then it should be in excellent shape for the next phase. This next chapter should be the beta, where in-game currency will no longer reset after each major update. The idea of a continuing universe can truly become a reality. Star Citizen is not the first project to vastly outstrip its original crowdfunding target but, with 10 years of Alpha under its belt, there are more than a few question marks over whether this will happen soon, if ever.
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