Star Trek: Resurgence

[Techwright]

I just tried out the free demo of Star Trek: Resurgence on Steam and have added it to my wish list for when the game budget can next afford a purchase.

 

New-ish company Dramatic Labs last year released this game on several platforms, and perhaps several of you have already played it.  Let me know what you thought, spoiler free, of course.

 

But they just released it May 23 on Steam, which is what I use.  It's a "choose your own adventure" type game: part game with action sequences, part interactive holo-novel, if you will.  I've actually not played one of these before, so the experience was, well, novel.  I am a big fan of what I'd call "old-school" Trek: everything through the end of Star Trek: Enterprise.  I know little about the recent Trek series on Paramount's streaming service.  Fortunately, this story is set in the days not long after the last Next Generation movie.  Much more specifically, the demo, the opening of this story, shows it is set immediately before:

Spoiler

...the events of the 2009 movie Star Trek, as the demo shows the early signs of the Prime Universe event that will destroy the Romulan Empire and fling Prime Universe Spock into the alternate timeline as played out in the 2009 movie.

 

Observations:

• While not cutting edge visuals, the look is good and not debilitating to the experience.  I've already seen a few moments where the designers thoughtfully gave us viewpoints rarely seen in Trek (at least what I've seen, that is) including a viewing window perspective in a star base that shows just how massive even one of the smaller fleet ships actually is, and an engineering walk on the bottom side of the hull that has that ability to mess with your mind as to the orientation of "up". 
• Voice acting is good, and I recognized several actors including Bumper Robinson.  Clicking on credits also revealed that Jonathan Frakes (aka "Riker") is in the voice actors list as well.  Most impressively, though not in the demo, is Piotr Michael, who does a dead-on voice match of a major Trek character.
• Character development, at least early on, feels right.  It felt like I was watching, or rather interacting with, an episode of Deep Space 9 or The Next Generation, just with a different crew, and they each had distinct personalities, which can improve or degrade based on your choices as you interact with each. 
• Walking is a bit slow.  I guess it does allow you to enjoy the environment, and there is a way to run at times, though not always.  It's not a deal breaker at all, just a minor inconvenience.
• My one big concern is control selection.  It felt like I was constantly learning how to control things.  Many situations had entirely new methods of control.  At one point, for example, I was instructed to rotate my mouse to unscrew/unlock a mechanism, while moments later when putting a replacement in place, I was instructed to tap "D" and hold down my left mouse button to trigger the act of screwing in the replacement.  Some control choices pop up on screen mere moments before a lethal event, so you're scrambling to figure out the technique.  Perhaps this was meant to engage stress in the player in a way to simulate the quick-decision stress of the character, though I've seen nothing to confirm that so far.   It's also a demo, so it's entirely possible that at some point in the full game, these control choices iron out into a consistent pattern that the player can anticipate in rapid-timing situations.  Again, it is an annoyance, not a deal breaker, and I still intend to get the game.
• Despite being an interactive novel, of sorts, I believe the game is replayable, not only for those action moments of dodge and shoot, but also because the player choices shape the story and each selection moment offers 3 choices.  I imagine this probably creates several new paths.

 

 

[Lunar Ronin]

I played through it three times on the PlayStation 5 over the past year, and bought it on Steam the day it released there.  It's a fun game, and it actually felt like Star Trek, unlike anything on Paramount+.

 

Note that if you play it on PC, make sure to get and use this.

[Techwright]

12 hours ago, Lunar Ronin said:

 it actually felt like Star Trek, unlike anything on Paramount+.

 

That's what I seek.  Sounds like you enjoyed it, and I appreciate the link.

[Excraft]

On 5/27/2024 at 12:21 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

It's a fun game, and it actually felt like Star Trek, unlike anything on Paramount+.

 

The bar is so low now with "official" Star Trek content that there's nowhere to go but up.  I might give this game a try.  I still play STO regularly, although admittedly not as much as I used to.  Not sure I'd enjoy playing someone else other than a character of my own creation though.

[EmmettHarrell]

On 5/27/2024 at 9:51 PM, Lunar Ronin said:

I played through it three times on the PlayStation 5 over the past year, and bought it on Steam the day it released there.  It's a fun game, and it actually felt like Star Trek, unlike anything on Paramount+.

 

Note that if you play it on PC, make sure to get and use this.

Thanks for the link, I will try it.

[Glacier Peak]

I am automatically turned off from any movie or TV show that has the word 'Resurgence' in it. It's an awful word that has no creativity and adds nothing to the title. Looking at you, Independence Day: Resurgence

[Triumphant]

54 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

I am automatically turned off from any movie or TV show that has the word 'Resurgence' in it. It's an awful word that has no creativity and adds nothing to the title. Looking at you, Independence Day: Resurgence

Kind of agree, honestly.  They might as well call it *GENERIC MOVIE*: Rehashing.