Star Citizen: Here’s Our First In-Game Look at the Squadron 42 Story Mode

Star Citizen is shaping up to be a hugely ambitious effort in every way, and after years of development, the team is finally ready to throw back the curtain on what’s actually going on in this universe.

At CitizenCon 2015 this past weekend, “Squadron 42,” Star Citizen‘s singleplayer component, was teased with a cinematic trailer that featured none other than Gary Oldman.

I’m not very familiar with Star Citizen’s story, can you explain what’s going on?

There actually hasn’t been a ton of lore revealed for the game yet, so we’re all more or less on the same page. That being said, I’ll do my best to piece together what we know so far.

The trailer we just watched is set five days after the Battle of Vega II, at an emergency session of the UEE Senate. In the universe of Star Citizen, the UEE (or United Empire of Earth) is the governing body of the Milky Way galaxy in the 30th-century. Players participating in “Squadron 42” enlist in the UEE Navy, in order to earn their citizenship in the Empire.

Gary Oldman here is portraying Admiral Ernst Bishop, who is giving a rousing call to arms in the wake of the battle in the Vega System. After 200 years of conflict with the UEE, something called the Vanduul (possibly aliens?) has launched a massive invasion of that region of space, clashing with the Navy border fleet off of the planet Aremis. Following this attack, communications with the Vega System have been lost.

Admiral Bishop is pushing for a full-scale retaliation, and seems to have garnered the support of the Senate through his top-notch Gary Oldmanship. This seems to be where the player steps in, taking part in the UEE counterattack.

Aside from Oldman, who else has been cast?

Star Citizen’s Chris Roberts has been promising an incredible cast for “Squadron 42,” and it seems like he’s really delivered. Aside from Gary Oldman, the game will also feature the voices and likenesses of:

• Mark Hamil
• Mark Strong
• John Rhys-Davies
• Jack Huston
• Ben Mendelsohn
• Andy Serkis
• Harry Treadaway
• Liam Cunningham
• Rhona Mitra
• Ian Duncan
• Sophie Wu
• Gemma Whelan
• Craig Fairbrass
• Gillian Anderson

Wow, right?

And when will it be released?

“2016.” That’s unfortunately as specific as the developer is getting right now on a release date.

The story will reportedly be split over three parts, with the first offering about 20 hours of gameplay. That one has been tentatively scheduled for early 2016, with part two following later that year, and part three in 2017.

In the meantime, you can enjoy these two behind-the-scenes videos on the making of “Squadron 42.”