Test-drive Star Citizen's ships in a free trial event this week
Fly before you buy
It is time, once again, to take a wee trip into outer space. From Friday, May 22nd 'til June 1st, interstellar sandbox and crowdfunding purgatory Star Citizen is doing another free fly week - letting you get behind the controls of Star Citizen's roster of big expensive computer spaceships as part of the in-universe Invictus Launch Week festival.
Is it really a hard sci-fi space sim if you're not cheering on the imperial might of an anthropocentric star empire? It's Invictus Launch week in Star Citizen next Friday, which means it's time for airshows, massive parties, and free access to a selection from Star Citizen's big space garage.
As outlined in the Invictus Launch Week guide, the free fly event will let you try out a range of ships, with different models and manufacturers rotating in and out every few days. Somewhat hilariously, there's also a hologram room for ships too large or too not-quite-finished to make it into the show. The pricetag on some of these ships can get pretty terrifying - even if you've bought in, this might be a good shot at trying some of the wilder ships without taking on another job.
I am, unironically, in love with the casual affectation used to guide you to the event in the first place. Oh, the free fly event? Down the stairs, head past reception, and make your way to the transit station. Just follow the signs for the Bevic Convention Center - if you've fallen through the world geometry, you've gone too far. If you do get lost, at least ArcCorp seems a decent enough space metropolis to potter about it. It's no Bernband (as Alice O assured in SC's last free fly event), but it'll do fine enough. We cannot all be Bernband, after all.
They won't let you fly without an account, obvs, so if you're up for giving Star Citizen a bash you'll need to create an account on the Roberts Space Industries site. Think of it as getting a passport, but for space.