This year at Gamescom, RSI brought out an impressive albeit buggy presentation of Star Citizen and it’s various in-development features. Everything from an obviously rushed cosplay contest to details of new modules for the expansive space simulation were shown off this year.
The actual presentation began with a detailing of various release schedules for both current modules to be updated, and new modules to be implemented. This included deployment of the Social and Star Marine modules, as well as updates to Arena Commander. The demo portion also included a small sampling of these various modules in action.
The Arena Commander demo also included a demonstration for the new multiple-pilot crew features. Which showed off two squads of various ships squaring off at various points. This was no doubt one of the high points for those interested in seeing how the game is progressing.
Another big inclusion was discussion of the pipeline for development of new ships and their acquisition and usage in the game universe. Also included in this section was discussion about modular ship design that would open up new ideas for player customization and utility for various roles.
This presentation was not without it’s snafus. A clear stall tactic in the form of an awkward cosplay contest started off the presentation and was mildly painful to sit through. But even that paled in comparison to the glorious train wreck of confusion that was a shoddy raffle. Complete with confused winners, awkward pauses, and technical issues, this was a sight to behold.
Honestly though, the presentation was overall better than expected for a game in such a rough state. The prominent takeaway for me was that Star Citizen is moving along at an expectedly slow but steady pace. And there are still plenty of issues to be worked on before we see a truly cohesive experience start to form. Both within Star Citizen itself and from RSI in public presentations.
