Star Citizen still doesn’t live up to its promise, and players don’t care
It’s 2022, and I just got into Star Citizen. An uninitiated spacefarer might be surprised at how much there is to explore.
It all started when a friend purchased starter packs for me and my friends. Despite being a skeptic who has largely been disinterested in the game, I was surprised to find a galaxy I could actually explore. Spending a few hours in the world of Star Citizen is intriguing, breathtaking, and frustrating all at once. I found myself taking time to just stop and watch advertisements for fictional mercenary companies, or sitting and bathing in the neon glow of a futuristic plaza. It is a game that is far more advanced than many people think, despite falling short in many respects.
Many people aren’t aware of how far Star Citizen has come — which makes sense, as it has so far still to go. It is, in fact, not actually a singular game but a franchise consisting of a persistent universe (PU) and an unreleased single-player campaign game called Squadron 42 that still doesn’t have a release date (and hasn’t since 2016).
The game has beeninfamous for its slow and delayed development cycle; for many people, the title has become just a meme, and its harshest critics online have even claimed the game is a “scam”. As the years have passed, the gap between those who are following Star Citizen and those who are disinterested has grown. If you’ve given up — or never boarded the hype train — then you might only know about Star Citizen from snarky headlines like “CIG reels back Star Citizen’s roadmap because players ‘interpret anything on the release view as a promise’” or “Star Citizen dev defends missing roadmap feature by 4 years.” It’s easy to doubt whether the game is even playable — after all, even though it’s been
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