Here's the Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 gameplay trailer

Star Citizen
YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Cloud Imperium Games rolled out the Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 gameplay trailer during The Game Awards last night, and it certainly looks impressive by just about any reasonable measure. It's got spaceflight, it's got first-person shooting, it's got EVA—that's extravehicular activity, which is a fancy way of saying spacewalking—and, at the very end, it promises that "the first-person universe is just getting started," and invites one and all to try the new alpha release now. Like, right now.

That promissory bit of text at the very end of the video has resulted in a certain amount of confusion and, yes, anger among backers, because Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 is actually not playable at the moment unless you happen to be one of the 110,000 Citizens who have access to it on the public test server. Developer Ben Lesnick explained the mistake on the Roberts Space Industries forums, where he said that the studio had to give the trailer to the Game Awards people "a while ago" to get in on the show, and that at the time, the new Alpha release was expected to be open to the public today.

"Unfortunately, as folks testing and observing know, we were hit with a slowdown bug that seemed to come out of nowhere. (For those not following the testing chatter, that’s why you haven’t see a PTU build in the last two days.)," he wrote. "Knowing what we do now, we would have liked to have changed the exact wording on the trailer. Unfortunately, it was locked in well before the event."

The plan is to get it live for everyone as soon as that slowdown bug has been fixed, but for now the game is not actually available outside the test environment. The responses on the RSI forums seem understanding enough for the most part, but there's a little less patience on display on Reddit, although the upset is alleviated somewhat by the fact that the delay will (or at least should) be relatively brief. We'll keep our eyes on things and let you know when the doors swing open.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Sim
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Latest in News
Two brightly colored stormtroopers dressed like Run-DMC stand in front of PAX Australia's WELCOME HOME banner.
Tickets for PAX Australia 2025 are on sale now
An Enshrouded player in a recreation of Erebor from The Lord of the Rings
Kings under the Mountain! 33 Enshrouded players spent 10,000 hours to recreate this iconic location from The Lord of the Rings
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again