Star Citizen's latest 'free fly' event will let you try every ship in the game
The free trial period will begin on November 24, the day after CitizenCon.
Star Citizen, the ambitious multiplayer interstellar flight sim that exists in a state of semi-sort-of-but-not-really released and may well stay like that forever, is holding another "free flight" session for curious but not yet committed space jockeys. From November 24 to December 5, the doors will be open for anyone who feels the urge to jump into a ship and go zooming around the galaxy.
This freebie will give players access to all the ships in the game on a rolling schedule, with different "manufacturers" being available on each day: Anvil Aerospace on November 24, Roberts Space Industries on November 25, and so forth. The fleets will change—the schedule is here, if you're really only interested in one or two particular brands of starship—but they'll all be flyable across the full game and in all mission types.
Cloud Imperium has also opened the doors to a new Star Citizen "Welcome Hub" aimed at helping new players ease into the game. The hub offers tips, tutorials, and videos, and will also connect newcomers with veteran players who have volunteered to show them around. The studio said that greenies and vets will often hook up outside the game, on Reddit or Spectrum, and the hub will serve to "formalize" that process within the game.
The free-fly period will get underway the day after this year's CitizenCon, "a full day of presentations, panels, and opportunities to mingle with the Star Citizen development team," which takes place on November 23 in Manchester. If you're not going to be in the UK tomorrow, you can catch it via livestream on Twitch instead.
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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.