The fan-made, Freespace-powered Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn is in the air.
After ten years of work, Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn, the fan-made addition to the most famed space combat franchise of all time, is finally ready to go. The project is powered by the mighty Freespace 2 engine but is a fully stand-alone game with two campaigns, 55 missions, new voice actors, cutscenes, ship types and more. Best of all, it’s [as far as I can tell] free!
The launch trailer is a lot like the one we saw last week and admittedly drags on a bit, but the gameplay bits between the overlong and overdramatic exposition look pretty fantastic. And it’s more Wing Commander! The new game is set immediately prior to and during the events of Wing Commander 3 but this time around players will slip into the flight suit of a rookie pilot called “Sandman,” struggling to stave off defeat at the hands of the Kilrathi.
“If Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn is your introduction to the Wing Commander universe, you owe it to yourself to try the source material that inspired us,” project leader Anton “Tolwyn” Romanyuk wrote. “Several of the original Wing Commander games are available at GOG.com, so make sure to show your support for the actual creators of Wing Commander by going and purchasing some copies! You won’t regret it.”
I haven’t had the opportunity to take this beast for a ride yet but you better believe I’m looking forward to it. The bad news is that The Darkest Dawn is a 3.32GB download and the site at wcsaga.com is currently being hammered, but the team has posted a list of download mirrors at wcnews.com.
