Why Squadron 42 Could Be the Most Important Game of the Decade

[@Hav0k]

"What do you think-could Squadron 42 actually be the game of the decade? 🤔 Let me know your thoughts below! And don’t forget about the Drake Cutter Spooky Starter Package giveaway! Check the description for entry details. As always, I appreciate all of you who support the channel. If you’re enjoying the content and want to help us keep creating videos like this, consider becoming a member for exclusive perks. 🚀 Fly safe, pilots!"

[@MrCrissRisk]

@@Hav0k yo I don't think you put the giveaway stuff in the description

[@Hav0k]

@@MrCrissRisk fixed it! Sorry about that

[@purefoldnz3070]

maybe if it was released last decade as it was supposed to hahaha, unfortunately this game is now a victim of scope creep.

[@Hav0k]

@@purefoldnz3070 I disagree. But to each their own.

[@purefoldnz3070]

@@Hav0k but you do understand what scope creep is right?

[@veliostv9089]

"Obviously some folks might have different opinions and that's perfectly fine." - Life could be so easy if all of us would get that!

[@Hav0k]

Instead, we laugh at and slander people with different opinions

[@CitizenScott]

WRONG. ;p

[@Hav0k]

@@CitizenScott I'm always wrong 😅

[@claverdiere91]

@@veliostv9089 that hit so hard

[@1flinns]

My late dad would pop round on the weekend and the first thing he would say was pop on your space game, Would sit and watch me suck at flying but still loved the whole thing, He was the one that took me to see Star wars in the 80's, Space 1999, Blakes7, Buck Rodgers, Battlestar g, Treks, I wish he was hear to see how this turned out. I can't thank him him enough.

[@Hav0k]

Sorry for your loss. It has definitely been difficult for some of us throughout this project. We had a very influential leader in our org spend years of his time in Star Citizen with us only to pass away within the last year. He never got to see what the game could end up becoming.

[@Cornerboy73]

The reason I supported it way back in 2013 was because it promised to be a PC game for PC gamers that would push the boundaries of the technology available at the time. I remember being frustrated at playing a bunch of bad PC ports that left me feeling ripped off. It was like, "why is it that my chosen platform is being treated like an afterthought when the games are created by using computers in the first place?" But yeah, I think a lot of us early backers were interested in what they wanted to achieve on a technical level. The game kept growing though and eventually, I recognized around 2016 or so what the real scope of what they were aiming for. I knew then that it was going to be likely 2023-24 before we got there. Throw in a global pandemic and some failed R&D initiatives and I suppose that I wasn't that far off the mark. R&D incidentally is another thing that I think people don't account for. When you are inventing new tech and trying to get prototype systems together to test, well, sometimes you fail. We have no idea how many times CI tried to get things working and yet had to go back to the drawing board. Any attempt though takes time and money but it's a reality regarding what they are trying to do here. Concerning negative press, I get the reasoning and I've been angered at times over the years too. But if you get to the root cause of why a lot of industry news coverage has been negative, I think it is because if CI pulls off a win here, it's going to set a precedent. A very expensive one for an industry currently on fire. I think they want the game to fail so they can keep going with their current live service models that are less work and generate more money. But hey, we all saw how Baldur's Gate 3 was received last year - modern gamers were shocked to see a complete, polished game that they could start and finish at their leisure with no microtransactions or seasons.... and they ate it up; GOTY. I think CI should position S42 as a similar sort of outlier / rebel title in that regard. It IS different. It's different under the hood and in it's approach when compared to what's out there today. I don't think the industry is going to all of a sudden start pumping out games like SC, even if it's a hit... but you know, they might approach CI and license their engine and just use the tech available to them, which is exactly what I think the company is hoping for. Imagine a Star Wars, Star Trek or Warhammer 40k game with a fully functional Star Engine and all the suite of tools CI is developing in tandem to work within it (i.e.: Starchitect or whatever it's called, etc.) I think there's a lot of money to be made in licensing the engine and tool suite if they can demonstrate through a successful S42 and PU launch that it all works and is well-received. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Thank you as always for your content Hav0k, your videos have fast become my go-to source for SC info. Cheers!

[@Deeznutzyamouth]

@@Cornerboy73 iv only spent $200 but I do look forward to this at some point. Your correct on many things. There is no game like this. And the ship design amazing. A test bench if anything for many future projects. The only reason this keeps my interest is a lil show called firefly. Nuff said.

[@mrscsi6472]

you know what would be really funny? if sq42 came out in time but gta6 got delayed so people would say “we got the kickstarter scam game before gta6”

[@chrisalexander2478]

I also saw the slow fighters and easy kills. However, I tempered my reaction with the fact that the new player is playing through a cinematic tutorial to teach them basic skills and operations within the game and in that respect, I can understand it being a bit easier.

[@Hav0k]

That is also true but I hope i does get more challenging

[@mattvmalone]

And also he set it to the easiest difficulty for the con for a better presentation

[@F1neW1ne]

@@chrisalexander2478 that's a good point

[@benbowman6995]

@@mattvmalone Actually he picked the hardest difficulty both times he played it.

[@mattvmalone]

@@benbowman6995 Un, no. Literally watched him pick the easiest before the turret mission.

[@claverdiere91]

Your vibe reminds me Avenger_One. A truly good one, thanks for being one of us

[@Hav0k]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Skydust87gerbbn]

Short answer, yes. Long answer, it depends. There is no doubt that SC&SQ42 ist the most ambitios projekt of all of gaming history. If you do it right (what i personally hope), this game will be very good. No matter what the outcome will be, this game will go in the historybooks. Greetings from germany.

[@Hav0k]

You're absolutely right. It could be positive or negative depending on how good it is

[@sci-fiknight8084]

Not just that but The Exodus game looks the same way

[@Z3RO4351]

I'm loving the positivity Havok! And its not unfounded. Its well deserved by CIG. As someone that played the whole Wing Commander series as a kid, I am soooooo looking forward to this. While its too early to say for sure whether it will be great, let alone game of the decade, if this 1hr prologue is anything to go by... I cant imagine what the remaining 39 hrs will be like. Also.... ...bagpipes.

[@Hav0k]

PLAY THE BAGPIPES! It's time to assemble the troops! This will likely be to me like what the Mass Effect trilogy was like. And if it's a great story, it will be amazing.

[@rwt1232]

I really hope Squadron 42 gives more 'permission' for the gaming industry to dream bigger and take bigger risks.

[@karmaslapp]

Given some of the recent flops, I don't think it will. What we are seeing recently is that game built with a clear vision and passion are selling well, and corporate garbage is not. The gaming industry does not want to take bigger risks, they want relatively cautious profit

[@prestiboi]

I feel kinda sad thinking about all the crew on the UEES Gauntlet's bridge. Cpt. Maclaren being the last survivor, she being a UEE Navy Captain in command of an almost 500m long Javelin Class Destroyer with a dozen people on the bridge, all dead... If yoy look in the beginning how confident she was/commanding and in charge of her destroyer, sitting in the UEES Gauntlet's Captain/Commanding Officer's seat giving around commands to the crew on the bridge. I fucking loved that and can't wait for SQ42 release lol

[@Hav0k]

100%! I bet that if we were all playing that as a demo, we'd really get attached to the crew as whole.

[@richardmartin9263]

Javelin Destroyer is supposed to be able to be run with a skeleton crew of 23 real people, a full crew is supposed to be around 80 per shift.

[@Adjudicator1]

@@richardmartin9263 Perhaps the scene could be updated to show that the backup bridge / CIC and CRITICAL engineering spaces are still barely held by the UEE Crew. Best time to do that would be after Captain Maclaren thought that she and the main character are the last survivors. In one of the lulls, they voice if she needs reinforcements to hold the main bridge, but she orders them to hold on as long as possible until the collision course she planned is inevitable, then evacuate.

[@karmaslapp]

I found it odd that she was the only one on the bridge. If it was a 'captain goes down with the ship, the rest of you evacuate' I feel like the escape pod on the bridge wouldn't be there. I don't see how everyone else is dead and the pod is still there.

[@Hav0k]

@karmaslapp IIRC there were tons of bodies around. Indicating that they likely fought off a bunch of Vanduul.

[@matuto1986]

Great vid, Hav0k! After this CitizenCon, I realized I was more excited about SQ42 than the PU itself. Even with the small crashes, CIG really proved they are in the right track to deliver a great game! On the PU side, however, I'm with TenPoundFortyTwo. I feel that they showed a lot of new tools, powerpoint slides and art greybox, but very little gameplay. Let's hope these new tools really result in advancing with the gameplay.

[@Hav0k]

Glad you enjoyed the video! I value Tenpound's perspective and insight, but for all of our sakes, i really hope he's wrong about that time frame. I know history doesn't support the idea that they could really hit the ground running and do a lot of the work needed to get to 1.0, but I'm really hoping that the 1000~ developers can really start to crank out some amazing work.

[@phillipnunya6793]

The turrets, ship AI, and Vanduul NPCs are all valid criticisms. I was thinking the same thing.

[@ShannonBradford]

Very few gamers today really understand the history with Chris Roberts and frankly, they can't. Unless you were around back then you can't understand what a big deal Wing Commander was and what a legend Chris Roberts was. Back when he made Wing Commander and Wing Commander II, these games were so good and so demanding that people like myself bought whole new PCs just to play them. These games were light-years ahead of everyone else. As soon as I heard Chris Roberts was making games again like Wing Commander, I was ready and willing to give him my money and then...wait until it was ready. 5 years? No problem. 10 years, no problem. I will wait until it is ready. Chris' reputation proceeds this. We are all very lucky that he has agreed to do this and we are in for one hell of an experience that will once again be head and shoulders beyond anything we've seen before and we will probably need new PCs again to really play it on the highest settings. This is a good thing people. This game is going to blow us all away. Two more years. Be patient. It will be worth the wait.

[@Hav0k]

Couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks for commenting this! SQ42 and SC truly are his magnum opus. A culmination of his life's work. And he really doesn't seem like he'll ever give up until he's obtained it now.

[@Seanenanigans]

Wing commander was one of those games that got me into PC gaming. Like it was insane how epic it was for the time.

[@silviupopovici7122]

Perhaps there is a limit to that. Especially the budget / development ratio. It doesn't feel right. I will be skeptical and I will offer them my money when they release it.

[@spacecadet-zero]

@@silviupopovici7122 That’s fine it’s a good policy to wait till a final product. But remember Concord a fairly unambitious mid hero shooter cost 400 million - as did a good game like Cyberpunk 2077 (and 9 years, 11 if you count getting it to what it is today). That’s just what expenses are nowadays. And that’s not counting its 2 games + building a studio + re-developing a new engine to do what none could (and some early missteps from CIG when selecting tech)

[@thomast2798]

Dont forget Strike Commander.. Still the most fun jet game i ever played.

[@AthrunX23s]

My only critique with the turret gameplay was Rich's heavy use of precision mode. The tunnel vision you get when using it really takes you out of the action. When zoomed out you could see all the hits impacting your turret, the guns blaring, and your fellow gunners actually firing on their own targets (they actually help shoot down the laser turret on the Vanduul destroyer). It was also prevalent in the SQ42 gameplay trailer last year with the Gladius dogfights all being in precision mode.

[@TheGaryinWales]

Great video. I love that you are able to be objective, properly understanding the good and bad, unlike most other SC channels. I played all of the Wing Commander games like many others and SQ42 is everything I hoped it would be so far. I will say though that It's not really been in development for over 11 years. Not in the traditional sense. It might be 'technically" correct. But most people watching won't be aware that they had to build a studio first, and crowd fund the mocap, and make changes to cryengine (plus the delay the legal battle added) and then rework the game to procedural planet tech. Sq42 ep.2 should be more reflective of 'normal' game development.

[@Hav0k]

Same here! It's been a long road, but I've been looking forward to both games for a very vert long time.

[@jamesmcnabb951]

I hope CIG remembers Operation Pitchfork and runs this as an event before 1.0. Operation Pitchfork was going to be an event to allow every player in the game to launch an attack on the Vanduul with every asset we have prior to Star Citizen going live.

[@dr.johnorr3341]

Great commentary Hav0k! The thing that makes SQ42 is that it was crowd funded, did not have to meet any publisher or stockholder timelines, and had us along for feedback for 12 years. Given the nonsense that comes out of AAA studios now, this would be epic for CIG and for gamers everywhere.

[@Hav0k]

Absolutely agree with you!

[@sverebom7069]

There lies a problem in that though. Neither CIG nor the supporters had the slightest clue, what they were getting into. If CIG had been brutally honest and told people, that they are paying into something that might not yield result for at least a decade, they might have crashed the funding model and thus the project. In other words: They maneuvered themselves into a situation, where they couldn't be as honest as they should have been considering the amount of funding they have asked for. In hindsight CIG should have tried to find a way to cut the journey into more manageable stages (maybe as a series of SQ42-style games that build on top of each other), and at each stage run another crowdfunder (so that not only CIG but especially we as supporters have a better understanding of what we are truly dealing with). But CIG said "Screw that! The money keeps pouring in, partly because the supporters keep chasing dreams. We won't stop them from doing that for it allows us to aim straight for the end goal!". The fact that the end goal generally aligned with what the supporters wanted only means, that we don't have much reason to feel betrayed even though this is exactly what CIG did. Of course taking a staged approach to production would have required knowledge in 2014 that CIG only gained over the years. Which is only more reason to opt for a staged approach to production. If you can't see the road ahead, you shouldn't ask you supporters to follow you on a journey into the unknown, but set destinations of which you know that they are right behind the horizon. And when you reach these destinations, you should ask again, who is willing to follow to the next destination. So, while I'm happy with what we as supporters and CIG as developers have achieved (And believe me; I truly am), I hope that other equally ambitious developers learn from what happened here and - if they want to go on their own crowdfunded tech R&D journey - keep in mind to set destinations that they and their supporters can actually see in the distance.

[@dr.johnorr3341]

@@sverebom7069 fortunately that's the definition of learning. CIG was the first to successfully do this. Of course there were issues and missteps but in the end nobody ran away with the money, a company was born, and a product is being produced actively with a following. Personally, I hope the people listening are the already existing AAA studios. When you've already got millions to spend how about invested in something someone actually wants to play and is willing to give constant feedback on. It may take longer and investors might not get their money on time, but you end up with a community of sorts that are willing to wait. As one of the original backers the Kickstarter I can attest to that.

[@SvalbardSleeperDistrict]

I personally have no interest in playing singleplayer games, but I like watching no-commentary playthroughs and livestreams of the good ones (Silent Hill, The Last of Us, etc), and S42 seems to fit right in that category. And if it turns out to be really special, the 180-degree reversal of the ridicule SC and CIG have been receiving from the overall gaming community for years will be nice to see.

[@macmanuelodumeru3708]

Why don't you like playing single player games?

[@SvalbardSleeperDistrict]

@@macmanuelodumeru3708 For me gaming is means to disconnect from RL and experience immersive environments. I know for some people that's what singleplayer works for, but for me it has the opposite effect - I'm reminded every second of gameplay that I'm in a pre-scripted environment where everyone and everything I see around is following a predetermined line of code in a pre-programmed plot, and there is an end to the story after X number of actions. Those two elements immediately kill immersion for me. Open-world, persistent MMOs, on the other hand, give me just that kind of immersion, where you know people around you are actual people pursuing actually existing goals and interests, with their unpredictability and unknown motivations, etc. And that creates emergent situations of friendships, conflict, cooperation, betrayal, assistance, etc that actually simulate a microcosm of society in that gaming environment between actual people. I spent 10 years playing EVE, and now I'm playing SC with the interest of experiencing the same kind of story-making in a first-person universe.

[@SvalbardSleeperDistrict]

@@macmanuelodumeru3708 I submitted a long reply explaining it in detail, but it got hidden. Not sure if channel author can manually make it visible, but in a nutshell, I struggle to maintain immersion in singleplayer when I know everything around me is scripted and has a definite end point.

[@HunterSteel29]

The thing is, I get the bad press. But at the same time, I know that a good game with lots of hours of gameplay that was built up from scratch and eventually got to the point that it needed its own game-engine, will take time. People are so used to EA/Ubisoft/Blizzard/Activision just reskinning their previous game and vomiting out new games every year (not new though, just reskinned.) Nowadays because of that a game can take between 2 or 4 years to be in development because models and gameplay still takes a long time to make. But build a good game thats huge (40 hours of gameplay? Hello?) from the ground up with no real core to build off of? Then we go into a game that takes more than a decade to make. Like, look at the comments during the livestream showing off the prologue to the game. They complained that the cinematic cut-scenes are too long, and that there's not enough gameplay. People are no longer tolerant of a true cinematic action game.

[@festersmith8352]

After listening to the internet complain about every game for a decade. This one steps outside the box. On an engine new to the industry. Including the tech being built for it. This is a big change to the industry. It also shows if you build a good experience, you don't have to force players to spend more. The ones that can will open there wallets and contribute to it. Helping those who are less fortunate enjoy the full experience too. Now about that funding model again? The one that allowed the more fortunate to make it happen. While those with less can still afford it. And for many who couldn't, much of the community stepped up to help, because they believe in this project, that is so very different than the normal.

[@Hav0k]

I definitely agree. I'm kinda concerned what they plan to do for the funding model. Because what they're doing now will likely not work once 1.0 is released. At least not for more mainstream gamers.

[@festersmith8352]

@@Hav0k That is a huge internal conversation. I do know that leaving ship sales up will alleviate the fear of the grind for the many who won't have the time. I might crack my wallet for it too. Even though I am now retired. Micro transactions for blueprints? Nothing big. I haven't seen my favorite armor in yellow in a very long time. Ship paints. Which means we won't likely get that custom ship painter we all hope to see. I did see a suggestion for private servers for individuals and low friend counts. One server to stream the universe to the client as they move along. Seems very plausible with OCS, and how well one server works now when you are the only one on it. I been that before. WHOA! Deadly AI! But very subscription base feeling. Though I would consider it for myself, if not for the great mature friends I have. But yes future funding is a huge thing to consider.

[@festersmith8352]

@@Hav0k Something I considered long ago and remembered after your Beyond Pyro. Is paid DLC for star systems beyond the 100 planned/promised. American Truck Simulator has been funding its project for years with paid DLC of the state's expansion maps. And its working beautifully. Never heard a single complaint. Each state is about $12 on release. With packs of them on sale as usual on Steam.

[@Hav0k]

I dunno. I'm mixed about that. It might cause more issues since they ready sell ships as it is

[@DrPet80]

The prologue has more deph then "The Acolyte" and "Rings of Power" combined.

[@gatorpika]

My biggest worry about the game is it's going to be more cinema than game. We didn't see much challenge in the prequel as you pointed out, just following steps. That's not unreasonable for the first bit of a game though, but then if we go back to the vertical slice thing it didn't have any serious gameplay either. Most of the hour plus playthrough was flying around looking at the pretty scenery. Then if you compare it with the MMO, we still don't have much evidence of what the future state gameplay is going to be like, only promises of dynamic missions galore from their fourth set of tools created to build those while in reality we mindlessly grind the millionth bunker and get praised by CIG for instances of "emergent gameplay" created by the players. So SQ42 might be the prettiest and most complex game created, but we have yet to see whether it will be "fun" and that will determine how successful it is.

[@Hav0k]

I guess we'll see. But I honestly doubt the cinematics will be greater than the amount you're actually playing and in control. Mass Effect had a lot of cinematics as well, but quite a bit of gameplay.

[@gatorpika]

@@Hav0k I hope you are right

[@Hav0k]

@@gatorpika i hope I'm right too.

[@WishIknewwhatthiswas]

The last time they showed a bunch of stuff it was a lot of shooter segments. Look up old Chris roberts games, they are front and back loaded with cutscenes but stacked in the middle with gameplay.

[@breadbeard6722]

Kinda think the prologue cinematics are so long because it teaches you the story and also kinda shows you, that you aren't that important in the battle

[@javierarufe1]

when i started playing star citizen i was very excited but after years of nothing happening i stopped playing and didnt even care about the game anymore, but now after seeing squadron 42 trailer all the excitement is back. i havent been so excited about a game in years. i really home it comes out when they say its coming out and dont push it back anymore.

[@404inc]

Hav0K: [...] "Overwelmed by the sheer volume of positive flooding the internet" Reddit: Oh, hello there :3 I know what u mean but when reading reddit CIG get hate after hate after hate XD But i also think S42 will be good^^

[@Paisa231]

You can always pitd on both dide of the scale. But the masses of gamers is not on Reddit/twitter, but more likely on YT, TikTok. And by how more YT CC is having s positive attitude and experience with both games. I also see most positive interest. But yeah on Reddit, its mostly not. But also alot of dis/misinformation, to pure lies xD to hate the game.. Whatever, development continues and for Squadron it's soon time to show itself.

[@Hav0k]

Yeah you're right. I actually had a rant about reddit in another video. But I was mostly referencing other videos on YT

[@404inc]

@@Hav0k nothing again you

[@Hav0k]

@@404inc you're all good! I perceived it to be a joke. I understood what you were getting at. Reddit is definitely a cesspool of negativity and overall hate and discontent.

[@tomorrowduong4914]

the story, the worldbuilding, the crazy sense of seamless immersive scale. The game's sure set to become the game of the century! I HELD THE LINE!!

[@Hav0k]

I'm very much looking forward to it as well. And I hope it's not a very long wait

[@ToastyMcGrath]

I've been pretty adamant that if they release Star Citizen to the vision they've presented us, it will be one of the greatest games of all time.

[@Hav0k]

I have always believed this. And i really hope they get there quick.

[@ToastyMcGrath]

@@Hav0k Well, they showed us that they finally have the tools. But this year we also saw that major additions to the game ALWAYS take more time than they expected.

[@Hav0k]

@@ToastyMcGrath true. We can only hope that this year has a bit more added. But you're right. It always takes longer than we hope

[@ToastyMcGrath]

@@Hav0k And I don't say it to be your typical cynical, negative Star Citizen player. Just look at hangars and cargo missions. They were supposed to be in place in May. They had to pull both at the last minute, and it took until August. This is why I don't think we'll actually see 4.0 and Pyro this year. As much progress as they've made, when it gets down to the finish line I just don't think it will be ready before the holiday break.

[@Hav0k]

I get you. The criticisms are warranted. I really hope you're wrong about 4.0 tbh. But we will see. They still haven't fully released it to the EPTU yet, just several hour tests here and there. I'm really hoping they make it in time.

[@NomadicHavoc]

I agree, this game could very well be epic! Great content!

[@Hav0k]

Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@echolitis]

I need SQ42 soundtrack.

[@Hav0k]

Same! It's definitely beautiful

[@hectorheathcote9495]

I have no doubt Sq 42 could be "the game of the decade" in the 2040's. My great grandkids will love it I hope.

[@JaggedJack1]

I can not wait to play Squadron 42 in 2036! Seriously though, this game looks incredible, and that's why the delayed release date is so darn painful!

[@quecksilber457]

26 :)

[@Hav0k]

It was definitely disappointing to see a 2026 release date. But I'm very much looking forward to the game

[@JaggedJack1]

@@quecksilber457 yeah I know that's what they said. I was adding another 10 years to that just to be safe. You know CIG.

[@quecksilber457]

@@JaggedJack1 Oh i thought it was a typo. :)

[@januskaisar4972]

Might not be game of the decade but it's one hell of a founding myth to be an Early Access game for this long with this kind of notoriety!

[@eltreum1]

It will be a consequential game in some ways even if it fails which I doubt. I was blown away as it was beyond what I expected we would get and hits like the peak era's of Halo and Mass Effect space operas. If the substance of what we saw persists through the whole game and it doesn't botch the launch as bad as Cyberpunk 2077 did I think they could have a GOTY hit on their hands. It will also be held to unreasonable standards by some though because of the time and money it took even though SQ is a portion of a larger combo project. I had little issue with the pacing as its the intro movie world setup and half of the tutorial combined. It was also putting your character into the scripted cinematics, so it needed to be a little contrived to trigger the events to carry you through reenacting a historic battle central to the lore of the game and MMO and had to play out a certain way. Anyone that has played SC on a fresh empty server knows NPCs go from eating crayons to John WIck in the blink of an eye, so I am not too worried about the challenge level in the main game after the setup scenes. There is still a flight school phase of tutorials you have to pass to be cleared for ship duty after that and is where we would likely get to see full combat AI. There were more than fighters going idle in the fight. The Idris just before the scene it got cut in half was frozen in time in the background including explosions on its aft so I don't think full AI were in that fight and was all hand-crafted scenario event scripts and still buggy from what we saw live at CitCon. The Star Engine demo already put the industry on notice with Unreal adjusting their roadmap to enhance asset streaming and support larger maps and have the resources to move fast. I don't think CIG is intending to get into an engine arms race though and they have said as much because SQ42 is planned on being a trilogy of games which will help subsidize the MMO side. With the tech foundation completed sequels can be made faster and could prove they can hold a timetable in a regular development cycle to maybe get hired to do some other titles using their engine perhaps. All this Star-X branding is for multiple legal and financial reasons that don't always mean licensing/sales are the goal. The industry is a mess because games are designed by committees and market research consultants instead of creatives. Live service games are falling off in profitability though economic and world events are contributing to that plus the spiraling costs to develop every game like a blockbuster.

[@feigling7794]

All I‘ll say to this is „I held the line“ o7

[@MrSarge-nw5jy]

This game, but with Halo’s AI workings would actually make the enemies more interesting to fight with different ways of tackling them cuz they make decisions themselves

[@Hav0k]

100% That would be insane!

[@octavioveliz]

I hope it’s good, but if it’s never released we will never know. 😢

[@Storm-Shard]

I agree with everything you said. The Vanduul pilots were very underwhelming and will hopefully get a good rework. Did anyone else notice the lack of turret fire from the retaliators??? Those turrets are there to protect the ship damnit 😂

[@Hav0k]

Yeah that was bizarre as well lol

[@caintindal1671]

As much as I hope SQ 42 is a huge success I am also leaving room to be disappointed and think this is the best way to think. I think what Citizencon this year has shown I think they are doing it right although would like them to fix a few things up as bringing Org gameplay is great as long as they can make it meaningful. I also know when this game does realise to everyone it will be in the news for a number of reasons. The Actors and the time it took to release and develope and the amount of money spent on it will be the in the news.

[@maxjergens]

As a member of the SC community sidelined by the focus on SQ42, my sentiment, shared by many, towards SQ42 is far from positive. The frustration stems from Chris Roberts prioritizing SQ42 over the SC community. Persistent bugs in SC remain unaddressed as the team dedicates resources to SQ42. For instance, the Mole has been mostly dysfunctional and left broken for two years, and miners have contended with phantom rocks for an equal duration due to SQ42's development demands. Currently, the unresolved issue of the Mole's non-operational doors persists. The disillusionment is compounded by the perception that Citizen Conned was misleading and that Chris Roberts' assurances of not releasing defective products do not align with the realities observed on the Star Citizen live server. Fuck SQ42 and its 40 hours of cymatics that crashed at Citizen Conned. I hate everything SQ 42 and many in the community are sick of being told every year that its only 2 years away.

[@Koshea69]

Have no interest in Star Citizen. Eve Online taught me I have no interest in a shared universe. X4 did Eve online so much better. That said, I've been excited for Squadron 42 to release for over a decade now. I won't put any money toward it till it does release but when it does oh baby I can't wait to get my hands on it. Let's just see what decade it actually releases!

[@Hav0k]

Indeed! Hopefully this decade if they're finally right about the release date.

[@vulcan4d]

That 4090 was melting. CIG has been waiting until a 4090 performance GPU comes into a mid-range price tag :p.

[@SwedishLatino]

I know people who play sc with a 1080 or 2060s.

[@Hav0k]

They're still working on optimizing and also don't have the vulkan multi-threading. So, that will undoubtedly help when that have it. So will DLSS 3 with frame generation.

[@RobCoxxy]

Why are so many people judging a tutorial turret section's heavily scripted, introductory flight AI as if that's what the entire campaign is gonna be?

[@Hav0k]

I don't see it as judging. Just critiquing something they noticed might be a problem.

[@michaelgiertz-rath7994]

You know why SQ42 seems to draw so much positive attention lately? It's a homage to "old style" space operas we used to watch / experience in the late 1990ies and early 20-zero years. While I can't speak for anyone than myself, it's like coming home from a long, lonely journey. I didn't play Wing Commander, but I grew up with games like Star Wars: X-Wing and Tie Fighter, I played Descent Freespace I & II and found it amazing. I also played Chris Roberts games, like Starlancer and Freelancer and currently I am still playing X4 Foundations, all DLC included, with an amazing Star Wars mod. Homeworld series, Mass Effect, tons of 4X-games, I played a ton of space games. Star Citizen is the first game that "scratches the right itch" and SQ42 is perhaps THE game I really needed all these years. It closes the gap between game and movie. In SQ42, the player character is the hero of the story. Basically you get Starbuck, Kirk, O'Neill and Shepard rolled into one single person. You'll fly with Luke Skywalke or Superman, you'll be on a first-name basis with the former and perhaps the pilot who saves the later. SQ42 gives the player the opportunity to experience a game with some of the big names of the good ol' times. We've got Gillian Anderson and Gary Oldman. Who doesn't want to stay on the same ground as those actors? If you think of SQ42 as an actual space opera MOVIE with you as the main character, you'll realize WHY people want this game that badly. Today movies, series and games try to reach out for a "modern audience". For some reason, neither of them are particular successful and some are utterly disliked by many. I wonder why? It's not just the "political message". It often comes with poorly written characters and storylines, lacking motivation and an over-abundance of emotional baggage. If the movie, series or game can't convince their audience to care for story and characters, it's all utterly in vain. This is why series like "Rings of Power" fail, or why "new Star Trek" doesn't feel remotely as good as the series of old. SQ42 however aims at a certain "old school" audience, doesn't care for political correctness and simply wants to give us a d*mn great ride from beginning to end. And that's not even considering the fact SQ42 is just the first part of a trilogy, so we're "just" at the beginning. CIG had to split the story into three parts, of which we only get to see the first one in that game, coming with approx 30 - 40 hours of gameplay. Today, most single player games tend to end after 10, unless you got some sandbox game that keeps you busy like X4 (that's 1200 hours and still counting for me). You get a lot of "movie game" for your buck, especially if you backed early and got SQ42 and PU access in one packet. The prologue alone manages me to feel invested in any of the characters. And like you, Hav0k, I think Cpt MacLaren (Gillian Anderson) is the best example for this. She doesn't have much interaction with the player character, a low ranking turret gunner on her ship. And yet you still want to rescue her in the end, against her orders, and you just hope she'll make it, so MacLaren has a bigger role in the story. I want that. I know there are more people out there too hoping for the best. But I'll accept if this was her heroic last stand, because she went down like a proper officer of ANY given military, fictional or not. No fear, honor still intact, fighting the GOOD fight. And, oh yes, SQ42 seems to give us a story about the GOOD fight, despite the grey-alligned United Empire of Earth. I can't even describe what illness befell big studios and publishers for movies and games, as they don't seem to be interested in a loyal, supportive community, otherwise they'd give what their fans want. Usually it's the opposite of what the shareholder want, since long, story driven games come with a massive upfront cost and a high risk of falling flat. It's the fans that made SQ42 and the world building of Star Citizen possible. It's our money. It's Chris Roberts saying "thank you" to us, as we enabled him to make his dream game. SQ42 is the result of millions of SciFi fans uniting. If we can pull off that stunt, imagine what people might dream of next. Crowd funding Star Trek licenses so we don't have to suffer bad Star Trek anymore? Reviving Stargate via fundraising by fans? Why don't we do just that and bring back GOOD games, GOOD series and GOOD movies ...? It's like coming home for me, as I wrote earlier. But more important, it shows that normal fans can move the world. We need to keep that positive idea and make it real wherever we go.

[@22nicodemis]

Wasn't really interested in SQ42 until i saw this citizen-con. With the actors they have in it and the depth of the PU atm i believe it will be fantastic *if they can pull it off* . Hopiums a hell of a drug and i'm not trying to OD , as much as people complain about the time this is taking i refer you to the game schlock over the last decade or so and how quick that gets cranked out. Patients if a virtue less exorcised these days PPS MASS EFFECT INDOCTRINATION THEORY FTW

[@Hav0k]

I really hope they can pull it off. Also, I completely agree. I wish the indoctrination theory was correct.

[@22nicodemis]

@@Hav0k Oh brother, without the indoc theory i'd be like Doc Holiday = I just couldn't bare it . P.S i'll look into your org i got a few peeps looking for some good company

[@Hav0k]

Absolutely! Sounds good! We are always looking to add people to the org 😄

[@MidnightWolfSDJ]

I don’t just think Squadron will be game of the decade. I think it will be game of the galaxy! (I chose galaxy cuz it sounded cool in my head 😎) but seriously! Pre-Citizencon 2953 (2023’s Citizencon) I had very little interest in Squadron 42. It was a game I was inevitably going to play cuz it takes place in the same universe as Star Citizen (my favorite game of all time). But I never got excited about it. Then Citizencon 2953 happened with the “I Held the Line” trailer. That is when everything changed. I finally saw the true potential of what Squadron 42 would mean for Star Citizen and how important it will be to enjoy the amazing narrative experience with the mechanics that I love so much from SC. The visuals and story telling just from that small trailer got me sucked in to the hype that surrounds S42. Then fast forward to CitizenCon 2954 (2024) and my hype level went from very defcon 4 straight to defcon 1! I am extremely hyped about the game! So much so that I was bummed when I saw the 2026 release year. That being said, I am willing to wait for something as long as it is a masterpiece by the end! I have a sneaky suspicion that S42 will be a masterpiece.

[@Hav0k]

I absolutely agree with you. I'm willing to wait the 2 years it will take to come out. I think it has the potential to be an amazing game.

[@cookiejarvis3856]

"Level of unity and optimism." Have you seen Reddit, Spectrum, the Various discords?

[@breadbeard6722]

Spectrum is the entrance to hell, nobody should take anything in there as the voice of the community

[@Hav0k]

I don't pay attention to other discords, or reddit. I was mostly referencing the comments I've seen on other videos on youtube

[@sidewithwerewolves]

It's really looked like the game demo was on easy or "story" mode not a hard or challenging mode so they could do a cinematic play through

[@Hav0k]

Yeah I get the criticism. It was on the hardest difficulty, but I think a bit of the issues was the fact that it was a tutorial style prologue and the AI was a bit weak imho

[@mattbaxter688]

$700,000,000 invested well over a decade in development. Would hope it would be good lol

[@Hav0k]

We all do. But for what it's worth, that's $700 million spread over 12 years and across two games. That's really not as much as what some other games have pulled in sales.

[@Haegemon]

Agree with all points made. Specially the apparent lack of allies, the slow Vanduul fighters and their non-menacing presence.

[@macmanuelodumeru3708]

I see it as the allies are engaged in something else, and you're trusted to complete your task without extra help resources. But the Vanduul part I agree could be better

[@Hav0k]

I dunno, I just wish it didn't feel like we're the only one shooting the turrets lol

[@TimothySnowman]

I don't think the majority of the positive sentiment towards S42 is from gamers "setting their feelings about SC aside." I think it's largely from gamers not knowing that they're related projects.

[@Kotwurf]

it's hard to compete with Baldurs Gate 3 but I think both games will be games of the decade.

[@Dumb-Comment]

4:35 no, if you have watched closely, the NPC took out a few fighters by themselves 5:30 what an L take, have you not seen how they were dodging the line of fire while charging at you? It felt weird only because the take down animation lagged, if they make it smoother they are super deadly

[@Hav0k]

This comment suits your name. Very few people who watched this demo disagreed with me and had the same gripes.

[@pmcomputing2459]

There are a lot of "scam citizen" comments on the IGN Squadron42 video, but I was really surprised by all of the positive ones in there also, this may very well be the start of something big.. I really hope Squadron comes out early 2026, but I dont think so, GTA6 and Halo will be coming out and I bet they wait until the end of the year, or launch in early 2027

[@reamoinmcdonachadh9519]

It's entirely possible that SQ42 will be an influential game. But I do not think it will quite escape the fact that it IS essentially a narrative driven won and done experience with some re-playability due to it's branching narrative and mission structure. Spanned across three stand alone (but related)"episodes" all being developed in parallel it will be interesting to see if the reception for episode 1 will generate enough interest for additional DLC as well as the remaining 'episodes AND push players towards its sister MMO Title Star Citizen. Squadron 42, or SQ42 for short has the potential to be one of the most influential games because of the technical hurdles it had to over come and the software solutions that were involved in bringing it to life.

[@Hav0k]

It's a single player game. That's pretty much most single player games. They're mostly narrative driven one and done experiences. Take for example games like Mass Effect, Jedi Fallen order and Jedi Survivor. These games had some re-playability, but there wasn't a ton and they were very great games for how cinematic they were.

[@festersmith8352]

I appreciate the work and sweat that went into it. Plus its been a really fun emotional ride for me for 12 years. As well as educating. I have a different respect for those who use keyboard as a main tool at work. No thanks man! I'll stick to grease and dirt, wrenches and shovels. But I do fear the insanely high expectation the internet has put on it. Its an interactive story in video format. Nothing more. We'll see how it goes. No doubt hate doesn't wash off in the shower.

[@Hav0k]

@@festersmith8352 Yeah, I understand that. Tbh, even if it doesn't become really mainstream to other players due to its past, it will still be pretty incredible for those of us who play. Although, i do hope it becomes big.

[@abigfish1620]

I never really followed star citizen, but squadren 42 is everything i want in a space game. This is something that has me excited. Although, i will say, why the heck does no one in these ship wear space suits when they are going into battle?? Makes no sense. Just had to drop that one.

[@andrewboyer7544]

My two cents is that likely it doesn't drastically change the survivability for crew. Getting vacuumed out during a fight violently kills most crew anyway. So the only ones who wear them are those work in ships that can eject.

[@abigfish1620]

@andrewboyer7544 I ha e to disagree, in combat. Where the hull can be breached at any time, it only makes sense that everyone would suit up. Like in the expanse, whenever they enter a combat situation that the first thing they do. But it's just a nitpick, game looks awesome.

[@andrewboyer7544]

@abigfish1620 I think that's the best explanation I can give. But I also think the expanse gets a ton of things wrong. Like the reliance on missile weapons. Missiles take up a lot of room and can be defeated with ams. Room on a ship is a premium that makes missiles a poor weapon option. The truth in SC is that people just are not as relatable or interesting in a space suit so it's hand waved for cinematic effect.

[@alainm6070]

The buzz is indeed growing louder by the decade, it might indeed be the greatest game of the 22nd century as it inches closer to the actual timeframe of the events it depicts.

[@Hav0k]

🤣 2126 right?

[@alainm6070]

@@Hav0k Yes, plus or minus 820 years 😄

[@Hav0k]

I would be dead. But hey at least quantum computers will be out if it takes that long.

[@tomvrancken6489]

It will make its mark for sure. Some aspects make it unique; kick starter, professional actors. (time in development and money spent, shhhh don't wake the wolves ;-) Will it be enough for a landslide impact, that will be remembered in history? Not really sure, I really think that all depends in how long it takes for it to come out. If they wait another 5 years or more, it mioght all be "meh" at that point. (I think they wanna have SC ready to accept new influx, when SQ launches) Personally, I like storydriven gameplay. I like good cinematic episodes, telling you about the world youu are playing in. Someone else might be less extatic about all that and want more action more quickly and fast paced? I did notice a lot of positive reactions to the presented video material. And also respect send to them for having the balls to risk the live-crash. So that's a change in a good direction. I mean, criticising from the sidelines is easy, doing it yourself and learning along the way is the hard part, no? If it was easy, we had tons of companies trying this.

[@Hav0k]

I understand the criticisms, but we really can't assume that the cinematics in other missions are as long as the prologue. But I do hope that there is more fast paced, action filled gameplay.

[@tomvrancken6489]

@@Hav0k Yes, I agree the long cinematics will probably be more thickly packed in the prologue. Setting the scene and start of the story. "Here, this epic battle just happened and you are the sole survivor" (or one of the few) The entire universe is at stake and depending on you! Off you go , do your thing... And that's when your game actuallly starts.

[@Hav0k]

Yeah I think there will still be a lot of cinematics, but there will probably be more gameplay than cinematics. Cutscenes take a long time.

[@samalam4875]

OK I can't wait for this but as I'm not a game developer does it really take over 2 years to polish a game

[@Hav0k]

I think the goal was CitizenCon 2025, but they added another goal to ensure they didn't miss the release date. It honestly would make the most sense.

[@Accuracy158]

Squadron has to be great, being average isn't really an option when you have so much to prove... But this video is insane to people who don't have their whole head stuck up the hopium jar. That tutorial was one of the most monumental things in gaming ever that's going to usher in the return of microtransaction free single player games? The whole game was built not on micro transactions on but on extremely macro transactions, built on the back of a "live service game", and FOMO. From the outside it has looked like a black hole where money and time go to die and never be seen again. The only weakness with what we saw is that it was basically a video with almost no gameplay and the bit gameplay there was didn't look particularly good. 😆 I want Star Citizen to succeed and by extension I want this to do well. I want Squadron to prove CIG has it in them... To me if no one else. CIG's history basically consists of one thing, never delivering, but as backers we gave them the go ahead to keep trying for years and years. Could Squadron really be an "inflection point" suggesting that anything is possible with enough community backing? Will it show that Star Citizen is in at least somewhat capable hands despite what the larger gaming community thought?

[@AlbertoMartinez765]

I Don't know if I agree on How "easy" the Vanduul felt to take out. He got knocked on his ass at first, and he a TOP level Player , then had to unload an entire clip ..30 rounds into the Vanduul to kill it. They are supposed to be tough but not invincible. Even the Robotic Cylons in BSG only took like a couple of shots to kill.

[@Hav0k]

Lol he seemed like a top level player to you? His aim was pretty weak :P

[@lanceobe6801]

Just two more years.........two more years

[@dripgoku242]

SC is the future... ❣️🖖🚀

[@fm-gamer5617]

What cig is going to build is not achieved by any developer since now. Even gta 6 will not be even close in that scale and complexity. Rockstargames has a lot of skill and very high quality games but the scale of star citizen and the technique behind it is mind blowing. It will be the greatest game of our generation

[@Hav0k]

Absolutely agree. GTA 6 will be great in its own way, but i have not witnessed a single developer do what CIG is attempting. There's been lots of talk and promises, but nothing yet.

[@Nightbar0n]

People will always complain about something, it's a trend... And especially those that didn't even play the game... They would be the loudest.

[@Hav0k]

Accurate

[@eastend6695]

Love your optimism HavOk . Tho i have to say i am very disappointed with the 2026 release date . Lets hope its worth the wait.

[@Hav0k]

Don't get me wrong, I'm also disappointed it won't be released til 2026. But it's possible that it could be 14 months from now in the beginning of 2026, or 24 months from now, towards the end of 2026. But I would rather it be delivered in a polished state and hopefully it delivers an amazing story.

[@eastend6695]

@@Hav0k See you in the Verse mate

[@Hav0k]

@@eastend6695 o7 Fly safe!

[@ANDROAZ_Gaming]

I'm really surprised the reddit karens didn't bombard the comment section. A welcome change. I have only been a backer since 2022, so I haven't been around and gone through the really tough times during the development. What I have seen the development go through has been amazing. People say that what was shown of SQ42 was too easy or didn't seem like what was expected, but we only saw the beginning and training portion of SQ42. I imagine that this will get more difficult after the player passes the learning phase and the prologue. The again, there are some that will never be satisfied and will continue to complain for the sake of complaining.

[@Hav0k]

There's been a litany of reddit style comments. They're just getting automatically flagged by KZbin as spam.

[@LaughingAndy]

First let me say that I want SQ42 and SC to succeed. I truly do. One game that rises the bar will help all games. But I also feel that the games fans need to temper their expectations. CIG need to keep raising money so they hype the game. Content creators who make a living off talking about it need to keep hyping it. My concern is that soon those expectations will be so high that it will be almost impossible for the game to reach them. Yes they have shown us lots of very pretty looking visuals. And to the best of my knowledge no one outside of CiG has played SQ42. So all we know at the moment is that it looks really nice. Sorry but we need to see that it’s fun to play as well as nice to look at. Chris Roberts need to pull in his creative instincts and get both versions ready to be realised. I fear that as things are now with every few months they find something new to shoehorn into then it will never get to 1.0. So tell me, how much longer will you keep backing this? This has already gone past a decade and over seven hundred million. SQ42 is at best two years away, SC realistically another five to eight. This can’t keep going along like this. Yes they’re creating all this wonderful new tech. But how much more do they need? Again I want this to succeed. I want to play these games. But keep your expectations reasonable.

[@spacecadet-zero]

Appreciate your thoughtful comment so this isn’t directly criticism of your thoughts: but it drives me crazy when people see a game the developer says is “feature complete and in polish + optimization” and are upset it’s 1-2 years out. That’s pretty standard time for this stage of AAA complexity games - at least ones that don’t release as a janky buggy mess. It’s just that most games are revealed for the first time when they reach this stage so it seems like development was 2 years. CIG has had tech and vision missteps for sure (particularly early-on) but I like to point out many of our favorite (and not-so-favorite) 21st century games have had 400+ million budgets and development timelines approaching a decade. And a lot of these weren’t: 1. Building a studio/company from scratch 2. Redesigning an engine from the studs to handle never tried requirements 3. Doing 2 games not one (a singleplayer + MMO) 4. Doing it while exposed to public scrutiny and an accessible live server. That and anyone who backed Chris Roberts knew (or should have) that he’s known to blow timetables and budgets due to ambition but eventually delivers legendary titles. That said, if CR blows 2026 for SQ42 that would be a big PR issue for CIG for sure.

[@Hav0k]

Honestly, I'm here until the game launches. I've already put money into it. I'm comfortable enough that I can break away if needed and play other games. If I ultimately had to step away, it would be temporary until 1.0 comes out. And if it truly takes too long, there will always be gamers that grow into it as they grow up. My gut tells me its another 2-4 years to 1.0. Beyond that, we can't accurately predict how long it will truly take.

[@Hav0k]

@spacecadet-zero I'm actually happy they're not rushing it, even if I'm disappointed we have to wait another 14 to 24 months until it's out. But if they're focused on making it an amazing single player and delivering it in a state that will be a great experience with very few issues, then people will definitely flock to it. But you're right. To get to where they are now, there were a lot of extra steps they had to take to get to this point that most studios don't even have to go through.

[@blacksheepwall79]

I don't know if you've played COD Infinite Warfare, but their EVA Sections are pretty good too.

[@Hav0k]

I've heard they were great actually. Unfortunately that was one of a few COD games that I didn't get the opportunity to play. But COD is usually really great at making scenes like that feel pretty epic.

[@timothyhaynes-lz1we]

I Love Star citizen And Javelin is my favorite Ship

[@dicegamer3466]

Optimism amongst players is at an all time low.

[@Hav0k]

I'm hearing the opposite. But obviously there is a vast array of opinions. Most people I've talked to are optimistic

[@festersmith8352]

Who you hang with, and your algo are a big factor in what you hear. My algo gets both perspectives. And that other perspective feeds each other until they are tired. My org won't stop talking with excitement. With a touch of reservation. Never getting tired. Which place do you prefer to hear from?

[@Hav0k]

@@festersmith8352 So true. What you hear, feel and believe all depends on what type of people you surround yourself. Which is why I'm often hear mostly optimism. Besides, I prefer to be positive about things and provide constructive feedback when things aren't good.

[@festersmith8352]

@@Hav0k I am to old for complaining. It didn't do anything for me, except grey hair and anxiety. Blood pressure is still good. And the less I complain, the more alive I feel. I have my internal grumbles. But why destroy a great atmosphere by vocalizing it to those who do not wish to hear it. Pretty soon, you're sitting alone at dinner or the movies. Or you find yourself in a crowd bent on destroying itself. Cause nothing is ever good enough, and someone always wanting to control it to make it there way, while meeting nothing but resistance, because its not good enough.

[@matteobarbarini3120]

I do think it could be and good job for your videos

[@rickappling5470]

I haven't played computer games since the days of 8-bit computers. But this one drew me in. But unfortunately I doubt I that there's a chance I will ever get. For one it's most likely it willl more that I can afford. I haven't priced any computer games since the eighties. But but paper games, which is the only thing I still have any interest in these days. Cost hundreds of times what they what they used to. Not that I have anyone to play against anyway. Also there is the matter of platform, any thing other that PC is out. And the machines I use likely will not be powerful enough. And I have other reasons not to upgrade to a more recent computer.

[@artesslior1806]

I want to offer criticism to your criticism of the vandul difficulties you mentioned. This part they played is meant to be a prolog tutorial. They might actually be harder later in the game. Also even though they selected the hardest difficulty I question whether they have actually tuned in the balance for the difficulties.

[@Hav0k]

Absolutely! I get that better than most people. But I did want to acknowledge that in the hopes that this is just a unique situation.

[@psix130]

I can't wait for everyone's reaction to the ending of squadron 42.

[@agonyaunt6325]

You mean where Old Man (Hamill's character) dies while telling the protagonist (you) that he finally respects him?

[@sverebom7069]

I'm not convinced that SQ42 will be the most important game of the decade or that will have a "game changing" influence on the industry. - While the technologies that were developed for this project are truly impressive, at least with SQ42 the potential of these technologies is confined to a single player campaign-experience. And within that confinement, these technologies won't necessarily translate to a genre-defining experience. That is more likely to happen with SC, where technologies like server meshing have the potential to elevate the whole genre. - Mind you, we don't see much of the current gameplay state in the prologue. We now know, that CIG can handle big or even huge cinematic experiences and weave them elegantly together with gameplay, which will certainly contribute to a great experience with many "eye-openers", but the true quality of the gameplay is still an unknown, and the final experience might trigger the same "WTF? I wanted to play a game! If you want to make a movie, make a movie!"-reaction I had when I "played" through the closing chapters of The Witcher 3 (and spent most of the time watching dialogue cutscenes). - From the 2017 vertical slice and last year's "B-roll demo-trailer" we have rough idea of what to expect though. A usual chapter will likely go something like this. You are aboard the battle liner/carrier that is your "home base" fraternizing with your crewmates until the time for the mission briefing comes. You get your briefing, equip yourself for the mission and probably have a few interactions along the way that advance character subplots. Your mission might put you into a fighter and request you to patrol the local star system. As you move through the narrative you come across clues that alter your mission objectives and lead you to a nearby planet. You descent to the surface and approach the location of your primary objective. From there you have a typical semi-open-World "find a way to enter the enemy base" scenario that gives you all kind of options from stealth, to guns blazing, to solving environmental puzzles, garnished with interactions with characters that are relevant to the scenario and the occasional "Woooaaah! that looks cool!"-moment. All of that sounds great, but technology and presentation alone don't guarantee a decade-defining experience. Not to mention that this kind of gameplay is not exactly new (outside of the game going incredibly long ways to create an immersive experience without cutting corners). Long story short: The writing and all the gameplay elements have to reach an incredibly high level to create a game, that will be known for more than its presentation and the way it was funded and produced.

[@BullyMaguirejr]

I am 100% sure this game will kill gta 6, what would you prefer to be? A criminal single mother and her simp or you prefer to be a soldier trying to save the universe from alien invasion? The choice is obvious to me.

[@teamalpha3604]

@@BullyMaguirejr both will succeed but sq42 will not kill gta 6 lamo

[@mhk9131]

Sq42 will be a great game no doubt, but not kill gta6 lol, very different games for very different audiences

[@macmanuelodumeru3708]

GTA has bigger marketing power. Many people don't know about Squadron42 yet. And people will likely have both games anyways

[@thorns]

That criminal single mother is going to make so many hilarious situations. Remember what people did to the one feminist in red dead 2?

[@vulcan4d]

Not everyone likes space games

[@blacksheepwall79]

Game has to come out this decade in order to be the best game of this decade. It's been "2 Years Out" for 10 years...

[@blacksheepwall79]

Also, to clarify. I think it's going to be a good game it's just a matter of 'getting' the game. I have made fun of Star Citizen being "Development Hell: The Business Model" but I really believe they're trying to make something great. It just needs to "Get made" It's impossible to not be impressed to some degree by the Squadron 42 gameplay demo. And I wanted to get my hands on it.

[@Hav0k]

I agree with you. They really do need to get it made and they do have the ability to make it great. Now is just the time to put up or shut up. But yeah, the game is always two years away. It's rough for sure

[@silviupopovici7122]

I will wait and see. RSI won't see my money until there is a finished product and functional. I'm not paying for tech demo or anything else. There is already a problem with Early Access games that never leave that stage because its convenient. I don't see a future where Star Citizen at least will be released to a subscription / buy to play model of business because they make tons of money with the pledge store. Otherwise, if they keep both somehow, people who pushed thousands of dollars into the game will have an outstanding advantage to everything and rule the universe, which is very very very problematic and usually it goes wrong. Especially with the features they dream to have. Imagine a universe where everything is owned or player controlled by the people who invested the most in the game money wise. It's not fair for someone who just pays monthly or just bought a game and gotta make out or become something they want to be. How do you solve that? You cant cut people's pledges but you also can't make them live in the same universe with the new ones that just got the game. I see no solution to this whole aspect of it, this is why I think SC will be a continous tech demo or... live on the pledge store and it will be a pay 2 win sort of model.

[@Hav0k]

I get it. Not everyone can handle sitting through a long development cycle such as this. It's more important to make the right decision for your own well being. Hopefully the game can get to it's final vision and it interests you enough to join the rest of the community. But I definitely disagree that it's pay to win since you don't have to pay real money to get the ship you want.

[@jonny-b4954]

I still don't think any of it'll will ever fully release. They've gotta run out of money eventually.

[@benbowman6995]

In most narrative-driven games the gameplay itself typically isn't fantastic. The original Mass Effect trilogy's third-person combat wasn't great, even by the standards of its day, but it was good enough when combined with the great storytelling. I do think that it was kind of easy considering Rich played this on Legatus difficulty at least the turret section of it. But considering this is the prologue, and is a tutorial I'm not sure it's a big deal, we probably won't spend a lot of time in turrets for the rest of the game. I didn't like that while in the turret you can see your crewmates firing from their turrets and clearly missing very low every time. Hopefully, they will balance it out so your AI crewmates can hit something at least 50% of the time. And I would like to see multiple ways to counter the Vanduul after they knock you to the ground, and different animations for them instead of the same one over and over again.

[@Hav0k]

A long QTE if you get knocked down by the Vanduul would have gone a long way for sure.

[@delfi1450]

Will it be available on consoles?

[@Hav0k]

There's a lot of rumors that it's going that direction. It would make the most sense for them. But SC will forever be PC only just due to the sheer amount of buttons it needs and the fact that it needs solid performance as well.

[@agonyaunt6325]

That decade being the 2030s or the 2040s?

[@lonespartan1216]

Squadron 42: I swear if this is a fighter only campaign on a linear/on rails story/area I will lose it. 12 years maybe 13 years and they are asking for almost 2 more years, it better have AI crew to man the turrets, it should have an AI commander that flies the ship while you move around the ship or man a turret, you should be able to hire or gain allied ships to help make the game easier the better you are, like saving allies from death to snowball, and if you don't save the ships then you are missing that ship that could have been in the next mission. Star citizen had an amazing open world and hundreds(maybe) of ships that you could fly, literally if you only get fighters then that ruins all the effort they made on star citizen and neutors the games fun. Now this is simply my wish but I wish the game will allow you to customize your ship using credits you earn through the game, either campaign missions or side missions/bounties, if you get only a few ships or if you can only use one ship then you should be able to upgrade the ship to match the numbers of enemies unless it is just skirmishes the entire time, which would suck. There is a survival system: water, oxygen, heart monitor, etc. So I would be very upset if the game is only campaign would make those features irrelevant other then a few parts like crashing on a planet and trying to repair your ship or trying to find an old abandoned ship. The fighting on foot system seems ok, but seems as if they largely kept it bare basic, which is good since we want space combat, but it will make the flaws in space combat even worse. So my view of the game is a 9/10 as a game premise, but for a game that has been developing for over 10 years I would say 3/10, and even then the game isn't showing the effort of +10 years, it is showing the effort of a ok company of 2-3 years that is still in beta, hell people working on stalker 2 have better progression on their game and there is a war going on, with them having their power cut numerous times, their studio having caught on fire and losing a significant portion of their work, and mostly working at home with problems with communication. And it seems as if they are working on smaller budget with almost no ways of making stupid amounts of money from selling in game ships for HUNDREDS of dollars, and making a more solid game even if they have less to work on. Look, I would understand if they are working from scratch, but they aren't, they have the literal code and models in star citizen, For EVERYTHING. From the character designer, to the equipment, to the ships, to the planets, to the AI(both hostile and non-hostile to base their new AI algorithm on), they have the survival features(could be wrong on this part), they have the maps for basic areas in squadron 42, the only thing I can imagine they don't have is the cutscenes themselves and the various sound effects, and they already made the special characters for the scenes... it just feels like if we look at it for what it's worth then I would say $20-$30 for the campaign or they will be ruined as a company if this flops, even a little backlash could snowball into killing star citizen except for the people who spent THOUSANDS on in game items. And if all the cheap people who grind drop the game there will be no ship hunters since they can't grind by blowing people up and stealing their shit, and if they drop out there is only the grind for the people who already bought all the high tier shit they should have grinded for, and if it is just an extra expensive laggy sand box of repeatable tasks then there is no reason for MOST of the whales to keep playing and buying. It has knock on effects, and the devs should see it before they go broke.

[@spacecadet-zero]

A 40-hour campaign is not a short tack-on campaign it’s a pretty standard AAA rpg story length. And as I pointed out elsewhere in these comments, the $700m is development of both SQ42 and SC. Cyberpunk took 400+ million and 9-11 years (if you count its current good state of polish) for a smaller scope proj by a pre-existing studio and engine. And 2 years is pretty standard polish time. We just generally only hear about coming games when they hit the feature complete -> polish stage. At the time, SQ42 + SC package was $45 which was fairly std for games then. I’d imagine at retail it’s going to be the $60-70 that is industry std now. And we’ve seen that gameplay will be a combo of piloting, fps (ground and zero-g) and a variety of light RPG elements.

[@fnunez]

My main worry is that by the time SQ42 actually releases, all the cool things you mention in this video will be mainstream and tired, and so ironically the game that is so fresh now will fail for being so derivative.

[@Hav0k]

I disagree. If it was doing the same exact thing as every other game, then yes. But it doesn't seem to be.

[@fnunez]

@@Hav0k That's my point - two years is plenty of time for someone like EA, Ubisoft, etc to make a carbon copy of SQ42 using Unreal or some other engine. Knowing CIG, 2026 is probably more like 2028 and by that time SQ42 will be competing with Future Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3042.

[@Hav0k]

I hope you're wrong. But we'll see.

[@CameronLestagez]

So, I can’t watch a full one hour gameplay of this title, is this a space air combat game or is it a first person shooter

[@Hav0k]

It's a space combat game. But it's also more than that as they've done a lot to add a lot of varying ways people will play on the single player game.

[@jello_cudgel9213]

Question is which decade?

[@Hav0k]

Yes. 🤣

[@asdliveman12]

the real answer is "COULD BE"!. we still dont have the full game after 12 years and 780 million in donations.... so it could be good. or i bet its gonna be a big disaster.

[@Hav0k]

The criticism is deserved in some regards. But in other regards they've really had to do more work than most development companies. Starfield took a years and had most of the tools and engine work? So I guess there's that. But yeah, it could be. But I don't think it will be a big disaster. Either it will be incredible or just a good game.

[@richvandervecken3954]

Is the game even out of beta testing yet? They do not have a good track record of actually releasing a finished game title! After all how long has star citizen been in development?

[@Hav0k]

The game has been in development for about 12 years. However, they are actually making two games in the same universe at the same time, while supporting a live service environment that is the alpha version of Star Citizen. It's had it's ups and downs, but the project is seemingly beginning to come together. However, it's not in a state right now that most people will be able to look past the issues. I always have recommended players hold of until the game is in a better state. At least beta, since that will hopefully mean it's a bit more polished and stable than it is currently. Although, the experience really isn't as bad as some paint it to be.

[@Hav0k]

If you have more questions, feel free to ask. I honestly try to be as unbiased as possible. Even if I am passionate about this game. I understand not everyone is.

[@jordannukeduckrichards6492]

Refer to be game of the decade more than a thousand people need to run the game and or buy the game

[@Hav0k]

More than a thousand people have bought the game. Years ago.

[@TheCosmicNihilist]

5% chance I will buy it I like a little more game in my video games

[@Hav0k]

K. That's neat.

[@robinrichards6275]

The fleet battle. Epic, but. Will the people 900+ years in the future go back to the 1700's and just stand line to line and shoot at each other? I doubt it. The one that maneuvers will usually win. Also, the UEE ships are just way too close to each other. Nitpicks, but I guess they needed "Cinematic!" I did like the "you're in a movie" aspect.

[@ShannonBradford]

Yeah, it kind of bothered me that they didn't move either. Strategy dictates otherwise... :/

[@mattvmalone]

Uh, are you guys blind? They moved a lot.

[@robinrichards6275]

@@mattvmalone I'm talking about maneuver warfare. Not sitting there and taking fire from the enemy. You plan it so that you're very widely spaced and can maneuver without worrying about crashing into another ship close to you. You move in three dimensions, not like the old sailing ship battle line where you just sit there and pound each other. Why do you just sit in front of a mega cannon instead of maneuvering behind it and beating the s*** out of it's ass? I do understand that it's all for cinematography and maneuver warfare would be very complex to film.

[@Hav0k]

I mean they moved quite a bit for a bunch of lumbering giants that can only move as quick as their mass and thrust will allow.

[@PatrickF.Fitzsimmons]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 The vast majority of gamers probably don't even know it exists.

[@eddiemarohl5789]

What's funny is when put in a vaccum people who haven't seen it before love it. IGN'S gameplay video showed that alot since it didn't talk about sc a lot

[@Hav0k]

You said it. IGN's gameplay video had a LOT of positive comments.

[@windgods1414]

The game of the next decade maybe ?

[@_liquid_wolf_4280]

its true, but which decade?

[@Hav0k]

If the release date is accurate, this time, which is probably is with how much their investment time line for investors is coming due, this decade.

[@Biter1975]

I cannot see it being a game of the Decade. No way it will be better than Days Gone or Valheim. Game of the year if they get lucky.

[@Hav0k]

🤣

[@mattvmalone]

lol

[@MrNicklasson87]

The question is, which decade? 🤔

[@gamingduology4757]

Of course It will be the best space story sifi game . I have not seen any other ones made . No man’s sky has no real story Bethesdas game is barely a game . Good Space sifi storys have not been done since Star Wars Star Trek and star gate and I’d add other like fire fly but they died on arrival.

[@LunaMoon0]

10:30 good that we have no microtransactions, only mega transactions

[@Hav0k]

To be fair, I'm talking about Squadron 42. Not Star Citizen

[@LunaMoon0]

@@Hav0k the only way to buy SQ42 is i think UEE Exploration Pack for 800 Euro or the 15k Pack

[@Hav0k]

@@LunaMoon0 i actually think it's not in any packages right now sadly. Cause according to then EU they can't sell a game without a release date. I wonder why they're not selling it now though.

[@LunaMoon0]

@@Hav0k In fact, they can sell it now because they have a release date

[@Hav0k]

I didn't see it on the store still. So I'm not seeing it. But they will sell it separately. That i know

[@SkyhawksAu]

Except it'll take another decade.

[@Nelis1324]

To be honest, this game seems heavily mismanaged. They are still working on their world building tools. That should have been finished forever ago, so they can start using their tools to create some gameplay. I keep seeing lots of things about environment creation tools. But what about gameplay? Everybody is scorching Ubisoft about gameplay, but they have achieve far more than Star Citizen.

[@Paisa231]

About the gameplay shown, its both an introduction to the story but also an tutorial. But he did chose harfest difficulty.. was it a placeholder or intended.. But yeah, if this is the difficulty degree throughout the game. This need work, and is why SQ42 is 2y away. And it could go more, like release date announced in 2026 and released in 2027... We see, a bit early and little information to say anything avout that part.

[@mattvmalone]

He chose the easiest.

[@Hav0k]

The demo shows he chose the hardest difficulty. But I do think that it should be much harder than what was shown. Even if it's a tutorial.

[@mattvmalone]

@@Hav0k I literally watched him choose the easiest in the video they put up on the SC YT though, I know I'm not crazy lol

[@Hav0k]

@@mattvmalone kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3mQYatqrdBljs0si=SAiSSm_5AMWDfNRF @ 01:35 It looks to me, and I did a quick freeze frame and did FBI digital enhancement 🤣 and it looks to me like he chose Legatus. The hardest difficulty.

[@Hav0k]

Also kzbin.infom3eHBhHsrm4?si=cNiASZCOBZhfAm9q @ 07:35:45 Makes a comment about going rookie, then selects legatus.