For those new to the game, Star Citizen is a crowdfunded game that mixes open-world space exploration with first- and third-person combat and dogfighting, and offers both a single- and multiplayer experience. The game is available to play right now in its pre-release alpha state with no firm release date in sight. Here we look at the Star Citizen UK release date rumours, price, gameplay, and trailers.

Star Citizen UK release date: When is Star Citizen coming out?

Star Citizen release date: TBC

Star Citizen was originally due for a commercial release in 2016, which was then pushed back to 2017 but, as we know, it didn’t appear in 2017 either. The original delay was said to be due to the team working on getting one of the game’s 28 chapters to release quality so it could showcase it, but that would suggest there is still a long way to go if there are another 27 chapters to finish afterwards.

Following the delays, Star Citizen’s creator Chris Roberts went on record to state that the game won’t have a ‘normal commercial release’ which suggests to us that the game will become available in big chunks over time.

There’s still no real timeline though – fan sites suggest a 2018 launch could be possible, but honestly, given the scale of the project and how badly the current alpha performs, we wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still at least a year away from launch, if not two.

Star Citizen Prices: Packages, ships, extras and subscriptions

For starters, you’ll need a  Game Package in order to play Star Citizen. You’ll need to select which ship you want to play with based on things like speed, agility, type and design. There are a lot to choose from with prices starting at around £35 for one of the starter packages.

At the opposite end of the scale, you can go for ‘The Completionist’ which will set you back a cool £12,600 – this does include a lot of ships, but you’d have to be crazy to pay that much for a game with no release date in sight.

You can also  buy individual ships and there are plenty to choose from ranging from around £50 to hundreds of pounds.  Extras include items like upgrades, skins and maps.

Two Star Citizen subscriptions are also available from the store. The Centurion plan for £7.80 per month will get you perks like access to monthly digital magazine Jump Point, decorative items for your hangar and access to a subscriber-only forum and chat room. After a year, you get things like your name added to the game – somewhere – access to fan events, ship decals, a 10 percent discount coupon and website beta access. You’ll also get access to new ships to try out every month.

The Imperator Prime subscription costs £15.60 per month and includes all the Centurion perks plus other extras which will help you progress within the game. You’ll get access to perks like a 20 percent off voucher for the store and Imperator Test Flight, granting week-long access to all new ships as they’re added to the game.

Star Citizen: Platforms

If you’re wondering whether you will be able to play Star Citizen on your games console, the answer is no. The game is only coming out on PC, with no plans to bring it to the likes of the Xbox One, PS4 or Nintendo Switch.

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Star Citizen: Alpha release updates and modules

Star Citizen is split into several modules, each representing a different element of the game, which are being released one by one to early backers. 

The first module to be released, back in 2013, was the Hangar Module, which allows players to walk around a hangar and inspect the ships that they own. This was later supplemented by Arena Commander, a ship-to-ship dogfighting simulator that brings first-person space combat to the game, along with racing and four-player co-op.

The next module to arrive was Planetside, which in its early version allows players to walk around a shared online area and see each others’ ships, while in December 2016 Alpha 2.6 was released, bringing with it the first version of Star Marine, a co-op and competitive multiplayer first-person shooter. 

You can check out footage of Star Marine in action in this official video from the developer:

Yet to arrive are the full Persistent Universe module and the single-player and co-op campaign mode, Squadron 42. There will also be numerous updates and improvements to all of the existing modules ahead of the final, full release of Star Citizen, whenever that may be.

Star Citizen: Trailers and gameplay videos

Star Citizen: 2016 Gamescom Alpha 3.0 Demo:

Star Citizen: 2016 Gamescom Live Alpha 3.0 Demo:

Star Citizen: Screenshots

Below is a selection of screenshots for Star Citizen

FPS screenshots

Dogfight screenshots