The Telltale-esque narrative adventure is set just after TNG.
Developer Dramatic Labs has set a release date of May 23rd for the narrative adventure game Star Trek: Resurgence. It was supposed to come out in spring of 2022, but better late than never, right? The title launches for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC via the Epic Games Store. So pretty much everything but the Switch.
If the term “narrative adventure game” brings to mind Telltale classics like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, there is a good reason. Dramatic Labs is made up of former Telltale developers, some of which worked on those iconic adventure games. So you can expect a title that prioritizes making tough decisions over whiz-bang action. Star Trek as a franchise seems especially suited to this style of play, given the often thoughtful nature of the stories.
Star Trek: Resurgence is set shortly after the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation, placing it before the events of Star Trek: Picard but relatively concurrent with the events of Star Trek: Lower Decks. This is Star Trek. There are lots of timelines to keep track of.
The game features two playable lead characters, neither of which will be familiar to fans. However, Dramatic Labs has teased the presence of legacy characters from throughout the universe, and it has already revealed that the one and only Spock will feature heavily in the storyline. This is not the Spock from the original Star Trek and its sequel movies, but rather the aged Ambassador Spock as seen in The Next Generation timeline. The story involves stopping a war between two alien races, which is something the Vulcan ambassador would most certainly get behind.
Resurgence uses the Unreal 5 engine, which should eliminate some of the jankiness surrounding old-school Telltale games. There is also plenty of talent behind the scenes, so this is something to be cautiously optimistic about, as it has been a long time since a truly iconic Star Trek game appeared on our radar. In any event, we only have a month to find out if Resurgence lives up to classic early 2000s titles like Star Trek: Bridge Commander.