Star Trek: Resurgence Review

Commander Ja-ra Ry-dek of the U-S-S Re-so-lute

Quick Info
Reviewed by:	Mark Goninon
Developer:	Dramatic Labs
Publisher:	Bruner House
Release Date:	23 May 2024
Time played:	10 hours

Back in the 2010s, Telltale Games was in full swing, creating best-selling games based off popular comic, film and TV franchises such as The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy. With so many franchises to choose from, fans would often ask the question "what franchise would you like to see Telltale do next?" Certain franchises aren't always a good fit. Minecraft, for example, was one such franchise and while I didn't mind the game, the real purpose of Minecraft is to create things in a sandbox, not experience a rather linear narrative experience with Quick-Time Events. You needed a franchise which tended to be narrative-heavy, one with lots of conversations, well-fleshed out characters and lore. I've always thought Star Trek would be a perfect fit for a Telltale game. In fact, I even mentioned this back in 2017 while playing Minecraft: Story Mode. But unfortunately, the original Telltale wouldn't get a chance to do this as it went bankrupt in 2018. A new Telltale rose from the ashes and they worked on another sci-fi TV series, "The Expanse" but some refugees from Telltale (over 20 of them) decided to form their own studio called Dramatic Labs, and they started to work on making my dream a reality: a Telltale-style adventure game set in the "Star Trek" universe.

Besides Jara, you also get to play the role of Carter Diaz

An Authentic Star Trek Experience

In Star Trek: Resurgence you get to play the role of two characters who are assigned to the starship USS Resolute: a Half-Kobliad First Officer called Jara Rydek and a Human Engineer called Carter Diaz. Like any good "Star Trek" episode, the game involves an attempt by the Federation to settle a dispute between two alien races but things are not as they seem and the Federation is eventually pulled into a conflict that could decide the very fate of the galaxy.

One of the main strengths of the game is how it feels like an authentic "Star Trek" experience, as if you're actually in a new episode of The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine. Characters use the appropriate technobabble and the game covers the usual tropes that are variations of learning when to let go: you'll encounter many dilemmas such as wondering whether its ethical to observe the chain of command, whether your trust in a friend could potentially endanger others or whether it's worth sacrificing your crew in order to achieve the objective.

And if that wasn't enough, the entire plot relates to a character the Enterprise-D crew meet in the fifth episode of the first season of "The Next Generation"; Ambassador Spock even makes an appearance in this game as well as Captain Will Riker of the USS Titan (voiced by the man himself, Jonathan Frakes).

The Trouble with the Talking

Despite me mentioning that "Star Trek" is a perfect franchise for a game that is heavy on the talking, sometimes I feel like the developers were worried about overdoing it, potentially scaring off anyone who isn't a fan. At times, the game seems to quickly skip from action sequence to action sequence, not leaving you any time to catch your breath or an opportunity for what makes "Star Trek" great - the cultural dialogue and ethical dilemmas. In fact, sometimes I wonder if they've added too many mini-games into the mix as each of them have their own rules you need to learn in order to succeed (it's not just a matter of just quick-time events alone). Fortunately, there's still enough dialogue to make this a decent adventure and some of the mini-games tie-in well with the show, such as performing a tricky transporter lock on a moving crewmate.

Ambassador Spock makes a cameo in this game

It's Worse than That, It's Slow Jim

The attention to detail with respect to the graphics is pretty good, at least when it comes to authenticity: the uniforms look accurate, the ships, weapons, tools, aliens, it all looks great. However, the animations are sluggish and it seems like the game is plagued with framerate drops. From what I've read, there is an FPS cap on by default and the only way to fix the issue is by installing third-party mods. It's a shame, since it's probably the only thing that's really holding me back from scoring the game higher.

Navigating a shuttle is one of many mini-games you'll play in Star Trek: Resurgence

Space Opera

Jared Emerson-Johnson, former composer for Telltale, does another excellent job in truly channelling the essence of a proper "Star Trek" soundtrack. While a glaring omission is the absence of the "Star Trek" fanfare (you know the one I'm talking about), Jared manages to still craft music that's instantly recognisable as epic sci-fi befitting of the franchise, and it only gets better when you reach the finale.

8	A truly authentic experience for the Star Trek fans with great attention to detail, compelling characters, and an epic soundtrack. The only thing holding it from true greatness are some annoying animation issues and frequent framerate drops.

If you like this game, you might like…

• Tales from the Borderlands (2014)
• Batman - The Telltale Series (2016)
• Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series (2017)

Special thanks to my wife for gifting me this game as an anniversary present!