Science fiction is often renowned for its sociological and allegorical storytelling. Creating visions of the future and what technologies may be invented is an interesting exercise, but many of the best sci-fi stories examine the human condition. Star Trek leaned into humanity as a collective force for good, with the original series tackling issues like racism and interracial relationships amid the civil rights movement of the 1960s. That legacy has kept alive to this day, with Star Trek: Resurgence being one of its next projects.
Dramatic Labs' upcoming title, developed using the choice-driven format of the studio's spiritual predecessor Telltale Games, was unveiled during The Game Awards 2021. Star Trek has leaned into action with ventures like the J.J. Abrams films and Discovery on Paramount Plus, but Resurgence will give players as much opportunity to partake in diplomacy and play out decisions on the bridge of a starship. Dramatic Labs advertises branching storylines for Resurgence, but the game should take cues from 2012's FTL: Faster Than Light by focusing on micro-decisions as much as the macro.
FTL's Breadth of Content
FTL began as a Kickstarter in February 2012, raising over 2,000 percent of its $10,000 USD goal. Developer Subset Games was created by Justin Ma and Matthew Davis, who said FTL pulled from "obvious" sci-fi sources like Star Trek and Star Wars in an August 2012 interview with Rock Paper Shotgun. However, its gameplay also pulled from titles like the original Fallout, Mass Effect, and text-based adventures.
It's described in the Kickstarter as "Firefly by way of Spelunky," and Subset Games' creators said their intent was to replicate the feeling of combat and command in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine using a top-down presentation reminiscent of tabletop games like Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. Players control the inner-workings and crew in one of a variety of FTL's spacecrafts that aims to deliver information crucial to turning the tides of war in favor of the collective Galactic Federation.
The game centers roguelike elements; each run starting with a set ship layout and crew before differentiating as players pick up new weapons, recruit allies (in a variety of races with unique strengths), and allocate resources. As with many games in the genre, knowledge of FTL's mechanics can get players through plenty of scraps, but there's also plenty of luck involved as each jump to a new location queues random events ranging from spacefaring battles to split-second decisions that could have better outcomes with the right equipment.
Star Trek: Resurgence Needs Small Decisions Too
It's unclear how much of an effect players will have on the story of Star Trek: Resurgence. The game's announcement post on Star Trek's website says it will tell an original story about two principal leads solving a mystery that threatens to plunge alien civilizations into war, and Dramatic Labs founder Kevin Bruner promises "significant choices and decisions will affect the entire narrative." Many games offer false choices, in which two branching paths might lead to the same outcome, and Resurgence should try its best to not fall into this trap.
The upcoming Star Trek game should also emphasize how micro-decisions over the course of its story affect what players are able to accomplish. Much of the difficulty in FTL's design ties back to how each small decision has unseen repercussions. If a ship is built with missile-based weapons in mind, that may help with random events to break up rubble but offer no good choices in the face of a precision endeavor. Players could also use too many missiles in one encounter and run out of ammo during a more important fight, or they might lose a crewmate whose expertise in piloting makes the craft less likely to dodge hits.
It should be easier to portray a web of consequences affecting larger outcomes in a game like FTL, which is partially text-based or otherwise seen from a restricted top-down perspective. However, series like Mass Effect have demonstrated the potential of grand, branching stories that result from micro-decisions and crew changes. Offering smaller choices that impact how players can approach larger, story altering decisions would also help Resurgence live up to its legacy. Lots of Star Trek media is about solving live-threatening or moral quandaries using whatever people have on-hand, which can be a grab bag of resources in the far reaches of the final frontier.
Star Trek: Resurgence releases in spring 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun