Video Game / Star Trek: Resurgence

• Back in action.

Star Trek: Resurgence is a third-person narrative video game set in the Star Trek Expanded Universe, developed by Dramatic Labs^note former members of Telltale Games. It was released on May 23rd, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Microsoft Windows.

The story is set in 2380 (roughly a year after Star Trek: Nemesis and during the events of Star Trek: Lower Decks)^note The beginning of the game lists the stardate as 57931,4, which places it no later than the episode "Kayshon, His Eyes Open" and follows the crew of the U.S.S. Resolute, a science vessel embroiled in a mystery involving two alien species on the brink of war. Jonathan Frakes reprises his role as Will Riker.

See here for the reveal trailer.

Go here to see the crew of the Resolute interact with another familiar face.

A five issue prequel Star Trek Resurgence comic book series published by IDW was released in November, 2022.

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Tropes:

• Aliens of London: Most of the Alydians have British-sounding accents.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: There are two player-controlled characters: Commander Jara Rydek (the ship's First Officer or "Number One") and Petty Officer Carter Diaz (an Engineering technician assigned to the lower decks).
• Ancient Evil: The Scions of the Flame were a fringe radical group of the ancient Tkon Empire that planned to survive the Empire's downfall by downloading their consciousness into the bodies of "inferior" sentient lifeforms. The Hotari accidentally stumbled upon their storage vault while mining for dilithium, becoming infected and unleashing them upon the galaxy.
• Anyone Can Die: Commander Westbrook, Commander Urmott, and Petty Officer Diaz can all die as a result of decisions made by the player.
• The Assimilator: The Scions of the Flame have an assimilation technique that is more sophisticated and individualistic than that of the Borg or Control, but no less insidious. Called "bio-forming", it is described in-universe as something of an Evil Counterpart to Trill Symbiosis. The Scions' original Tkonian bodies are long dead, but they have survived by breaking down their DNA into viruses stored in crystals. When the virus infects a host, it overwrites the host's mind with that of the Scion's mind, and the Scion gains all the host's memories. The host's mind is still there, pushed into the background, raising the possibility that, unlike most Borg assimilation victims, they can be restored to normal.
• Asteroid Thicket: The Resolute crew manage to rescue a distressed shuttle from one of these. It turns out to contain Ambassador Spock.
• Big Bad: The Scions of the Flame.
• Bittersweet Ending: The Scions of the Flame have been defeated, Commander Rydek has become a Captain in her own right, and the surviving Hotari and Alydian leaders have agreed to sue for peace. But Captain Solano has most likely been ruined by the events that prompted Rydek to relieve him of command, Miranda is dead despite Carter's best efforts to save her, and depending on your choices, either Carter or Nili can either be killed or bio-formed, losing everything with the only real saving grace being that the survivor gets promoted to Bridge Crew.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Alydians have four hearts.
• Broken Bird: Petty Officer Nili Edsilar. She joined Starfleet to escape a Dark and Troubled Past, and she admits to Carter that this particular old wound has never truly closed. Lt. Bedrosian can become one if certain choices are made in-game.
• The Bus Came Back: The prequel comic prominently features Dr. Leah Brahms from the TNG episodes "Booby Trap" and "Galaxy's Child" and Jeremiah Rossa/Jono Endar from "Suddenly Human". The game itself features the return of Portal 63 from "The Last Outpost".
• The Cavalry: The U.S.S. Titan shows up to help the Resolute during the final battle.
• The Chains of Commanding: Commander Jara Rydek's plotline is learning about these under Captain Solano, who has nearly been crushed by his own.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Kobayashi Maru simulation is implied to still be taught at Starfleet Academy well into the 24th Century. But it is also revealed to have its own Spiritual Successor in the form of the even more challenging "Torvallin Test".
  • General Order #7 is also implied to still exist in the 24th Century, though since the Federation no longer executes criminals, the penalties for violating it are likely far less severe than they were in Kirk's time. It is also revealed that the events at Delphi Ardu IV made Starfleet Command nervous enough to impose a similar order for that system: Directive #244.
    Captain Solano: Starfleet doesn't throw up a "No Trespassing!" sign for just anybody.
  • A conversation between Petty Officer Diaz and Commander Westbrook reveals that Captain Jellico was eventually promoted to Admiral.
• Cultural Rebel: Nili Edsilar is a Trill that joined Starfleet against her family's wishes. Unlike the rest of the Trill, such as Jadzia Dax, she is opposed to the Trill Symbiosis process because even though the new consciousness is a 50/50 split she still considers it to be "killing" the host's original personality (aka the Tuvix Dilemma).
• David Versus Goliath: The Resolute vs the Aphelion.
• Fast-Killing Radiation: In one of the variations of the final battle, the Cartabullum is damaged when Carter and Nili try to eject it, spreading the radiation across the Aphelion. It will kill everyone inside within minutes.
• The Greys: The Alydians vaguely resemble them, though they are more humanoid than most examples.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Jara is half human, half Kobliad.
• History Repeats: In the prequel comic, the engines of the Resolute are pushed beyond their limits, resulting in the ship nearly being destroyed and requiring an intensive refit that is not finished until the beginning of the game. The game's climax involves pushing the ship's engines to similar levels and hoping that recent upgrades enable the engines to survive it this time. It's something of a Morton's Fork, though, as if the crew doesn't try this, they're dead anyway.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Those who have been "bio-formed" by the Scions of the Flame are generally considered to not be as far gone as those who have been assimilated by the Borg, so there is great effort to try to bring them down non-lethally so they can be returned to normal.
• Legendary in the Sequel: Ambassador Spock is regarded as a "living legend" by Captain Solano and Commander Rydek.
  Solano: It's not every day that a Captain gets to welcome a Starfleet Legend aboard.
  Spock: You flatter me, Captain Solano. But legend implies the past tense, whereas I am very much focused on our present circumstances.
• The Men First: When the Zeldi is attacked by the Scions of the Flame, the admiral commanding the ship refuses to evacuate until after his crew are rescued. This can potentially get him killed, as detailed below in the Needs of the Many section.
• The Mutiny: Rydek realizes that Solano has been "bio-formed" and, together with Dr. Duvall and either Westbrook, Urmott or Bedrosian, needs to confront Solano and force a bioscan on him so they can relieve him of duty. Solano tries to have Rydek and her allies arrested for this, but their confidant saves her from this.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The villain starts out as a lowly miner, but after getting his hands on a powerful weapon, becomes a megalomaniacal terrorist. He even dies in a similar manner, refusing to be saved from his collapsing ship, prompting our heroes to torpedo the bridge to put him out of his misery.
  • The Scions of the Flame can be outed by a bio-scan, similar to how the Changelings could be exposed by a blood screening.
  • The Resolute is of the same class of starship as the Centaur, a "kitbash" of the Reliant and the Enterprise-E first seen in DS9.
  • Many of the chapter titles are named for classic TV episodes, such as "Errand of Mercy" and "The Lower Decks."
  • One of the Scions asserts "I just want to live! I have a right to exist!", only to be reminded that the person whose body they've stolen ALSO wants to live and has a right to exist.
  • This isn't the first time that alien parasites have hijacked the bodies and minds of Starfleet officers, making it uncertain who can be trusted.
  • Riker leads The Cavalry into battle to save the Resolute, much like he will for La Sirenia decades later. And of course, this is just gearing up for his next Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • Spock is engaging in more "Cowboy Diplomacy":
    Spock: There are limits to what Captain Solano and I can do in our official capacity as representatives of the Federation. But someone in an unofficial capacity - a First Officer for example - would not be bound by those restrictions. Commander Rydek could ingratiate herself to certain parties behind the scenes, where they may be more candid in revealing information that could lead to a resolution.
• The Needs of the Many: As is with many Star Trek media, the game pits you with certain moments where you need to figure out when's the best time to invoke this. For example, in one instance, the Alydians are needing to be transported to the Resolute after the Xeldi is attacked, but Lieutenant Bedrosian is being burned trying to keep the transporter working before the power surge overloads it, making you choose between saving Bedrosian or the Alydians. Saving Bedrosian dooms the Alydians, earning the scorn of the alien race since they've lost their admiral along with 100 others. Letting the transport continue saves them, but Bedrosian is scarred by the console exploding in her face, forcing her to don a VISOR.
  Officer Diaz: This isn't calculus. You can't just break it down by the numbers.
  Major Arminta: Perhaps that's why my admiral and everyone else on the final transport was lost: A problem with your "calculus".
• Negative Space Wedgie: An ion storm hits the Resolute while it's in space dock and nearly destroys the vessel.
• Occupiers Out of Our Country: Well, more like Occupiers Off of Our Planet, but this appears to be the main beef between the two alien factions. The technologically advanced Alydians discovered and uplifted the agrarian Hotari. The Hotari agreed to serve as a client-race for the Alydians, with the former providing labor and the latter providing science and technology. Naturally, this arrangement gives the Alydians mining rights to the dilithium-rich Hotari moon of Tau. A few Hotari miners eventually tire of this arrangement and when they accidentally unearth the Tkonian Cartabulum, they immediately attempt to use it to force the Alydians out. Said miners learn the hard way that Evil Is Not a Toy as using the Cartabulum results in them being possessed by the Scions of the Flame.
• Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The game is called Resurgence despite the ship being named the Resolute and would have made more sense with the Star Trek naming conventions of shows.
• Reality Has No Subtitles: The Tkonian language spoken by some of the Scions is not subtitled. Justified as, seeing how it has not been spoken in over 600,000 years, it is not in the Universal Translator, so none of the Starfleet characters understand the language.
• Relationship Values: The game records the effects of your answers and allows you to see what sort of impression you've made on the crew.
• Shout-Out:
  • Portal 63 wields a gauntlet that vaguely resembles an Omni-Tool.
  • The chapter where Captain Solano is relieved of command is called "Mutiny on the Resolute".
• Villains Want Mercy: While the main villain is suicidally Defiant to the End, his surviving Mooks are NOT eager to die with him and beg to be beamed off the Aphelion before it turns into a radioactive fireball. This leads to a "Spock vs McCoy" style argument among the senior staff, with one of them arguing that leaving them to die goes against everything the Federation stands for, while the other warns that this could be a trap. It's up to Rydek (and the player), as The Kirk, to cast the deciding vote.

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