Star Trek: Resurgence Review – A New Interactive Film Set in the Late 24th Century

Being a Star Trek fan is a lifelong habit. While the popular universe returned to TV screens with great fanfare and its fans can enjoy a period of great abundance, at least in terms of the number of projects, the situation in the field of video games is noticeably sadder. She may never have been worse. At the turn of the millennium, several major titles were released each year, many of which are still among the best in Star Trek history. In contrast, recent years have been very lean. Excluding mobile and web games, 10 years ago there was Digital Extremes’ Star Trek set in the Abrams timeline, 2017’s primarily VR Star Trek: Bridge Crew, and last year the children’s title Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova. In December 2021, hope finally dawned for the fans. Former developers Telltale Games announced Star Trek: Resurgence, an adventure game set in the late 24th century, and now it’s finally here. But you don’t have to refrigerate the Romulan lager for the celebration yet.

Let’s start with the basics. The innovation is the responsibility of the young studio Dramatic Labs, which, among other things, consists of veterans of Telltale Games, who from the beginning made no secret of their ambition to continue the legacy of this team, but not to repeat its mistakes. Rather than an adventure game, Star Trek: Resurgence is an interactive film with a modern cut, in which you solve interpersonal relationships and dialogues more than logical puzzles. The game may resemble an episodic series, but it comes out all at once as one complete title for a relatively nice price tag. Depending on the chosen platform, you will pay 860 to 1149 crowns for it. That’s less, by the way, than what you’ll pay for, say, last year’s Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova.

From the technical point of view and from the point of view of optimization, the novelty is really poor.

Resurgence tells a new story sensitively set after the events of The Next Generation and Star Trek: Nemesis. Ostensibly, it’s about a conflict between two races that you have to make sense of at the negotiating table or with the help of cowboy diplomacy. In reality, however, the script is much more imaginative, and this plot plays more of a proxy role in the narrative, which can skilfully play with hints and the overblown mythology of Star Trek. But I won’t be more specific, because I found out on my own that the twists and surprises that made me the most happy were the ones that neither the developers nor anyone else could tell me. After all, already during stream I warned that if you are interested in the game, be very careful when it comes to reviews, but also pictures and videos, even the official ones, because they are often more telling than it might seem at first glance. And it would be a shame to have something revealed at the last minute after months of fumbling. In any case, the protagonists are the new first officer of the USS Resolute, Jara Rydek, and an ordinary engineer, Carter Diaz, who, for a change, will give us the perspective of someone who works on the lower decks and no one invites him to the meetings of senior officers known from the series. He has his own colleagues, friends and the world, and he doesn’t see much of what’s going on on the bridge. This is also one of the aspects in which the authors reign supreme.

But how does Star Trek: Resurgence actually play? The first impression, to be honest, is not much. Although the game does not attract outright realistic graphics, it does not bet on comic stylization either. The authors stayed somewhere in the middle of the road and despite the fact that the game is powered by the Unreal Engine, it is significantly behind the production of Supermassive Games. My impression was made all the worse by the fact that in 2023, for some incomprehensible reason, the title does not offer a native version for PlayStation 5, but even on PS5 you play the PS4 version in backward compatibility, although in addition to PC there are native versions for Xbox One and Xbox Series. This would not necessarily mean a problem, but from a technical point of view and from the point of view of optimization, the novelty is really poor. But we’ll get to that later. The fact that the game has a very simple interface, spartan settings and somewhat ignores some rules of control and interface on consoles does not add to the first impression. On the other hand, when you get over the initial surprise and disappointment, as one would like it to be taken for granted that Star Trek also looks great, one has to admit that there is no shortage of talent on the part of the developers. They really do extremely nice camera work throughout. The script is very good. The musical accompaniment deserves a compliment. And last but not least, I have to appreciate the dubbing.

The studio enticed us that it wouldn’t just be a conglomerate of cut scenes, dialogues, choices and quick-time events, but for the most part it is still the case. Without knowledge of a foreign language or patience, there is no point in even starting the game – you will not enjoy it. The authors did not lie when they said that in the game we will actually control both characters, that we will shoot a phaser, use a tricorder, sneak in stealth passages or control a shuttle. It’s all really here. Despite this, paradoxically, in all cases these parts are among the weakest. Resurgence works best as an interactive movie, the progress of which you can influence with your actions. Its classic gameplay is rather below average in content and execution. You only occasionally control one of the characters directly, and usually you only need to take a few steps without getting lost or taking a wrong turn, and other movies follow. The phaser shooting is banal, the action is unsatisfying, and the controls are also poor, which only emphasizes the possibility of completing these passages with immortality instead of the default three lives. Using the tricorder works like a primitive mini-game where you just have to find and scan all the active elements in the environment. Sneaking is clunky, movement is clunky, and it’s once again a boring minigame. And finally, the control of the space shuttle is the most reminiscent of some primitive flying mini-games that we played in the mid-nineties with the advent of CD-ROM technology.

I’m disappointed that the developers and the game are actually cheating and in many places they’re just faking the illusion that you’re acting under pressure or you might fail. Once you see through it, the whole masquerade falls apart. While flying a shuttle, stealth, firing a phaser or numerous but simple quick-time events can at least go wrong and fail, you can’t actually make a mistake in an adventure arcade. You will never make a wrong choice. It never matters the order, thing or place you choose. You can easily try all the options one by one, and when you find the right one, the plot will move on. After all, this also applies to all locations where you have to explore something, discover something or interview someone. You are in a zone where there are many active points and you want nothing more than to click through them one by one. The only hint of solving a logical puzzle or an obstacle are moments when you control, for example, transporters. But even here it is an elementary puzzle, which is also often repeated. Another charade is the time limit for the answer. It wasn’t until the first time that I didn’t want to choose any of the options offered, thinking that my character wouldn’t say anything, that I found out that after the “limit” runs out, time stops and the game waits for you until you make a decision. Paradoxically, at the same time it became clear that only exceptionally the game will allow you to choose not to say or do anything. Anyway, since then I’ve never felt the pressure of having to answer within a time limit or else… Who knows.

Special praise goes to the choreography of the space battles, which are among the best I’ve seen in the field of Star Trek games, even though you don’t actively control the ships.

You might be wondering if there is anything positive to be found in the whirlwind of criticism. He finds and surprisingly can improve the impression a lot. I already hinted it, but I have to emphasize that the story is really very good, as well as the dialogues. Authors of similar licensed games usually like to talk about themselves as fans, but I would really believe Dramatic Labs, or at least did their homework really carefully. Star Trek is felt here at every turn. It’s a very authentic contribution to this universe, perhaps one of the best I’ve seen in terms of mythology since Nemesis, specifically going back to the 24th century. The game draws from the canon, heavily inspired by familiar motifs, but it does it smartly. He doesn’t condescend, he doesn’t use cheap hints, but he winks at true lovers and often refers to things that I wouldn’t have thought that developers would ever use. After all, guest characters also speak imaginatively into the script. Spock with the face of the late Leonard Nimoy is excellently dubbed by the actor Piotr Michael and it does not seem like an unwanted parody. The ambassador looks good here and his presence is a decoration of the game. Then there’s another really familiar face who even lent his likeness and voice and voice and reprized a famous role. I don’t want to be specific here. I’ll just say that unfortunately he doesn’t look as good as Spock. But again, he has an important and rewarding role in the story.

After all, both playable characters are also well written and face real dilemmas, at least in the dialogues, which significantly affect interpersonal relationships. You don’t choose heroes or freely switch between them. The game serves them to you as needed. And when I already mentioned the great camera, I have to say that sometimes it does just that with clever editing or shifting attention from one character to another. Special praise goes to the choreography of the space battles, which are among the best I’ve seen in the field of Star Trek games, even though you don’t actively control the ships. But at least on PS4, these situations suffer from incredible stuttering during numerous cuts. When the camera quickly jumps between ship bridges, exteriors and interiors, it is at the limit of endurance. After all, you encounter short loadings here more often, and they often spoil the impression of otherwise great transitions or switching between characters in situations where they may or may not cooperate remotely. Sometimes the main characters interact directly, other times we just witness various parallel events. Tearing, recording and jamming, however, harm the overall impression.

Unfortunately, this is not the last technical shortcoming. Cheaper graphics could be chewed over if everything went as it should. But it doesn’t work. I repeatedly encountered errors in the animations, for example, when the character could move, but did not move his legs, so he just floated in space. Sometimes the heroes’ eyebrows are raised and then their grimaces seem exaggerated or even unintentionally comical. PS4 subtitles drop out throughout the game. The audio is also annoying. The dubbing sometimes gets stuck and plays the same message twice, or the voice stops halfway through before the character actually stops speaking. I was also not happy with the awkwardly placed checkpoints, which only save the game at the beginning of each chapter. If you play for a while and just turn off the game without any suspicion, you can count on the fact that next time you will repeat several dialogues, actions and watch again all the cutscenes that cannot be skipped. Otherwise, beautiful music sometimes sounds in places where it no longer belongs, or does not make sense with the mood, because the situation in the game has changed. I was also not pleased with the fact that you cannot view the statistics of your choices and relationship vicissitudes directly in the game, but only on official website. And it is also quite superficial. The technical handling simply knocks Star Trek: Resurgence down.

It may sound very bad. But it’s also because the game really has a lot of bugs that are easy to name and quantify. On the other hand, its advantages are of such a nature that we can meditate on them, but they are not so easily grasped. When I think about the final verdict and grade, it is clear to me that in any case, after this barrage of criticism, you will still suspect me of being a fan of the game, I want to see it in a better light, I am willing to forgive it, and therefore it will get a better number , than they deserve. In fact, I am not surprised to see how much more critical I am than the first foreign review. Maybe it’s the PS4 version. Maybe I have higher expectations. Or maybe I’m a fan who doesn’t forgive just because it’s a beloved Star Trek, but is even more strict. But that is a little different. Although the technical side tried hard to spoil the experience for me, Resurgence is not very imaginative in terms of gameplay, in terms of gameplay it is really below average, on the other hand, it also has great positives. It’s real Star Trek. Despite the drama and tension, he reminded me how nice, positive and optimistic the New Generation stories used to be. It’s a surprisingly long mega-episode, which will keep scheming fans entertained for at least 12 hours even on the first playthrough, very tempting to play again, and wouldn’t be a shame even on a TV screen. There’s romance, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, secrets, mystery, rebellion, crossovers, cameos, easter eggs – plenty of ingredients to make a decent Roddenberry spectacle. But let’s face it, these are usually the attributes that rock fans will appreciate. For the average player, Star Trek: Resurgence does not seem to offer anything extraordinary.