Squadron 42: “The Oath” trailer and Steam wishlist now open (October 11, 2026)

In an email sent to its subscribers, titled “Squadron 42: Join Now and Fight for Humanity's Future”, CIG announces the release of the “The Oath” trailer and invites players to add Squadron 42 to their Steam wishlist. The message reuses the game's tagline (“The year is 2945... enlist as a rookie in the UEE Navy”). It contains no additional technical details and no release date.

What is official: the trailer and the wishlist

Two elements are established. The “The Oath” trailer is published, and it is shared on Reddit under the title Squadron 42 | Official Wishlist Trailer | The Oath. The wishlist is open on Steam, as confirmed by several players who checked the page, as in this thread Squadron 42 is officially coming to Steam.

According to these same players, the page currently lists only one edition, “Standard”. CIG has not said whether other editions will follow. A dedicated Squadron 42 YouTube channel has also reportedly appeared, according to commenters on Reddit.

What the trailer shows

The community has gone through the trailer frame by frame. Three elements stand out from these observations, which are not details provided by CIG:

• a hacking interface, presented as the first official look at this system;
• a missile targeting interface, discussed on Spectrum in the thread Missile UI in SQ42 looks great;
• ship speed units that reportedly changed from m/s to km/h, a point debated in this Spectrum thread.

A character named David Gill is also said to pay tribute to David “Bone” Gill, a former community member who has died, according to a Reddit thread.

What is not official

Several pieces of information are circulating around the announcement without CIG having confirmed them.

VR support. Images shared on Reddit show Chief Content Officer Sandi Roberts playing Squadron 42 with a headset on, using Steam VR. The creator Enderprize, for his part, claims the game supports VR. CIG has not detailed anything on this subject.

RSI login page. A datamine has revealed a new sign-up and login page on the RSI website. It is reportedly linked to the Steam launch and to managing the connection between RSI accounts and Steam accounts. CIG has not commented.

Release window. A community thread still points to Q2 2027. CIG has not communicated a date or window in the email.

Context

The announcement comes the day after Squadron 42's first external playtest, held on October 9 at CIG's offices in Manchester. Invited creators and players played for about five hours. Their unofficial feedback praised the visuals and combat. One of them, Hugo Lisoir, felt the game would “certainly not be ready for November”.

What we still don't know

The most visible question is dubbing. A Spectrum thread, SQ42 Will be English only ?, has accumulated 63 replies, and others are asking for Spanish or German versions. According to these exchanges, the game would only have English dubbing. CIG has given no official answer during the observed period.

Several questions remain open:

• Will the game be offered in several editions on Steam?
• How will copies already owned by backers be recognized on Steam? The thread SQ42 on Steam, what happens with backer copies? raises the question.
• Is VR support planned at launch?
• What exactly will the new RSI login page be used for?
• What is the actual release date?

The next signal to watch is an official communication from CIG, via Comm-Link, Spectrum or a new email, on these points, as well as any change to the Steam page.