New trailer for SQUADRON 42 released

Roberts Space Industries have dropped a new trailer for Squadron 42, a new space combat game from the creators of the Wing Commander franchise.

Squadron 42 is one of two related games the company is developing, the other being Star Citizen, a massive multiplayer online space trading, exploration and combat game. Squadron 42 is a single-player focused version of the game using the same tech, with an in-depth, long story and a greater focus on narrative and characters. The story focuses on the United Empire of Earth and its attempts to retain control of a star system against the encroaching threat of hostile aliens and pirates.

As well as space combat, the game will feature sequences where you leave your spacecraft and engage in zero-gee combat, as well as first-person fighting on space stations and on planetary surfaces. The game will tell its story through elaborate cut scenes featuring motion-captured acting performances from some very big names: Gillian Anderson, Gary Oldman, Andy Serkis, Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davis, Liam Cunningham, Henry Cavill and Mark Strong, among others. Hamill and Rhys-Davis previously worked with the same team on the Wing Commander and Freelancer games.

Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are crowdfunded projects. Over 2,100,000 backers have pledged more than $195 million to the development of the two games. Work on the games began in 2011, with the initial crowdfunding taking place in 2012. The lengthy development of the two games has attracted criticism; Star Citizen won WIRED magazine's "Vaporware" award in 2016 and some backers have sought refunds. However, the developers have continued to release sections of the game for early play and bug-testing to backers, and have released several lengthy gameplay videos showing what the game looks like in motion.

No release date is set for the first part of Squadron 42 (the game will be released in several episodes), but a firm release roadmap will apparently be announced in the near future. Star Citizen will follow some time afterwards.