It’s strange. Videogames are supposed to be possibility spaces, boundless, consequence-free toy box worlds where you can become someone, or something, fantastical. And yet I’m a sucker for painstaking simulation – one of the best game experiences I’ve ever had is Snowrunner, and the slow-motion drama of driving several hundred pounds of building supplies up a hill. Star Citizen, especially when it’s finished, is meant to be a space game of immeasurable scale. But the new 3.24 update, Cargo Empires, brings a wonderful, tactile kind of realism, a sense of normality that makes everything else pop even louder. Also inheriting one of the best-loved features of Starfield and Skyrim, as we wait for Star Citizen 4.0, this is a seriously worthy update.
Star Citizen 4.0 is going to be the big one, since it introduces the new adjoining system, Pyro, as well as jump points, a fresh method of traveling between galaxies that sounds more than a little frightening. In the meantime, however, 3.24 brings two extremely valuable new updates to the space game, nudging it closer to the completed vision that Cloud Imperium has been working on for more than 12 years. Let’s start with the crates – the wonderful, intensely important crates.
As you may have discerned from the title, Cargo Empires is all about transit, haulage, and making a crust as a space trucker. Cloud Imperium refers to the new systems in this update as ‘cargo 2.0;’ essentially, if you’ve ever whiled away the hours on Truck Simulator, Mudrunner, or the like, you can now roleplay as a long-distance delivery driver, but in space. Cargo Empires revolutionizes hauling contracts and delivery missions.
First of all, you now have a freight elevator so you can transfer items from your warehouse to the hangar – complementing that, hangars have new ship elevators, so you can enjoy that satisfying sci-fi moment when you push a button and your vehicle is slowly lifted from under the floor into full view. There are missions that include multiple stops and deliveries, and you can also load all of your cargo automatically, or, if you want the full simulation experience, do it manually.
I can’t entirely explain (and I’m not sure I even know, or want to know) why I like this idea so much, but it’s something to do with realism and tactility – there’s something zen about simulation games, and performing these recreated versions of everyday tasks. On top of that, if you can manually load all your cargo with suitable efficiency, it can be quicker than the automated process, resulting in shorter stops, faster cash, and more lucrative contracts.
But the biggest addition in Star Citizen 3.24 is to hangars. Like your house in Solitude or your bunker in the Appalachian Wasteland, you can now decorate and personalize your hangars to your heart’s content. It’s not just cosmetic, either – you can use them to store weapons and armor, and invite pals to come and marvel at your intergalactic interior design.
The Sabre Peregrine racing ship is now available to buy and fly, and there’s a new global event called Blockade Runner. Here, a freight station is under attack from pirates who are rapidly making off with the goods. You need to track them down, recover the stolen swag, and then navigate back through the blockade surrounding the station, which requires cooperation between players in both combat and non-combat roles. Star Citizen 3.24 is available right now.
Try some of the other best open-world games, or maybe get the best sandbox games ever made.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.