Gamers can now take a chance at playing the world’s most expensive video game for free, although it’s not quite finished just yet. Take a look at what the gigantic universe within the game looks like below.
If you’re an avid gamer, you’ve no doubt been following the saga that has surrounded Star Citizen for the past few years.
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The game is notable for having had more than half-a-billion dollars chucked at it in crowdfunded payments, with millions also being pumped into development.
It’s a science fiction exploration game, and currently it ain’t entirely finished up, but it is in an alpha state, so you can at least give it a try.
The idea is that you travel around a vast and well-rendered universe in a starship, with four game modes allowing you to select the mode that suits you best.
Fancy playing it like a first person shooter?
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They’ve got that mode for you.
If you want to just cruise around like a simulator, that’s possible too.
Obviously, it’s a massively multiplayer online game too, and a sandbox game. Well, it will be once they actually manage to get it out.
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Anyway, if you’re interested in the idea, you can play it for free until the end of November, giving players a chance to experience a game that people must have been hearing about for years, without ever actually knowing when it’s going to come out.
That’s right – it doesn’t currently have a release date.
Despite that, you can already fling $1,000 at the game to buy a ‘starter pack’ including various starships, some of the in-game money, and ‘insurance’ for if one of your ships gets destroyed. M
Yes, that’s real-world jeopardy right there.
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There are other insurance packs, though they only guarantee a short amount of time covered.
That means you’ll need to watch those ships after that.
This period of free-to-play time is called the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, and it’ll allow anyone interested in the game to test out the environment, get a feel for some of the ships, and just learn the world.
It’s worth remembering that this game has potentially experienced some of the problems that it has because of the scope and ambition behind it.
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If you want to see what a game that has cost more than any other looks like, this is your chance.
Imperium Games, who are developing the project, aimed to get it out in 2014 initially, with crowdfunded donations coming in since 2012.
There will be a less ambitious single player game in a finite universe called Squadron 42, but Imperium founder Chris Roberts said at the beginning of the year that it was ‘years away’ from readiness.
So, you’ve decided you want to have a go, what do you have to do?
Head on over to the Roberts Space Industries website and create an account, after which you can make a download.
You’ll need 83GB of disk space as well as 16GB of RAM and a graphics card with a minimum of 3GB of RAM.
It ain’t going to work on just any PC, then.
Still, hardcore gamers will surely want to try out a game that has caused such controversy in recent years, if only to see what to expect when it eventually comes out.
If it ever properly comes out, that is.
Topics: Gaming, Money, World News
Tom Wood