In the livestream, the host critiques various space and sci-fi games, focusing on Star Citizen’s poor performance, numerous bugs, and lack of optimization following the 4.2 update, while highlighting frustrations with its gameplay and technical issues. They also advocate for the “Stop Killing Games” initiative, emphasizing the importance of game preservation and urging support for end-of-life plans to protect players’ access to live service games like Star Citizen.
In this livestream, the host begins by discussing various space and sci-fi games, including Star Citizen, No Man’s Sky, Wildgate, and Elite Dangerous, sharing personal impressions and critiques. They highlight No Man’s Sky’s enjoyable gameplay despite its dated physics and technical limitations, and comment on Wildgate’s polished visuals but shallow, disposable PvP gameplay. The discussion also touches on crowdfunding in gaming, noting that while Star Citizen did not kill Kickstarter, other games like Mighty Number Nine contributed to skepticism about crowdfunding projects.
The main focus shifts to Star Citizen, where the host expresses frustration with the game’s performance, especially after the 4.2 update. They describe significant stuttering, crashes, and bugs, including issues with the Vulkan graphics API version that fails to launch properly. Despite attempts to optimize settings and disable certain graphical features like temporal super resolution (TSR) to gain performance boosts, the game remains unstable and poorly optimized. The host also critiques the game’s generic soundtrack and the unimpressive graphical effects such as dithering on hair textures.
Gameplay-wise, the stream showcases the host engaging in missions involving hunting creatures on the planet MicroTech, but they encounter numerous bugs like teleporting NPCs, poor AI, and problematic scanning mechanics. The host humorously resorts to using their ship as a weapon to “squish” creatures due to the game’s many glitches and desync issues. They also critique the game’s user interface and route planning, which remains cumbersome and unintuitive, and lament the lack of meaningful progress in exploration mechanics.
A significant portion of the stream is dedicated to the discussion of the “Stop Killing Games” initiative, which advocates for game preservation and demands that live service games like Star Citizen have end-of-life plans to ensure players retain access to their purchases even if servers shut down. The host emphasizes the cultural importance of preserving games, especially those like Star Citizen that require constant online connections and currently offer no clear plan for continued access after support ends. They urge viewers, especially European and UK residents, to support the petition to protect game preservation rights.
Towards the end, the host reflects on the overall disappointing state of Star Citizen, describing the 4.2 update as one of the worst in years due to persistent bugs, server issues, and lack of quality control despite the massive budget. They express skepticism about the game’s future and criticize Frontier Developments’ handling of Elite Dangerous, contrasting it with smaller indie games like Void Crew and Jump Ship, which they find more enjoyable despite imperfections. The stream concludes with a promise to continue following these games and provide updates, while cautioning viewers against investing in Star Citizen at its current state.