Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown

Great game, real Trek atmospere :-)

is gut durchdacht

This game was an absolute blast. I loved every second of it. It has an interesting combination of game mechanics and the survival mode felt genuinely challenging, in a good way. It's true to the show, and as a fan of Voyager it was such a wonderful experience going through the story once more, reconnecting with all the locations and characters. I followed the lore for my first playthrough and looking forward to trying new things in my second one, maybe leaning into Borg technology more. I already know I will spend many more hours in this game. If you love Voyager, this is an absolute must-have. Can't recommend it enough.

Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown is a space survival sim that feels like a cross between the Oregon Trail, Fallout Shelter and a Visual Novel game. Does it work? Weirdly enough, it kind of does. [Presentation: 14] Visuals: 4 The visuals presented pretty much match up the show quite well. The model used for the Voyager itself is perfect. The artwork used in game has a nice, consistent look that keeps things slightly vague in a creative way. The in game models for the characters are passable. Audio: 4 We start right off with the Voyager theme song which is a nice nostalgia trip. The rest of the in game music fits the general tone and is unobtrusive. Sound FX feel accurate to the show for the combat and UI. The Comm Notification nag really needs a mute option though. Voice over: 3 While we do get Tuvok (Time Russ) and Tom Paris’s (Robert Duncan McNeil) actors and they do a great job, they only narrate these log bits at the start of the Sectors. The rest of the game is unvoiced. I do feel like we could had had more voiced bits in the game, especially for the important story beats but it isn’t a deal breaker for me. UI: 3 The UI is of course the LCARS styling from the show and it’s fine for the most part. I do feel like there could be some better optimizations to it though such as hovering tool tips for symbols that are hard to decipher or the space combat UI which feels a bit clunky both visually and in operation. [Technical: 12] Game Options: 3 We get some fairly game options; audio sliders with good splitting of channels, color blind modes and streamer mode (obviously the Voyager theme will trigger all kinds of copywrongs if you try to stream this). Graphics and Performance: 3 The graphic options are fairly basic here. We get DLSS and Frame Gen for those who need it. As yet another Unreal Engine 5 title, this game is weirdly performance and hardware heavy considering there isn’t a whole of graphical fidelity going on here. Controls: 2 The default control scheme is fine. I played on mouse and keyboard and found it okay for the most part. I do have a couple glaring issues though; one is that they use right click to pan on the system map, while using the traditional middle mouse button to pan elsewhere. It’s an inconsistency I don’t like. The other is that there is absolutely no key or control rebinding options, at all. In a modern game from 2026, this is a baffling omission. Bugs and Glitches: 4 I only experienced a couple bugs, strangely enough around the same mission (The one with Neelix and Jetrel); the game wouldn’t show me where the Talaxian planet was, and another where the game softlocked while zooming out of the system map. Besides those, the rest of the game was a bug free experience and I honestly don’t how common those particular bugs are as I hadn’t read of anyone else having those so maybe just bad luck on my end. [Story: 18] Writing: 5 The writing is, well spot on and uses a lot of the lines from the show. For the alternate content and various end slides, the writers did a good job of keeping the tone and feel of the show. No typos or weird grammar noticed. Plot: 5 This one is a bit strange to judge as this is just the plot of the show itself. The game follows it pretty faithfully while excluding some of the more controversial/badly written episodes. Many episodes are truncated here for game time, but generally get their relevant plot points across and if you already liked Voyager, then you’ll like this too. Characters: 4 Like above, the cast of Voyager was already strong material to work with. It’s a nice diverse cast and while they don’t have all the minutiae in their development from the show, some of the general stuff is still here. The only weak spot is for recruitable side/bonus characters who tend to lack any presence after they join. World Building: 4 So like with the Plot, this follows the show, and in that sense, it’s the canon experience, but since this allows some variations in how the plot unfolds, I’ll judge that here. The kinds of ways you can divert from the plot do feel somewhat natural here and provide some interesting outcomes and endings that still feel consistent with the greater Trek lore, even if not always providing adequate storytelling like with the character negative above. [Gameplay: 14] Systems: 4 So this a survival space sim that relies on resource management, room layouts, researching new tech and the use of skill checks to deal with conflicts. It all works together pretty well and I found that even by the end game, there was still more I could do. The game uses a save profile slot system, of which you get three and uses auto saves mostly, though there is a newly added manual save option. There are some instances however where I’d like access to the ship/crew info while making critical decisions. The space combat is sadly a bit clunky but there is an option to auto-battle it through a dice roll. Balance: 3 You get three difficulty options along with a custom option. I started out on the Survival mode, and it found it to challenging, especially towards the mid game. Crew Morale acts a bit of a timer mechanic here with the longer you spend in a sector, the more the negative penalties build up. Sadly, this can quickly snowball into really restricting what you can research (which also takes a lot of time and is needed to have a smooth experience). Thankfully the Custom difficulty option lets you tailor the gameplay to however you wish, even eliminating the pesky morale timer so most anyone should be able to enjoy this. Design: 3 In terms of design here, the systems themselves are RNG generated with resources scattered about. I found resources to pretty well distributed. They are finite though so eventually you will have to move on. There are several hidden side quests that seem a bit random in location and I honestly wish they were marked as some are very easy to miss. Fun Factor: 4 I honestly kind of enjoyed my time with this. I didn’t expect much out of this, but I can say I was pleasantly surprised, both as a fan of Trek as someone playing a survival sim. It’s not perfect, but I think it strikes a good balance between turning the Voyager show into a game while giving players chances to change up the story which I had the most interest in. Conclusion: Across the Unknown does a solid job of being a great space survival sim. Voyager’s story was already naturally set up for something like this and it works so well here. Allowing players the ability to alter the course of the plot with differing choices is done quite well and plays to the strengths of the Star Trek IP in a way that more Trek games need to do. The survival gameplay is solid and can be as easy or brutal as one wishes. Besides a few issues, it was good experience and I give it a recommend, especially for fans of Voyager. Final Score: 7.2/10

If FTL: Faster Than Light & X-COM had a baby, then decorated its bedroom with Star Trek memorabilia. Good value for the price, though a non-Trekkie may not appreciate the many waht if scenarios this game provides.

time sucking fun!

fun turn based strategy game with your favorite ST Voyager crew and familiar story line.