You’ve journeyed to the center of the universe in No Man’s Sky, breezed through Eve, and unlocked the mysteries of the Chunks in Starfield. It’s time for a new space game – but Star Citizen, the monolithic MMO from Cloud Imperium, seems impenetrably complex (and pricey) to even try. 11 years since the first modules, Star Citizen remains in a pseudo ‘alpha’ state, but the Squadron 42 campaign and transformative 4.0 update are nevertheless on their way. Now, as the community celebrates its favorite ships, the new Star Citizen free-to-play period has begun. If you wanted to take this giant for a spin, now’s the time.
This is an important time in Star Citizen history. Once update 4.0 arrives, players will be able to jump between different systems, departing the Stanton galaxy and waging a new war for salvage in the comparatively lawless Pyro. This new version of Star Citizen sounds pretty terrifying. The long-awaited Squadron 42 campaign is also, according to Cloud Imperium, “feature complete.” So, if you’re ready to give the intergalactic adventure a go, the new Ship Showdown event has arrived just in time.
Ship Showdown is a regular event in Star Citizen where players vote and campaign for different vehicles that they believe should be heralded as the best in the entire MMO . We’re now down to the final 16, which will compete in a range of contests to determine a single, overall winner. During that time, not only is Star Citizen free to play, but you can access and use any of the 16 finalist ships also for the price of absolutely nothing.
The new Star Citizen free period runs from Thursday August 15 until the following Thursday August 22. In order to try out the 16 competing ships, just head to one of the ASOP terminals at any starport. The Showdown event itself runs beyond the free week, and will finish on Friday August 30. Nevertheless, if you want to sign up and try Star Citizen now, just go here.
Otherwise, try play the best space games, or maybe the best simulation games available on PC.
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