Star Trek: Resurgence Preview – Star Trek: Resurgence Preview – A Deciding Factor

Star Trek: Resurrection allows players to lead a new crew in places no one has ever gone. By that, they get to determine the fate of a new team of space explorers and the stakes of an interspecies conflict in a choice-driven adventure. Summer Game Fest Play Days gave me the opportunity to experience some of these decisions and what their consequences might be. 

Resurgence’s original story unfolds in the year 2380, shortly after the events of Star Trek: The Next GenerationThis includes its feature films. The two main members of the Players Control Board are: Resolute. Next is Petty officer Carter Diaz. A young engineer with a passion for action who is low up on the rank hierarchy. Half-Koblaid commander Commander Jara Roek recently joined the ship. Resolute. Dramatic Labs is the developer of this game, which was created by ex-Telltale Game employees. The team leverages its narrative adventure expertise in ways familiar to fans of Telltale’s episodic titles. 

The bulk of the adventure, which is non-episodic, requires players to engage in choice-driven conversations with decisions that influence the story’s direction, including the character’s fates. Depending on your actions, people may live or die, though Dramatic Labs wouldn’t answer when we asked if every main character was fair game. Given that Star Trek shines best when stories focus on navigating the webs of diplomacy and relationships over brute force, designing a game that relies on the power of words feels like a perfect fit. 

In my demo, we saw an example of the stakes at play, which put me in Jara’s boots. A trade negotiation takes place between two races of aliens. Thankfully, she’s not alone. Accompanying her is Captain Zachary Solano, an ambitious veteran officer, and Ambassador Spock – yes, that Spock. Although Star Trek: Resurgence predominantly features a new cast, expect to see a few familiar faces sprinkled in. 

We meet with the Hotari, a rough and tumble race who reside on a moon dense in dilithium, a precious resource. The Hotari is a literal gold mine but has not been able fully to reap its benefits. That’s because mining dilithium requires technology owned by the Alydians, a strict militaristic civilization that has traded in the mineral for decades and hopes to continue this arrangement. The Hotari have served as the Alydian’s labor force but now seek independence. That would threaten the Alydian’s access to dilithium and, in turn, its galactic strength. 

Jade and Co. are able to soothe and agitate situations depending on their preferences. Meeting the Hotari Queen was a time when I decided to show strength rather than shrink in fealty. This may have made the Federation a more prominent player, instead of a pawn. I say “may” because Resurgence doesn’t indicate important decisions with a “They will remember this” style prompt, so you won’t always know how significant your actions can be. You’re better off assuming that everything you say and do can result in significant consequences, good or bad. 

The Queen grills Jara, probing her with questions such as my feelings on the Kobloid’s less-than-stellar history with the Alydian’s and how I’d address that. While I tried to be as neutral as possible – as far as I was concerned, we’re attending to tackle our own problems, not to take on someone else’s – being put on the spot gets trickier when diplomatic answers disappear, and you must make a hard choice on who to side with. In Jara’s case, I had to declare which race the Federation should support in this trade dispute. This scene’s tension felt effective thanks to the solid performances on display. Spock’s new voice actor, in particular, seemed like a respectable replacement for the late Leonard Nimoy. 

I’ll have to wait to see how Jara’s choices impact Star Trek: Resurgence, but those who enjoy the license and Telltale’s brand of storytelling may have reason to keep the title on their radar. So far, the worst I can say is that the slice I played stuck a little too closely to Telltale’s well-worn template, but Dramatic Labs previously stated the game includes stealth, ship piloting, and, yes, phaser battles. Star Trek: Resurgence is available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (PS4), Xbox One and PC later in the year.