The online Summer Game Fest 2023 event brought a surprise with the announcement of a brand new Star Trek video game. We have the teaser trailer and some details.
Star Trek: Infinite
Paradox Interactive and developer Nimble Giant Entertainment today revealed Star Trek: Infinite, a new “grand strategy game” set a few decades before Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the new game, players will run an entire fleet within the Star Trek universe, commanding one of four major powers in the galaxy: the United Federation of Planets, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, or Klingon Empire. According to Paradox, each power has individualized traits, stories, quests, and more to make their play feel distinct.
Check out the teaser trailer…
“It is an honor to bring one of entertainment’s most iconic properties to life for our players and Star Trek’s multigenerational fanbase,” said Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox Interactive in a statement. “We know how much this franchise means to fans all over the world, and we are working closely with Nimble Giant and Paramount Consumer Products to create a faithful and fulfilling game that lives up to their expectations.”
Star Trek: Infinite is coming to PC and macOS this Fall.
The teaser trailer promises a full reveal coming next week on Captain Picard Day, June 16.
Is this a mobile game? PC? Console?
The article says PC and Mac.
It’s cool that it’s coming to mac, that’s not usually a focus.
Apple has made it a lot easier for games to be ported over now on top of all the amazing work that Wine laid the groundwork for. Probably too late to be able to enjoy legacy games that you still can only play on PC, but it’s good for the future.
Over the years Apple has kinda been a rollercoaster. WAY back in the day they were power pc vs Intel and it was hard for developers. Then Jobs converted Mac to Intel and it became much easier but still macOS is linux whereas Windows is the NT kernel. Still tho porting it became much easier. Now tho macOS is using the M2 chip and moved away from Intel again so I had my doubts. Microsoft is starting to do that too tho so I am curious whether or not this game will work on Windows on Arm as well as Windows Proper (and I don’t just mean in emulation)
FTA
Ugh set before TNG they should use the awesome TMP movie era ships. Those are so damn ugly. Either go Excelsior and Connie’s or skip to Picard S3 era and give us Neo Connie’s and Sagan class ships.
Sorry, just to be clear… you actually think the ST: Picard era of un-cohesive, over-designed Starfleet ships… look good?
Years before TNG Picard should be commanding the Stargazer so what looks good is irrelevant.
Tons of people love the TNG era ships.
and focuses on the Borg…seems about right for a hack job story
Nice! Sounds interesting even if I never played a Star Trek game before. ;)
Really? Not a one, huh? I can’t say you’ve missed much, as Trek has usually struggled in that department for whatever reasons.
A few standouts come to mind; Judgement Rites was a good TOS point-and-click mystery game; and there was a ship combat game called Star Trek: Legacy I enjoyed playing; also the Starfleet Academy simulator for SNES was fun back in the day. I understand the Voyager first person shooters have their fans, though I never got around to them. Elite Force, I think they’re called.
Elite Force II has Jeffrey Combs in it as one of the villains and that’s about all I can tell you about it.
Nice! You can never go wrong with Combs.
I never knew I wanted to see him as a Romulan until I learned he was one in that.
Nope, never a single game. I know it sounds crazy, especially for someone who has been a fan for over 40 years now. To be clear though I stopped playing video games in general when I was still in high school and before there were any big Trek games like today. I think all those games you pointed out came out way after I stopped playing them.
I’ve always thought of giving STO a try because it’s free and the newer shows have leaned on some of their designs.
Oh man check out Elite Force 1 and 2 as well as Armada 1 and 2 those were/are great!
If I ever get wifi again and not just unlimited data and I can find it, I’d consider Elite Force II. But usually if I want to play a game not from the 2010s or 2020s, I end up replaying the first Knights of the Old Republic. Normally I flip between Star Trek Fleet Command and LEGO Worlds though.
Thanks. I looked them both up and Elite Force and sounds cool it takes place on the Enterprise E and right after Nemesis while Armada sounds like more of TNG era game as well. I would definitely give them a try but I am so out of date with games I would probably feel lost at this point lol. But I’ll give one of them a try!
That’s the one with Jeffrey Combs as a Romulan!
That’s cool. Interests change as we get older. It was like that for me with comic books and superheroes long ago. I couldn’t care less now, even the movies.
As for STO, I’ve considered playing it, too, but have never tried. Something about it just doesn’t appeal to me, I suppose.
Yeah pretty much. I have a brother and he never fell out of playing games. He has a Playstation 5 now. Same for comics, he reads those still today. But he stopped watching Star Trek by the time DS9 rolled around and I kept on watching; so yeah funny how some interests fades for certain people.
I only know about STO because so many people talk about it still and I know it has a ton of updates every year. It’s funny I never played it but I watch people on YouTube who does lol.
You might like it. I could never get into it. I never finished the tutorial because it’s like one minute you’re working with Nog and then the next a Borg cube comes out of nowhere and I ended up just never coming back to it. Also I was only there for Weyoun but I hated what they wrote for him. (It’s like bruh he wouldn’t try to kill Odo, did you not watch the series, he would do that to himself before he ever would Odo.)
That’s why I ended up picking up STFC. It was also free and had him and since the DS9 arc was basically the war all over again, I could forgive the way he was written more. On top of that, they didn’t have him in conflict with Odo there. At least not too much.
Of course you like playing Weyoun. ;D
I think I read an exchange a few weeks ago with you discussing FC with another poster here in another video game article. You guys were talking about STO too. I think I got halfway though the exchange before I felt totally lost lol.
Judgement Rites was a fantastic sequel to the excellent Star Trek 25th anniversary. It has all the TOS cast doing voice overs and everything!! There was going to be another called Secret of Vulcan Fury which I guess all the voice recording was done and I hope they make into a movie one day.
The other game I really liked was called “Star Fleet Command” and it was Starfleet Battles but on a PC! Sooooo good. Why they did not make a third one with the Andromedans is beyond me.. instead it went generic TNG combat and it died. But for a while you had a game with starships that felt like capital ships, sensors, jamming, boarding parties, cloaking devices, all the aliens having unique weapons, damage control, lots of cool starship classes, lots of exciting races/stories (the Dominion come off as a rip off of the ISC in SFC 2), transporter bombs, high energy turns.. was just fantastic!!!
The board game is good but really complex, was nice to be able to play it multiplayer on a PC. The “Star Fleet Universe” actually ends up with a better timeline in some ways than actual Star Trek. Apparently they got the license in some deal in the 70s based on the Technical Manual but Klingons are Klingons ruling over an Empire, Romulans are Romulans, really fun!
Starfleet Battles was a favourite among friends of ours. It had a strong following among serious board gamers up until the late 90s. It‘s always been a kind of apex board game in my mind.
It’s kind of legendary and its boosters were necessarily Trek fans. It was cool and considered eccentric (non canon) because it had the Kzinti as an available species based on TAS. Now the Kzinti are back in Lower Decks and it’s canon anyway lol.
I was myself a fairly serious board gamer and miniature war gamer back then but Starfleet Battles was more than I wanted to invest in learning. I think I played along with someone one afternoon and decided that the only way to be successful was to memorize everything.
The rule system was huge, complex and incredibly dense to cover all the movement and combat for the different species and ship types. The rule book was thick and to be successful tactically you really needed to know all the advantages and disadvantages of one ship against another. (If I’m doing something like that, I generally prefer historicals and miniatures.)
It was almost like Starfleet Battles was written to be computerized because it took hours and days to play through and calculate all the detailed movements and modifiers. So it seems natural that it became Star Fleet Command.
Star Fleet Battles did a good job of making each starship a real capital ship with a lot of capabilities. It just does get complicated, getting a computer version was a real treat!!
Makes it frustrating when new Trek now just shows hundreds of ships running at each other with the bad guys always firing torpedoes and disruptors, the good guys just running at them firing torpedoes and phasers. You’d think it was Star Wars… which some how is doing capital ship combat like in Rouge One better than Trek.
I’ve never played any recent ones but I remember YEARS ago playing one of those role playing games that starred William Shatner and George Takei and Walter Koeing and it was so much fun! Sorry I don’t remember the name. It was not action packed at all but it was fun!
Sounds like Starfleet Academy. I have a soft spot for that game despite its flaws. Apparently the sequel Klingon Academy, with Christopher Plummer, was amazing.
YES!!!! Thats the one!!!
Of the legacy games I played, I would say Elite Force, DS9: The Fallen, Bridge Commander, and Judgment Rites were pretty great. Elite Force and The Fallen brought in the Voyager and DS9 casts, respectively, and let you play so many fun missions that felt right for the universe. You also got to explore the familiar sets a little bit and talk to the characters, which was a fun little thrill. The Fallen hasn’t been revived by Great Old Games yet, but the others have!
TNG: A Final Unity has been one of my favorites.
Such good puzzles in that one!
OMG! Looks like Birth of Federation, which has been the best star trek game ever! Its played till today. If its anything like that its an instant buy. Its seems to be the same factions as in the original and again the Borg as a uniting force to make enemys work together. OMG. I am really hyped.
I loved that game! How do you get it, though? I’ve searched the internet and couldn’t find a downloadable copy that would work.
This could be excellent.
PC gaming is where our household is at. Better, unlike Resurgence, it doesn’t sound as though it will be limited to a single vendor/platform.
Birth of the Federation? Hmmm… Is that a Star Trek Enterprise game?
I bought the original game – a long time ago. Maybe this works:https://www.myabandonware.com/game/star-trek-the-next-generation-birth-of-the-federation-bcm
Paradox has a big Scifi game called Stellaris which might be a solid foundation for a high quality star trek game.
This could be very promising. We shall see!
I’m confused. How is it set a few decades before TNG? When:
-The stardate is during Season 3 TNG
-The fleet seems to be encountering the Borg before Wolf359
-There are Galaxy and Intrepid class starships
-The end of the trailer features Captain Picard, Commander Toreth, Gul Gukat and Gowron.
Thank you. I had the same confusion as well.
Also, June 16th is Picard Day? What is that? And do we really need another Star Trek holiday? We’ve got Star Trek Day on September 8 (which makes sense) and now Live Long And Prosper Day on Nimoy’s birthday. One day a year for special announcements works for me. That’s not to say I wouldn’t celebrate, but then, for me at least, everyday is a Star Trek Day.
Star Wars has May 4th and June 6th (although I personally hate why June 6th is one) so I don’t think it matters, the fans having fun is what matters
I had no idea about the Live Long and Prosper day lol. I think most fans look at September 8th and April 5th (First Contact day) as the main ones…like take a day off from work days. The others are more smaller you kind of know is a holiday but you might send a e-card or something. ;)
🤦♂️
You may take my Trek Card. How in {ghe’tor} did I forget First Contact Day?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!?!?!?! It’s in my calendar for crying out loud!
KHAAANN!!!!!!!!!!
Of course my brain clearly isn’t firing on all thrusters because I even screwed up my user name here.
And what is June 6th for Star Wars? (Side note: Am I the only one who remembers when Lucasfilm was the only one not onboard with May 4th and they would use “May the 4th be with you” for the 4th of July?)
The sixth day of the sixth month. 6/6. It’s celebrating order 66 which is why I hate it. It’s not officially celebrated but it is huge with the fandom.
Oh Rao that’s awful…
Is that Superman day? LOL
LOL, don’t feel bad it happens! I really look forward to both Star Trek and First Contact day like their actual holidays and talk to other fans and any events they put on. I have watched the movie FC every year on FC day since 2016 although I skipped a year once due to traveling.
And I’m just learning about June 6th for Star Wars. I only know that’s a thing now. Man we know how to geek things up. ;D
Isn’t there First Contact Day as well. Picard Day was on TNG episode The Pegasus. The children celebrated it on the Enterprise D. Not sure what the fandom version is.
Considering it’s a 4X strategy game, time progression is a given in those sorts of game, so I expect you to develop new ships and go through the TNG era in-game.
if 4x, might scratch the itch of not having a digital version of the fantastic Star Trek Ascendency board game.
I’m confused too esp considering the pic they are showing with the Enterprise D which should not even exist prior to Encounter at Farpoint.
I wonder if this is an outgrowth of “Star Trek: Infinite Space”, a game that was never released (circa 2011).
The name is surprizingly similar, but that was meant to be a starship combat game for browsers, by a different studio and publisher, so it’s probably just a coincidence.
Hmm I’ll see what’s released on the 16th but rn it just looks like Star Trek Fleet Command but Fancier.
Set “a few decades before TNG” … key art and trailer includes TNG era characters, Intrepid class ships and oh yeah, the Borg.
Facepalm.
Considering it’s a 4X strategy game, time progression is a given, so you’ll most likely start pre-TNG and go from there.
What if it starts before TNG and then progresses forward through time into the 2360s?
Agreed
In Grand Strategy Games theres an early middle and late period to these games.
Oh Wow this is a surprise! I never expected to go back to my Star Trek: Birth of the Federation days! :D
Thank You Paradox! and what will likely be continuous paid dlc’s
Yep, be warned Paradox likes to milk their IP’s till the last drop… There will be a billion and one paid dlc’s for this game. Some people might be ok with that, I’m not one of them. Because more often then not they break the balance of the game.
Good point Dvorak.
Games where the players who pay a lot are overpowered aren’t fun for many.
Decades before TNG so then why are they using stardate 43125.4? That start date is basically the 3rd season of TNG. Also, Galaxy class and Intrepid class starships were not in service decades before TNG. Cant get the trailer right, the game is likely a mess too.
tbh I’m expecting something got mixed up in the announcement and it’s actually just set during TNG
Stardate use has never been consistent.
Stardates in TOS were inconsistent – and to remain consistently inconsistent for that era, Strange New Worlds follows the wacky Stardate system of TOS. But TNG through Voyager the Stardates were quite consistent. The second digit indicated the season of TNG, or roughly a 1 year time frame.
2363: USS Enterprise D Constructed
2364: TNG Season 1: Stardate 41xxx
2365: TNG Season 2: Stardate 42xxx
2366: TNG Season 3: Stardate 43xxx.
2367: TNG Season 4: Stardate 44xxx.
2368: TNG Season 5: Stardate 45xxx.
2369: TNG Season 6 / DS9 Season 1: Stardate 46xxx.
2370: TNG Season 7 / DS9 Season 2: Stardate 47xxx.
2371: Generations / DS9 Season 3 / Voyager Season 1: 48xxx
2372: DS9 Season 4 / Voyager Season 2: 49xxx
2373: DS9 Season 5 / Voyager Season 3: 50xxx
2374: DS9 Season 6 / Voyager Season 4: 51xxx
2375: DS9 Season 7 / Voyager Season 5: 52xxx
2376: Voyager Season 6: 53xxx
2377: Voyager Season 7: 54xxx
2378: Nothing in this era: 55xxx
2379: Nemesis: 56xxx
In Grand Strategy Games theres an Early Middle and Late part of the game. So most likely they are setting the early stage to begin pre TNG, Middle will prob be TNG and late will be most likely DS9 – Nemesis
Infinite Sounds Like a free to Play Game but it reads like a proper game.
How is this set decades before TNG?
Borg… The big D… Nah…
Games can progress through time. A few decades isn’t a lot.
That is, it may begin in the 2340s and advance to the 2360s.
Judging from the Studios and Publishers History (including some Master of Orion) I gues this will be something more like Birth of the Federation – which I would love to see!
This is always a fun idea. Never got to play Birth of the Federation, but plenty of similar strategy games have gotten loving Trek makeovers from the Mod community. Stellaris, for example.
Definitely looking forward to this one!
I suspect nice Animated Trailers, but reality like Star Trek Fleet Command. So, if this is true. No thank you
After 20+ years I can’t believe its come true. A Grand Strategy Star Trek game is coming this fall! SO EXCITED. Dreams do come true. :’)
I’m confused, this is supposedly set a few decades before TNG. So how on earth does it have Galaxy and Intrepid class ships as show in the trailer? Also the Borg and Romulans, one being unknown to the alpha quadrant, the other being reclusive and little known to Starfleet until various points in the TNG show.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked for a game like this. I loved BOTF, but I hope they’re not throwing decades of canon out. Maybe the reports of this being set decades before TNG are wrong? Or perhaps they’re doing the whole lazy time travel, parallel dimensions, alternate reality thing to get around it?
If they want to do Birth of the Federation, start with Zephram Cochrane and go from there that there is no canon.
Great, now I’ve dug up Stellaris and the St: New Horizons mod. It’s been 4 years but this got me craving it again.
Set decades before the next generation? It certainly doesn’t look that way.