Star Trek: Voyager is a very unlikely subject for one of the best games of the turn of the millennium. And yet, that game exists! Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force was one of the best FPS games of its generation! Heck, Elite Force II was pretty damned good, too, and there was almost a Looking Glass game based on the franchise in the mid-90s! Clearly German publisher Daedalic is hoping to capture a little of the same magic with its announcement of Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown, a “story-based survival strategy game” set on board the spaceship lost on the other side of the galaxy.
With some very hefty FTL vibes, Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown (VATU) is played on a sublimely lovely cutaway view of the side of Voyager, presented as if on a Star Trek display screen. We’ll be captaining the ship as it explores “12 vast sectors” of the Delta Quadrant, the farthest point in the galaxy from our own Alpha territory. This involves managing the ship’s systems and crew, doing all that good Star Trek diplomacy, and facing a bunch of moral decisions that will apparently shape how you experience your run through the game. And yes, run through, because this is intended to be replayed, FTL-style, with the ship rearranging its layout and apparently even being “re-imagined” based on the path you take through the quadrant.
The trailer, which mostly features lovely images of the USS Voyager swishing and swooping around in space, gives an incredibly brief glimpse of the game itself, which seems a bit of an odd shame given how lovely it looks when you see it. Also, note that somehow Daedalic doesn’t seem to have been able to license the original theme tune, which is very odd.
So why Voyager? For those who failed to become stranded in the Delta Quadrant in 1995, this was the third ’90s Trek series, starting when The Next Generation had come to an end, and midway through the run of Deep Space Nine. However, it quickly separated itself (mostly) from the overlapping storylines of those shows by having the fancy new ship leave DS9 to head to the Badlands to investigate the naughty actions of Starfleet rebels, the Marquis. Except, when it gets to them it gets attacked by some wobbly space wave and finds the remains of its crew, and the remains of the Marquis members, flung across the galaxy to completely uncharted space. The two opposing halves have to form a functioning crew and, Dungeons & Dragons cartoon-style, endlessly try to find their way home.
Given that the adventures all took place far from Starfleet and thus Voyager was unable to be aided by other friendly ships in the faction, it does make sense to use the show for your FTL-like. On the other hand, though, you’re limiting your audience to people who remember a 30-year-old TV show. Yes, I know you remember it, and you’re thinking, “How can anyone not remember Voyager?! It had Seven of Nine in it!” But let me assure you that nearly everyone born in the last 30 years is wondering why you’re shouting out numbers with that creepy look in your eyes. “This game isn’t about nostalgia,” says the game’s director at developer gameXcite (that’s the one time I’ll capitalize their studio name as they want us to), in a press release promoting the game based on the decades-old license loved by nerds in their 40s and 50s. “It’s about giving players the conn and letting them chart their own course through the unknown.”
Which then does rather raise the next big oddity. Gives us the conn? But shouldn’t Captain Janeway have the conn? The descriptions of the game that have appeared so far seem very ambiguous about this, especially as it does seem to be using the original crew as characters.
The big selling point here are some very grand promises to let you rewrite the story of Voyager quite significantly. The game’s description on Steam suggests it’ll be granting all manner of “what if?” scenarios, including the consequences of Voyager adding Borg technology to its systems as it attempts to recover from the initial disaster. “Did you ever wonder what would have happened had Captain Janeway decided differently?” asks the blurb. “If an important crew member had followed a different path? Or what the outcome would have been had the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager embraced Borg technology to increase their chances of survival?” Uh, no, but I can if you want.
“Wonder no more: Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown allows players to take control and shape the journey of the U.S.S. Voyager as they want. Take a risky approach or play it safe. Be diplomatic or let phasers do the talking. Research technologies that were shunned by the crew. But: Be prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions! The game features rogue-like elements, so in each run you will encounter different situations and even iconic characters might meet an early end if you don’t react accordingly.”
There are also promises of ship-to-ship combat and away missions, although again it’s not yet entirely clear whether the latter will be under your direct control, or play out as an off-screen event whose outcome is based on the team you selected and the orders you gave. Combat, however, is a bit clearer. “From the bridge, you give commands for offensive and defensive maneuvers, targeting enemy ship systems and using special weaponry,” we’re told. “And even during ship combat, the individual skills of your crew members come into play: Assign battle stations to crew who bring precious skills to the table and trigger them in crucial moments to maximize your combat effectiveness.”
This all sounds very ambitious, and I’ve certainly been burned far too many times by games that promise wish-fulfillment variety when what they really mean is a different icon appears on the screen. I’m also a smidge concerned that the team behind it have previously only made a trio of Asterix-themed products, making this a big step forward. Still, the early footage looks incredible.
Right, so what “what if?” scenarios would I like to see for Voyager? I want to do a run where we continue Janeway and Paris’s post-evolution relationship as lizards, where we see them raise their young together and learn how this form is superior to their paltry pre-warp-10 human incarnations. I want one where the crew never brings on Seven of Nine and so people remember Voyager for anything other than there being a pretty robot lady with big boobs. And I want to do one where, on the first encountering of Q, they just tell him to stop fucking around and send them home, and he agrees, and that’s that.
There’s no release date yet, but hopefully we’ll soon get some footage of the game actually being played.
