Star Citizen is free this week, if you'd like to try it

Image of ten spaceships for Star Citizen's July 2024 free fly event
(Image credit: Roberts Space Industries)

The monumentally crowdfunded, mega-budgeted Star Citizen is once again having a free fly event, letting people try out the space sim for the grand price of nothing for one week. Until July 19 you can do all the free flyin you'd like, trying out one of 10 different spaceships in developer Cloud Imperium's sandbox.

This particular free week is an in-game-world event called the Foundation Festival, a sort of civic pride celebration for the star citizenry. Part of it is an enhanced experience for new players alongside a new guide system that connects veteran players with new ones. Those who participate in the guided sessions during the festival will get bonuses of armor and weapons.

If you're now wondering whether Star Citizen will actually run on your machine, well, let me point you at the technical requirements: But please recall that they're more guidelines than actual rules. It might say you're going to need just 16GB of RAM, but I doubt you'll enjoy yourself with less than 32GB.

Star Citizen is finally pushing for the 1.0 finish line, said director Chris Roberts earlier this year. Part of that is the release later this year of Pyro, thestar system of outlaws and smugglers that's going to focus on features like the industrial gameplay, vehicular combat, cargo hauling, and medical missions alongside the challenging Master Mode missions.

You can get started over on the Star Citizen fly free page by clicking that "Enlist" button. You can go over to the Foundation Festival 2024 page for more details on the freebies and experiences available.

Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.