While Star Citizen is often more renowned for funding models and colossal sums of money being exchanged for spaceships than galactic adventures, it does frequently run events where you can try it out for free. One of those events just started, meaning you can download and play the game and even try out many in-game ships – all without paying.
The Invictus Launch Week is an annual event that ties together in-game activities with making Star Citizen free for a while. The ambitious space game is notoriously difficult to know where to begin, so a moment to check it out without putting any money down is certainly something that’s appreciated. That is, if your computer is beefy enough to handle it.
During this event, not only will you be able to download and log in without paying, you’ll also be able to test fly 87 ships throughout the week. By heading to planet ArcCorp and the Area18 commercial port, players will be able to check out a series of daily events that will let them get their hands on various spaceships, albeit temporarily. Developer Cloud Imperium Games promises that all military ships will be available for test flights at the start, with all ships becoming available by the end of the event.
In addition to trying out some ships, there will also be some more spectacular happenings. Planetary fly-bys from flagships will take place, letting players take a peek at some of the larger spaceships in the game. There’ll also be a chance to take a tour of the colossal Idris-M frigate, encouraging players to clamber all over the insides of this big bomber.
In-universe the Invictus Launch Week is a celebration of the United Empire of Earth’s armed forces, marking the start of their annual recruitment drive. It’s fitting then that the game becomes free at the same time, acting as a recruiting tool for Star Citizen as a whole.
Star Citizen is free to play between Friday, May 17 and Wednesday, May 29. If you’d like to learn more about the Invictus Launch Week, you can head over to the official site to get more information.
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