The originalStar Trekseries began airing in 1966, and the phenomenon it kicked off is still going strong. Between the 1980s and 2000s, fans received four live-action shows:The Next Generation,Deep Space Nine,Voyager, andEnterprise. After more than a decade,Star Trekhas become a major draw for Paramount’s streaming service with five series (both live-action and animated) in concurrent production:Discovery,Picard,Lower Decks,Prodigy, and therecently startedStrange New Worlds. Alongside this content comes other ventures like Dramatic Labs’Star Trek: Resurgence.
Dramatic Labs includes Telltale Studios veterans, andStar Trek: Resurgencewill be a “narrative adventure” game with branching choices similar to Telltale’s popular works. FewStar Trekvideo games have seen more success than theMMOStar Trek Online, which lets fans explore its expansive sci-fi universe and meet popular characters, butResurgencecould be a great blend of genre and source material. Fans know that an older Ambassador Spock will appear, and based onResurgence’s place in the series' timeline it should focus more on telling these kinds of continuing stories rather than setting up future events.
RELATED:Resurgence Could Put Star Trek Games Back on the Map
Star Trek: Resurgence’s Place in the Timeline
According toStar Trek: Resurgence’s official website, the game will take place in 2380 - a year after the events ofThe Next GenerationfilmNemesis. This sets it after the events ofDeep Space NineandVoyager, but about 20 years before Patrick Stewart reprises the role of Jean-Luc Picard in the self-titled Paramount+ seriesPicard. As a result, Spock appearing in the game sets a precedent forcameo characters inResurgence.
However,Resurgencemay not delve too deep into this well given it aims to tell its own story in theStar Trekuniverse. Players will follow a handful of crewmembers on the U.S.S. Resolute as they aim to keep the peace between two alien civilizations on the brink of war. The 1980s and 90s-eraStar Trekproperties deal with similar themes, from conflicts with the Borg toDeep Space Nine’s Dominion War, so additional cameos could make sense. If so, more recent pieces ofStar Trekmedia show why bringing characters back from earlier time periods works better than exploring a future character’s history.
RELATED:Star Trek: Resurgence is a Perfect Mix of Source Material and Mechanics
Star Trek: Resurgence Should Avoid the Problem With Prequels
A lot of properties struggle to develop prequels. Not only do they present the constraint of having to end at an established status quo, but bigger fandoms are also more likely to nitpick the handling of certain characters and timelines. Fellow sci-fi franchiseStar Warsis a good case study, as the prequel trilogy (Episode 1to3) dovetails well intoA New Hope, but depictions of a youngerAnakin Skywalker tend to strain against his future as popular antagonist Darth Vader.
A lot of modernStar Trekshows are, in essence, prequels. Where a show likeStar Trek Enterprisefrom the 2000s stands alone by exploring the early history of Gene Roddenberry’s Federation through Captain Archer, Paramount+‘sDiscoveryandStrange New Worldsare more immediate prequels that take place beforeThe Original Series. Characters like Spock and Nyota Uhura play prominent roles that help flesh out their histories, but run the risk of feeling like retcons. It’s hard to hold 1960’sStar Trekresponsible for not mentioningSpock’s human sister who traveled into the futureto save humanity, a plot point fromDiscovery, but fans who enjoy the whole gammut of shows may find it harder to separate those details in hindsight.
With that in mind, projects likeResurgencehave a much easier time using characters such as Spock. Cameos that act as a sequel to someone’s story can work under the assumption that their history is written and can be built upon, rather than trying to retrofit new ideas into set constraints. If more characters do appear in the upcoming game, Dramatic Labs would be better off pulling fromDeep Space NineandVoyagerthan trying to set up arcs fromseries likePicard.
Star Trek: Resurgenceis scheduled to release in 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
