PC Users Have Until May 27 to Play 2017 Open-World Sci-Fi Game Completely Free of Charge

Until May 27, PC gamers can download and play the largest open-world, persistent universe sci-fi game in the industry right now, trumping popular games like Starfield and Mass Effect in pure scale. However, once May 27 rolls around, these privileges will be revoked, so any PC gamer interested should be sure to check out the free play period for Star Citizen ASAP.

For those unfamiliar, Star Citizen is a multiplayer, space-trading, open-world sci-fi game developed by Cloud Imperium Games that has been in Early Access since 2017, with the aforementioned scale being the reason the game was announced in 2012 and has yet to be fully released. On top of that, Star Citizen has one of the largest budgets and is one of the most expensive games ever (for development). Current plans, as of late 2025, were to release its single-player spin-off (Squadron 42) in 2026 and to fully release Star Citizen in 2027 or 2028. Ahead of then, though, PC gamers can check it out at absolutely no cost.

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Play Star Citizen Completely Free

In celebration of DefenseCon 2956, which is an in-universe showcase hosted by ship and vehicle manufacturers, PC gamers can download and check out Star Citizen completely free of charge for a limited time. Alongside the tutorial and other available content, players will be able to enjoy DefenseCon, explore its halls, test out the latest ships of Star Citizen, and otherwise enjoy the game and spirit of the event without paying a single dime. It is available now, as of this writing, until May 27, and anyone who wants to extend their play time will have to purchase access to the game. Typically, free events are hosted alongside some sort of discount, but if that’s the case for this promotional period, that’s not made abundantly clear.

Balance the critic averages

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However, DefenseCon is for every star citizen—not just newcomers. There’s a referral bonus for existing players where, if someone has a friend join by May 27, they’ll get a Drake Dragonfly with Coalfire paint. The referee will also get a DefenseCon Gear Pack, with the veteran player making the referral receiving the bonus immediately upon new players pledging to a starter package. Newbies will only receive their bonuses once the promotion ends on May 27.

Necessary PC Specs to Play Star Citizen (According to Cloud Imperium Games)

Windows 10 – Anniversary Update (64bit)
DirectX 12 Graphics Card with 4GB VRAM
Quad Core CPU with AVX instructions (Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor and AMD’s Bulldozer processor or newer) and 16GB+ RAM
150+ GB SSD Required

GameRant Quiz

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While Star Citizen’s development and buy-in procedure (in or outside this promotional period) is a bit complex, it’s pretty simple at the heart of it. It is an absolutely massive open-world sandbox game where players can go wherever they want seamlessly, creating their own characters and living in the new universe in their own way, where players can be criminals, soldiers, merchants, or just another citizen among the stars.