In the August 4th, 2025 Star Citizen weekend review, Salty Mike covers the release of patch 4.3 to the Open PTU, highlighting new Onyx facility missions, dynamic snow effects, and improved ladder mechanics, while noting ongoing issues like broken freight elevators and server instability. The update focuses on cooperative, story-driven gameplay and stability improvements, with community news including a new Krueger ship reveal and discussions on game balance and future content plans.
In this Star Citizen weekend review for August 4th, 2025, Salty Mike highlights the major release of patch 4.3 to the Open PTU, straight from Evocati, marking a significant milestone for the game. Despite this progress, issues persist with the 4.2.1 freight elevators, which remain broken and continue to hinder mission completion. The patch 4.3 introduces new content centered around Onyx facilities, featuring a new mission giver and investigative missions that delve into the game’s lore, particularly focusing on a shady scientist involved in controversial experiments. These missions are cooperative and story-driven, emphasizing exploration and uncovering narrative elements rather than combat or loot.
The new Onyx locations are designed as bunkers with multiple wings and offer a variety of mission types, though the gameplay currently feels simplistic and somewhat repetitive. Notably, the patch includes the introduction of dynamic snow effects, which are still in early stages and lack immersion, as well as significant improvements to ladder mechanics—long overdue enhancements that improve player movement. Puzzle elements teased in the patch are currently non-functional but hint at more complex gameplay to come in future updates, specifically 4.3.1.
The roadmap update for 4.3 mainly consists of visual enhancements and reiterations of previously announced content, such as new hairstyles and ship skins. The cooperative zones, originally a major focus, have been temporarily removed from the roadmap due to functionality issues, replaced by the Onyx facility missions. The developers have distributed 120 Onyx locations across the game world to reduce player conflict, making PvP encounters in these zones rare and dependent on several factors aligning. Overall, the patch aims to provide stability and bug fixes alongside the new content.
Additional community news includes a delayed ship sneak peek revealing a new Krueger ship, likely a racing vessel, and the start of a community-driven ship showdown event where players vote for their favorite ships to receive skins. Developer posts address player concerns about nameplates in Arena Commander, indicating ongoing work to improve target identification, and discussions about the availability of popular ships in-game, particularly regarding the balance between grind and accessibility. The progress tracker is also set for an update, though its relevance and usefulness remain debated among players.
Salty Mike closes by noting the slow pace of official updates throughout the week and the challenges faced with server stability and client crashes in the new PTU. He encourages viewers to check out the sponsor Boot.dev for coding lessons and invites the community to share their thoughts on the discussed topics. Despite the current issues, there is cautious optimism that the 4.3 PTU will lead to a more stable and enjoyable release, with hopes for continued improvements in the coming weeks.