Paramount brings Star Trek reboot to video games

By Geoff Duncan Updated May 29, 2014

The shadow of the Star Trek franchise is enormous, not just in film and television (where it has generated nearly a dozen feature films and half a dozen TV series) but in technology and gaming as well. Star Trek’s original flip-open communicators were an inspiration for the mobile phone; the ubiquitous “pads” that littered Trek series from the 80s and 90s are in some ways the predecessors of today’s iPad and Android tablets. And Star Trek has an enormous history in computer gaming: some of the first true computer games were actually Star Trek games designed to run on time-sharing mainframe computers, and innumerable Trek titles have littered the shelves, hard drives, and game consoles of gamers for generations.

Star Trek videogame screenshot

Now, Paramount has decided its time for another: Paramount Digital Entertainment has confirmed it plans to launch a new game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PCs a year from now, subbed simply Star Trek. The new game will be based on J.J. Abram’s successful 2009 reboot of the Trek franchise that recast iconic characters from the original television series and set them off on an alternate timeline where they can have new adventured relatively unencumbered by the enormous legacy of the canonical Star Trek universe.

The game will feature co-op play with players cast in the roles of Kirk and Spock; Paramount promises the game will deliver a stand-alone story where the characters have to work together to (of course) save the galaxy from a “legendary” enemy race. The game’s story is from God of War writer Marianne Kraqczyk, in collaboration with Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who are now leading the Trek film franchise.

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Paramount Digital Entertainment president Tom Lesinski, in a statement. “Working closely with the Star Trek filmmaking team throughout development, the game is sure to deliver AAA production values, a wide variety of gameplay, and all the action you would expect from the hit franchise.”

The game is under development at Digital Extremes (responsible for BioShock 2 and Unreal Tournament). Paramount is promising a first look at the title at next week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles.

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E3

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Gaming

The best video games of April 2023

Cal stands beneath the clouds in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor key art.

Typically, April isn't that exciting of a month for video games. Most publishers try to get their biggest games out before the end of the fiscal year in March, so April usually only has one or two notable releases alongside a ton of indies. April 2023 was different, though. Although it wasn't packed to the brim with notable new game releases, a lot of very notable franchises like Star Wars, Minecraft, League of Legends, and Tron had significant new game launches during April 2023.
Meanwhile, series such as Advance Wars and Mega Man saw past games updated for new platforms, while experimental indies like OTXO and Shadows of Doubt also managed to leave an impression. There were quite a few awesome new games to play this month, and you'll definitely want to get some playtime in with all of them before The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out in May. If you're looking for something new to play, consider checking out one of the following eight games the released in April 2023.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Like in April 2022, this month's biggest release is an ambitious Star Wars game. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a sequel to 2019's excellent Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and expands on it in almost every way. The story feels more ambitious and personal at the same time, as all of the worlds players can explore as Cal are more densely packed with content than before, and combat has been refined to be even more fun thanks to new stances and perks players can use.
"Cal’s journey follows the thematic trends established by The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi, but is willing to get even more personal with them in a way only a game can," Digital Trends' Tomas Franzese wrote in a four-star review of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. "This, coupled with its deeper combat and more densely packed worlds, truly put me in the mindset of a Jedi during this dire era."
It's an entirely single-player Star Wars adventure, and a meaty one at that. This game can easily keep you entertained for 20 hours or more and tells the most engaging Star Wars narrative since Andor. This is one of the best Star Wars games ever made, so fans of the franchise shouldn't miss out on it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Advance Wars: 1+2 Re-Boot Camp

Gaming

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor brings balance back to an unstable universe

Jedi Cal Kestis.

It’s funny to think about how much has changed about Star Wars since EA released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in 2019. The action-adventure game would launch just weeks before The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, a polarizing conclusion to its sequel trilogy that would create a disturbance in the force. In the years since, Disney has entirely changed its approach to the series by expanding the cinematic universe with a mixed bag of content, from the critically acclaimed Andor to more middling projects like The Book of Boba Fett. More than ever, the series is in desperate need of stability. It’s somewhat fitting, then, that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor could be the project that gets Star Wars back on track.

During a demo event ahead of the sequel’s April 28 release, I got to play a sizable chunk of the game – spanning over three hours of playtime. What stood out most during that session wasn’t its visual glow-up or fleshed-out combat. Rather, it was how tightly packaged it all is, both as a AAA video game and as a piece of Star Wars media. It’s an almost classic Jedi adventure, filled with dramatic lightsaber battles and some lighthearted comedy in-between the galactic melodrama. It’s hard to imagine anyone being upset over it (though the fan base always finds a way, doesn’t it?).

Gaming

With E3 2023 gone, other gaming events need to step up

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don't currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
Why we lost E3
I’m lucky enough to have the experience of attending three E3 shows across 2017, 2018, and 2019 and many publisher-run events focused on specific games or tighter game lineups. In its final years, E3 felt like the perfect middle ground to the gamer-focused PAX and industry-focused GDC, where people from all walks and sides of the video game industry could come together, see what’s coming in the future, and share their love for games.

It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis blamed E3 2023’s cancellation on the Covid-19 pandemic, “economic headwinds” due to the current recession that impacted marketing budgets, and the fact that “companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
The first two are understandable and have impacted a lot of physical events over the past couple of years. Still, the last reason speaks to a bit more worrying of a shift for those looking to network, get attention from the press, get a broader look at the industry’s future, or even pitch a game.
What we lose
Events are a great way for indies to get unexpected and much-needed attention from players and the press; look at the chance encounter that got one of our team’s freelancers hooked on Homeseek at PAX East. Now, indies will have to hope to gain attention at those more indie-focused events like PAX or be cherry-picked to be featured in a more prominent company’s showcasing. There’s also the networking and pitch factor to it.