Squadron 42

For the UEE squadron unit, see 42nd Squadron.

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Quick facts:

Squadron 42

Squadron 42

Developer

Cloud Imperium Games / Foundry 42

Publisher

Roberts Space Industries

Genre

Single player campaign with First Person Universe, some missions replayable in co-op

Platforms

Microsoft Windows

Engine

Star Engine (Heavily modified Amazon Lumberyard)

Release date

planned but not guaranteed for 2026

Squadron 42 is a crowdfunded single player space video game developed by Cloud Imperium Games and developed in parallel to the Star Citizen MMO. Some missions will be replayable in co-op. It is described as a cinematic narrative experience. It is planned to release in 2026 but not 100% guaranteed.

Story

This page or section contain spoilers for Star Citizen or Squadron 42.

This page or section may contain major plot details about Squadron 42 and Star Citizen storyline.

Taking place in the Star Citizen universe, the story begins during the Events of Vega II in 2945. The player is a rookie pilot joining and flying with the UEE Navy's celebrated 42nd Squadron. At some point the player will serve on board the UEES Stanton which is assigned to the 5th Fleet, 87th Battlegroup in the Odin system.

The player is thrown into a hazardous campaign to combat a sinister pirate threat, battling on the front lines of an interstellar conflict between some of the most dangerous factions in the universe.

Playing as a character in the army who doesn't choose what he does but does what he is told to is good for storytelling, for a story with a beginning and an end. It will nevertheless have branching storylines.

Gameplay

The players will interact with fellow crewmen in-between missions and visit the hangar where they can upgrade their assigned ships. During missions, they will be able to decide how to engage enemies and personalize their experience by making critical decisions that can affect the entire campaign.

Features

"Take the role of a rookie UEE Navy combat pilot in a cinematic single-player epic adventure set in the Star Citizen universe.

• Battle in the stars and face-to-face as you seamlessly transition between dogfighting and ground combat.
• Serve aboard a massive Navy capital ship as your custom character interacts and builds relationships with a living, breathing crew.
• Cutting-edge performance capture brings unprecedented emotion and life to some of your favorite actors.
• Powered by CryEngine, Squadron 42 pushes gaming graphics and fidelity to the next level."
  Squadron 42

• Squadron 42 will have "have some level of difficulty setting".
• Squadron 42 will have first-person shooter elements.
• Character customization.
• Squadron 42 will have planetary landings and possibly procedural generated planets.
• Actions you take can and will affect you when you finally join the PU.

Co-op

Squadron 42 was announced with Drop in / Drop out co-op play during the original Kickstarter. However instead of having a whole co-operative campaign, specific story missions will become playable in co-op after having been completed solo.

Cast

For the full cast, see Squadron 42/Cast.

The cast of Squadron 42 includes a strong lineup of A-list actors and actresses including:

• Gary Oldman as Admiral Ernst Bishop
• Mark Hamill as Lieutenant Commander Steve "Old Man" Colton
• Mark Strong as Captain Thomas Wade
• John Rhys-Davies as Randall Graves
• Liam Cunningham as Captain Noah White
• Gillian Anderson as Captain Rachel MacLaren
• Andy Serkis as Thul'Oqquray
• Jack Huston as Cal Mason
• Sophie Wu as Cara "Web" Webster
• Ben Mendelsohn as Julian Wexler
• Ian Duncan as the Player character
• Henry Cavill as Ryan Enright

Development

Squadron 42 poster concept by Rob McKinnon (No, it's not fan made)

SQ42 was announced 13 years ago on October 10th 2012 together with Star Citizen and the launch of a crowdfunding campaign.

The original concept called for missions set inside the Star Citizen game that would allow new players to get their feet wet, learn how to fly, and earn some credits so that they would be properly prepared by the time they entered the multiplayer universe. Depending on how well a player completed this narrative-driven introductory element, they would be released into the Star Citizen universe as a civilian with commensurate skills and resources in the form of in-game connections and reputation, credits, and whatever ship(s) they pledged for, etc. However, with the massive growth and community encouragement to expand the project from its relatively humble beginnings, CIG decided to spin off the module into a much more significant and larger standalone single-player game, complete with extensive performance capture of a starcast, face rigs, and so forth.

After the implementation of more stretch goals (the last stretch goal was achieved 2014-11-10) the release date was subsequently postponed. In several interviews, Roberts revealed parts of the story.

After CitizenCon in 2015, a new homepage "Answer the Call" showed the date 2016, including an 'Opening Cinematic' speech of Admiral Bishop. In July 2016 Zyloh said he had played throught every Squadron 42 mission. At CitizenCon 2016 Roberts confirmed a delay of the game. By that time, the game's scope had grown to 28 chapters, equivalent to 60+ missions.

Answer the Call

Since then, CIG has provided lore very sparsely and avoided giving any fixed release dates. Reporting about the state of the game continues via the Roadmap, Newsletter and Monthly Reports. For Christmas 2017 CIG released the one-hour-long Vertical Slice Demo, part of an Around the Verse Special. Short visual teasers were presented in 2018 and for Christmas 2019, including known locations from the Vertical Slice. In 2020, CIG started a YouTube series called 'The Briefing Room', which discussed aspects of Squadron 42, but wasn't continued after one episode. In a Letter from the Chairman, Roberts reiterated that 'it is too early to discuss release or finish dates on Squadron 42 and stated 'I am not willing to compromise the development of a game I believe in with all my heart and soul, and I feel it would be a huge disservice to all the team members that have poured so much love and hard work into Squadron 42 if we rushed it out or cut corners to put it in the hands of everyone who is clamoring for it.' Roberts discusssed in a live panel on CitizenCon 2022 that co-developement with the Persistent Universe and Squadron 42 continued, without giving any details. In the same week, a 9-minute-long video allegedly from Squadron 42 appeared on YouTube, including shots from a battle between UEE and Vanduul ships, figures from SQ 42, spaceship interiors, and some (known) locations.

it was sold together with Star Citizen until the game "pledge packages" were split on 2016-02-14.

2026 Release date

Main article: Release date

Squadron 42 was announced as feature complete at CitizenCon on October 22, 2023. During CitizenCon 2024, the release date was announced to be 2026. The CIG financials for the year ended 2024 name Squadron 42 as the "nearest term priority, with a targeted release in 2026, followed by the 1.0 multiplayer version of Star Citizen thereafter." The December 2025 newsletter maintains the 2026 release date. In May 2026 Chris Roberts said that the plan is for the end of 2026 but he can't 100% guarantee it, citing "a certain thing in the industry that we, like everyone else, we have to pay attention to", understood by most as referring to the release of Grand Theft Auto VI in November. The June 2026 SQ42 newsletter maintained the 2026 release date.

Potential Sequels

The Squadron 42 Mission Disk is Episode Two.

Squadron 42 was originally planned to be followed by two episodes. Each episode will be the equivalent of a large AAA game campaign.

• Squadron 42 Episode Two is entitled Behind Enemy Lines, it was to be made available for free upon release to original and veteran backers who pledged before the $6 million mark but was extended to be made available to everyone who pledged before July 6, 2013. It is the Squadron 42 Mission Disk.
• Squadron 42 Episode Three will have to be bought separately.

Squadron 42 Soundtrack

Main article: Music

Squadron 42's soundtrack, composed by Geoff Zanelli, is not yet available, however some tracks have been publicly shared.

Named Tracks by Geoff Zanelli

• Bishop Speech
• Cutlass Tango
• Old Man Teaser

Platforms

Squadron 42 will be available for Windows, and Linux support is expected since it is planned for Star Citizen.

Quotes

• "Squadron 42 [...] is like the ultimate version of how i would do Wing Commander." -Chris Roberts
• "You’re the star of this huge blockbuster event movie, and it seamlessly goes between the storytelling and the cinematic moments to you being in control and first person" -Chris Roberts

Trivia

• The name is a nod to the working title for Wing Commander.
• Mark Hamill will be on the poster.
• The Squadron 42 story was loosely sketched out during the Kickstarter, and didn't finalize until 6 months after.
• The shoot at The Imaginarium took place from April to mid July 2024.

See also

• Squadron 42 CitizenCon 2954 Live Gameplay Reveal
• Squadron 42: I Held The Line
• Squadron42 - Answer the Call
• Squadron 42 on Wikipedia
• Squadron 42 on IMDb
• Squadron 42 Monthly Report: September 2018