Finally, another Star Trek video game has beamed down. While we’re always busy with Star Trek Online, we’ve finally got a new narrative adventure game. Star Trek: Resurgence launches this week. It immerses players into the Star Trek universe with shuttle piloting, phaser fights, tricorder scanning, stealth, and more. However, how does the game hold up? Our Star Trek: Resurgence Review dives into the gameplay and story of this brand-new game.
This is a SPOILER-FREE Star Trek: Resurgence Review. Dramatic Labs developed Star Trek: Resurgence, a narrative adventure game featuring dialogue choices, relationship building, and exploration. The game excels at putting players into the Star Trek universe, very close to the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s storyline. Releasing on May 23rs, 2023, the game is available on PC via Epic Games, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S.
The Story of Star Trek: Resurgence
You expect the story to be good since Star Trek: Resurgence is a narrative adventure game. Thankfully, the storyline of Resurgence feels like it was taken straight out of the Star Trek universe. You will recognise some characters if you read the IDW Publishing prequel comic. That being said, you don’t need to read the comic to understand the game’s story. This is the best way to handle storylines like this. Additional media can expand upon the story, but reading is not required. Still, I recommend the comic.
As this is a spoiler-free review, I will only mention what has been publically shown off. For example, we know Spock plays a role in this game. He fits into the game as Ambassador Spock, and it goes as well as expected. Resurgence does a fantastic job of introducing the crew members of the U.S.S Resolute as well as both playable characters. You can play as the new First Officer, Jara Rydek, and Petty Officer, Carter Diaz.
The story of Resurgence is your typical Star Trek one. I think where part of this game excels is the story of the characters. While yes, we are blasting off and investigating the latest crisis, there is still time to chat about how we feel. It’s typical Star Trek at the end of the day. We learn more about the characters we are going to be playing with. For example, Captain Solano has a model train in his ready room. Picking it up as the playable character of Jara informs us that she was aware of the Captain’s interest in trains. Perfect, some fantastic character development in less than 30 seconds.
Star Trek lore fans will love this game, in all honesty. There are many references and easter eggs either hidden or in plain sight. As a big starship fan, arriving at the first Starbase was a joy to watch for a cinematic. Seeing ships like the Steamrunner-class flying by is amazing.
Star Trek Gameplay Is Always Hit Or Miss
Creating gameplay for a Star Trek game can always be hit or miss. Star Trek isn’t HALO or Call of Duty. Therefore, too much shooting isn’t needed. Thankfully, Star Trek: Resurgence expands the gameplay offerings of a traditional Trek game by offering multiple ways to play. One moment you are having casual and inspiring conversations. Next, you are replacing key components of a Starfleet shuttle. Resurgence does a fantastic job of showing you key Star Trek roles in new gameplay ways. You’re not just running around shooting things.
The game does an understandable amount of handholding at the beginning. I was initially concerned about this. However, eventually, the game lets you take the reigns a bit more freely. For example, you are guided on reinstalling a shuttlecraft component at the start of the game. I think where Star Trek: Resurgence stands out is immersing players in both sides of Starfleet. The command deck and the Lower Decks. This fits very well because we’ve recently had the Star Trek: Lower Decks show. Stepping onto the hull of our starship to see shuttles flying around and a nearby Excelsior-class starship is fantastic.
Of course, one of the core parts of Star Trek is exploring Strange New Worlds. While writing my Star Trek: Resurgence Review, I was playing the game and stopped and looked at the world around me. These locations had clearly been designed carefully as if the developers themselves beamed down and took a look.
Conversations Are Key
One element that this type of game excels within the Star Trek Universe is conversations. Tell Tale-type games were well known for allowing players to choose conversation options. Here with Resurgence, we find ourselves doing the same. Like Star Trek, our choices weigh on others and can determine certain responses. It’s fantastic for a Star Trek game to take this route. I’m sure we’ve all watched at least one Star Trek episode and thought we could have done or handled something differently.
Immediately upon having an important discussion between Rydek and Solano, you can see how your conversation topics will reflect how the game goes. The Captain appears to be hiding something. Therefore, as the player, you can be polite or challenge the captain. These sorts of conversations are something we’ve seen in Star Trek before. We all remember the likes of Riker occasionally challenging Jean-Luc Picard.
Graphics Lost In Transmission
I’ve got to be critical of the graphics, both from a general visual point of view and a technical one. Playing this game on PC appears it has been ported from console to computer. For example, some common graphic options in 2023 are missing from the game. On the build I played while writing this Star Trek: Resurgence Review, there was no 4k screen resolution option. The game’s frame rate appeared to drop when complex scenes were loaded or you attempted to change settings. The maximum resolution on the PC was 2048 x 1536.
Overall, this is not a big-budget game. There is nothing wrong with that. I don’t think we’ll ever get a big-budget game like EA and Respawn’s Star Wars: JEDI Survivor. However, some of the graphics do feel slightly lost. For example, walking around the U.S.S Reslute is great as you’re thrown back into Star Trek: The Next Generation. But, with that being said, you do notice clipping and issues with loading the textures of the ship in multiple instances. Additionally, characters stand out a bit too much from the background.
I will admit fiddling with the graphics did produce some better results. For example, loading into the game and reloading a few times seemed to have caused less graphic clipping on the decks of the Resolute. However, some characters still stood out a little too much. But with that being said, Star Trek: Resurgence has captured the much-loved graphic style of Star Trek, especially for this era of the Star Trek universe. For example, the graphics of tools and deck schematics are all like those taken from the Trek series and movies.
The Star Trek Game We Needed
With the rise of modern Star Trek, video games have been expected. While I still wait for a proper Mass Effect-style game, Star Trek: Resurgence also scratches the need for proper Star Trek games. However, that is not to say that long-standing games like Star Trek Online are not what we have been wanting. Rather put, a game like Star Trek: Resurgence allows Trekkies to immerse themselves into the Star Trek universe properly. As mentioned, the gameplay options are really what excels with this game.
Having meaningful conversations, discussing the finer points of life and spacewalking on the hull of your spaceship. This is fantastic and really throws you right into the Star Trek universe without holding back. While yes, I have my gripes about the technical issues, the game is hands down a proper Star Trek game worth playing. If you want to jump into a brand new Star Trek storyline, you will want to pick up this game. Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore more of Star Trek: Resurgence. Catch our dedicated breakdown of the U.S.S Resolute’s starship class very soon.
Releasing on May 23rd, 2023, the game is available on PC via Epic Games, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S.
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