Squadron 42 Gets 2026 Release Window and New Gameplay Demo

At CitizenCon 2024, Cloud Imperium Games has shared a new hour-long gameplay demo of Squadron 42, the story based single player game set in Star Citizen’s universe. They also finally announced the release window: 2026. This gives credence to Henderson’s report, which mentioned the game only reached feature complete status recently, as opposed to the developer’s claim back in October 2023.

In the footage, we see various glimpses of the stellar cast hired by Cloud Imperium Games for Squadron 42. Here’s a reminder of who will be in the game:

• Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, Darkest Hour, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) – Admiral Ernst Bishop
• Mark Hamill (Star Wars) – Lt. Cdr. Steve ‘Old Man’ Colton
• Mark Strong (Zero Dark Thirty, Kingsman: Secret Service, 1917) – Captain Thomas Wade
• Sophie Wu (Kick-Ass) – Po Cara ‘Web’ Webster
• John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) – Randall Graves
• Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) – Captain Noah White
• Jack Huston (American Hustle) – Cal Mason
• Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: a Star Wars Story, Ready Player One) – Julian Wexler
• Rhona Mitra (Underworld, The Last Ship) – Executive Officer Kelly
• Henry Cavill (Superman, The Witcher, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) – Ryan Enright
• Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland, X-Files) – Captain MacLaren
• Sandi Roberts (The Perception) – Nayara ‘Pusher’ Fell (as Sandi Gardiner)
• Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes) – Thul’Oquray
• Ian Duncan (Julius Caesar) – The Player
• Stephen Bisland (Outlander, Chernobyl) – Eugene Morrow
• Arkie Reece (Dracula Untold) – Sigfried Behr
• Daniel Ings (Lovesick, The Crown, The Gentlemen) – Graham Yury
• Craig Fairbrass (One Piece) – Vat Tagaca
• Polly Eachus (Kingsglaive – Final Fantasy XV) – Evelyn Ishitaka
• Art Campion (Brooklyn) – Brian ‘Weezy’ Weiters (as Peter Campion)
• Gemma Whelan (Emma, Game of Thrones) – Becca Farneway
• Avin Shah (Everest) – Sergeant Grey
• Jason Wong (The Covenant, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) – Michael Shaw
• Cristina Dohmen (Kingsman: The Golden Circle) – News Anchor
• Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack the Giant Slayer, Poldark) – Saic Rebecca Trejo

The presentation wasn’t without issues between crashes and frame drops, making it clear why CIG still needs a couple of years before releasing Squadron 42. On the CitizenCon stage, Chris Roberts shared an estimate on the campaign’s length: between thirty and forty hours.

In the narrative, players will step into the shoes of a rookie pilot of the UEE (United Empire of Earth) who gets assigned to the Navy’s notorious 42nd Squadron. The plot begins in 2945, with the Vanduul raid on Vega II.