The endless alpha test period forStar Citizencontinues, the latest addition being a new collection of horror-themed areas.
Star Citizen alphaversion 4.3.0went live over the weekend, titledDark Territory, which gives players the new ASD Onyx facilities to explore, with a series of associated missions, a new weapon, and thenew L-21 Wolf spacecraft,among other changes and fixes.
The numerous Onyx facilities are scattered around the Stanton system, and arecreepy, abandoned underground complexes where players can carry out missionsto explore, brave hazardous environments, fight off whatever NPC enemies or other players are lurking inside, and retrieve data on the ongoing Regen Crisis in the game’s story.
The Endless Alpha Goes On
The story of the Dark Territory update will span multiple patches. The first two “wings” of the storyline are available now, with 4.3, while the third and final chapter will be added next month with 4.3.1.
It also adds a new set of armor, and a new weapon with the “Zenith” VOLT Laser Sniper rifle, which delivers powerful, automatically-charging shots with incredible precision.
The patch also brings a range of balance changes, primarily focused on the Light Fighter class, with the intent seemingly to make the different ships more varied in their handling and speed, as well as bug fixes and a handful of new hairstyles.
Star Citizen has recently passed the$850 million crowdfunding milestone, making it one of the highest-budget video games of all time.
However, despite its extended period of early access with no final release date in sight, the gamestill manages to impresswith its mechanics and tech (provided your hardware can handle it), even if it has more than its fair share ofbugs and other issues.
That being said, its developer, Cloud Imperium Games, has recently seenaccusations of heavy crunchin preparation for last year’s CitizenCon, which was then followed bya wave of layoffsand thedeparture of its Chief Sustainability Officer.
Cloud Imperium Games is also working on Star Citizen’s single-player offshoot Squadron 42, which is tentatively slated for release sometime in 2026.
Still, reactions to the new patch (viaMassivelyOP) seem to be generally positive, even if the volume of players in the new areas can have the consequences you’d expect from any PvP game.
