Star Trek Online is wrapping up its Klingon Civil War arc with the launch of its latest update by bringing back some familiar voices.
Year of Klingon ends with “House United”
Today, Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios announced that Star Trek Online’s newest season, “House United,” is now available on PC. With this latest update, the free-to-play MMORPG ends their Year of Klingon, which started last summer with “House Divided,” and continued with last fall’s “House Shattered” and January’s “House Reborn.”
Over the last year, player Captains have seen the Klingon Empire torn apart. The new season introduces two featured episodes centered around Star Trek: Discovery’s L’Rell (voiced by Mary Chieffo), as well as Aakar (Robert O’Reilly from Star Trek: The Next Generation), General Martok (J.G Hertzler from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Adet’Pa (Rekha Sharma from Star Trek: Discovery). “House United” gives Captains the opportunity to earn exclusive rewards by completing tasks in a Special Event and participating in a brand-new Task Force Operation. Plus, anyone who logs into the game on PC today (May 25) will unlock a free Experimental Ship Upgrade. The new season will be released on PS4 and Xbox One on August 3.
“House United” Trailer
“House United” Story
Here is the synopsis of the story:
After travelling to the sacred planet of Boreth and descending into the pits of Gre’thor, J’Ula, matriarch of House Mo’Kai, has resurrected the famed Klingon Warrior, L’Rell (voiced by Mary Chieffo, who originated the role on Star Trek: Discovery). L’Rell will be a guiding light for J’Ula on what it truly means to be Klingon, as players will have to prove themselves and build an army, before heading to Qo’noS for the final epic battle. Captains will also encounter emblematic characters such as Aakar (portrayed by Robert O’Reilly from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), General Martok (played by J.G Hertzler from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and Adet’Pa (voiced by Rekha Sharma from Star Trek: Discovery).
The story of “House United” takes is spread across two new episodes. In “Warriors of the Empire,” Captains will fight alongside J’Ula with L’Rell on their side as they gather support for their cause, before taking forces to Qo’noS to put an end to the raging Klingon Civil War in “A Day Long Remembered.”
New Features
“House United” also introduces new playable content for STO Captains, including:
- ‘Only Qo’noS Endures’ Event – Captains will be able earn an exclusive new reward, a ground set inspired by the villainous Aakar, by exploring new episodes, patrols and TFOs associated with the Klingon Civil War.
- New Task Force Operation – Players will get to experience “Remain Klingon” a 5-Captain space TFO, which concludes the Civil War storyline as the final battle takes place over Qo’noS.
- Three New Patrols – In House United, Captains will enjoy three new patrols based on the episode “Warriors of the Empire.”
Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game that allows players to explore the Star Trek universe from within. It is currently available on PC, PlayStation®4 and Xbox One. To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit playstartrekonline.com.
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Yes, I someday want to see those light bat’leths in live action!!! Obviously weapons from a more civilized era, before the Empire :-)
I know fans love Klingons.. From TOS, I preferred the Romulans. Scheming, subtly cruel race.
Just played this game and it was a great end to the Klingon Empire reborn storyline.
Speaking as a former long-time player (I started in the private beta, bought the physical collectors edition, and put thousands of hours into the game), Star Trek Online, its story aside, should be avoided.
If you’re the type that has an addictive personality, especially gambling, DEFINATELY stay away, entirely.
Originally created by a North American developer, Cryptic, ever since their acquisition by Perfect World Entertainment, the quality of the game has gone down hard, and sheer, disgusting and unadulterated greed with their nearly bi-monthly ship and lockbox ‘events’ that are Mobile-Gotcha style gambling, or the best and most iconic ships locked behind massive paywalls or in lockboxes with absurdly low drop rates.
Oh, and don’t forget the week or weeks-long grind required to unlock stuff with every event that conveniently has a Pay to Skip option.
If STO had real PVP (it doesn’t, not really), I would say this game was Pay to Win. As it stands, if you want to be at the top of your game, it’s Pay to Progress, so either get ready to spend weeks or months grinding, or whip out your credit card and kiss your lucky rabbit’s foot, because that’s what it will take to have the best of the best or the coolest looking ship.
I supported the game when it went F2P, bought dozens of ships, purchased the deluxe packs for each expansion, and even got the Life Time Subscriber package, but when they released the “Legendary Bundle” that had all the iconic ships and they were asking for what amounted to a car payment for it, it was the straw the broke the camels back. (Remember when I said it would take months to grind for the stuff you want, well if you want the legendary bundle, it would take you at least, minimum, 70 days to grind the dilithium needed to convert to the in-game store currency, Zen, to get the 30,000-45,000 Zen needed, or $300-400 USD)
PWE has also done this with Neverwinter and Champions as well.
If you’re going to play STO, play it for the story, then drop it until new story content is released, don’t get sucked into the money trap, because you’ll be chasing the dragon and never get what you want, as it will always be just out of reach.
Star Trek exists as video stories, written stories, and now interactive fiction/games that are serialized (“seasons”). I’m not convinced the latter can be adequately explained or reviewed unless (a) the reader has played at least one chapter of the game to understand its dramatic techniques, and (b) the reviewer has played through, which is probably a larger time-sink than a movie or book. Without those, an article like this reads like a barely-edited press release.
It’s easy enough to review the visuals of a game (“all the interior spaces are oversized”) and its dynamics (“keep a cheat sheet, because you will forget the keyboard commands after the training mission”), but has anybody developed best practices to review the story content (“to ensure you hit the plot points in the correct order, the game forces you onto rails”)? I don’t read enough reviews of this kind of game to know.
(FWIW, I started playing STO out of curiosity, but gave up during the first mission when I forgot how to pilot my starship, which I was somehow in command of immediately after graduating the Academy.)