Star Trek: Resurgence Reviews
Star Trek: Resurgence absolutely shines when it shines. In many ways, it is the Star Trek game I always wanted; an outstanding Star Trek story, walking the halls of a starship with its crew, enjoying new races, and exploring the outskirts of space. But because of everything that doesn’t fall into those categories, it feels this voyage was ten years too late.
Despite its tight writing and a clear love for the franchise, Dramatic Labs misses the mark with Star Trek: Resurgence. A mountain of bugs, a lack of polish, and tedious interactive moments mar an otherwise promising experience.
Filled to bursting with all the Trek-no-babble, easter eggs, in-jokes, and political intrigue you've come to know and love from the Next Generation era of Trek, Resurgence hits all the right notes, even if it does play it a bit safe. Now if we can just get the rest of the Tribbles out of Jeffries tubes…
Star Trek: Resurgence is possibly one of the more accurate games to have captured the Star Trek world in a more contemplative manner, with the adventure game format being particularly suited to it. With a compelling narrative, interesting characters (new and returning) and a game that plays well, there is a lot to like here, despite a number of technical hiccups on the PC version.
Dramatic Labs has created something special with Resurgence, populating the Star Trek universe in very much the same way that Picard Season 3 has just done; there are also a few other parallels in there that I’ll leave for the player to discover. The resulting work has left me envigorated and enthusiastic that the developer can revisit the crew of the Resolute sooner rather than later, continuing to explore the final frontier.
Dramatic Labs' narrative-driven entry in the Star Trek canon is a rocky ride, but a welcome one.
Still, as I said at the start of this review, Resurgence is the best Star Trek game since Elite Force. To expand on that, I’d say that Elite Force is the better video game based on Star Trek, because it’s a decent shooter (and there’s a handheld photon launcher, which is basically the most gleefully stupid thing ever conceived). But Resurgence is the best Star Trek Game. As an interactive adaptation of the popular television franchise, it succeeds. And though there are areas where it could do with more polish, where better decisions could have been made, and where I wish there was extra money to spend, all of that melts away when I consider that as someone who grew up watching The Next Generation, playing this game felt like returning home.
The story of Star Trek: Resurgence does an excellent job of capturing what makes Star Trek work by presenting strong characters and tough decisions. Some storylines lack closure and it doesn’t always run smoothly, but its heart is in the right place.
If you're a Star Trek fan looking for a game that respects the series enough to get the details right, then as a Vulcan might say, Resurgence is the most logical choice. It has an intriguing narrative that takes the risk of having two protagonists and plenty of difficult choices for you to make. However, some of the overcomplicated mini-games and melodramatic cutscenes mar the last third of the game. While Resurgence isn’t a technical marvel by any means, you don't need a lot of bells and whistles to tell a decent story. And I'm willing to settle for that.
Resurgence is the perfect mash-up of dramatic Star Trek storytelling and Telltale-style decision making, but with too many QTEs.
The technical issues in Star Trek: Resurgence unfortunately detract slightly from what is possibly the truest Star Trek video game ever made. This is a game that knows and respects the franchise, delivering an epic story with a great new ship and crew. The branching story elements and performances carry the day, but some of the interactive segments stumble. Regardless, the game is highly recommended for fans of both Trek and interactive storytelling.
Any Star Trek fan is going to enjoy this, and it might even turn narrative adventure fans into Trekkies!