Star Trek: Infinite leans in to the best of Trek

12.10.2023 - 15:49 / polygon.com / Best

Star Trek and strategy games seem like they should fit like a snug, spandex spacesuit. While, in the past, game studios have attempted to apply the Star Trek brand to sexier game genres like first-person shooters or flight combat simulators, this often felt like a sweaty attempt to make Trek fit into a non-fan’s definition of “cool.” Thankfully, Trek’s fortunes seem to be changing, as for the second time this year, it’s been applied to a game that both fits the brand and can stand up next to other titles in its genre. Developed by Nimble Giant Entertainment (the 2016 Masters of Orion remake) and published by Paradox Interactive (Crusader Kings, Stellaris), Star Trek: Infinite is a 4X grand strategy game that shares a lot of qualities with a good Star Trek episode: It’s cerebral, accessible, occasionally a little clumsy, and overall a good time.

Star Trek: Infinite gives you access to the Alpha and Beta Quadrants of the Milky Way Galaxy, where most Star Trek stories are set. There, you take command of one of the four most prominent factions in the mythology and race the other three to become the dominant force in the cosmos. The object of the game is to expand your empire and to absorb as many of the region’s smaller civilizations as possible over the course of three centuries, but each faction goes about this in their own unique mode. The benevolent United Federation of Planets makes friends by sharing the bounty of its post-scarcity economy. The enigmatic Romulan Empire uses espionage and political trickery to set up puppet states, while the Klingon Empire prefers the direct approach, overwhelming its enemies like a gleeful storm of war. The Cardassian Union occupies and enslaves its neighbors for the benefit of its resource-poor homeworld. Beyond their specific forms of conquest, each faction faces parallel challenges of exploring the final frontier, acquiring and managing resources, and balancing the myriad responsibilities of maintaining a massive galactic government.

Veterans of the 4X grand strategy genre (particularly Stellaris, this game’s direct ancestor) will be at home playing Infinite, dispatching starships across the 2D map to survey new star systems and colonize the habitable planets therein. Victory requires tempering your ambition and expanding your empire at a sustainable rate without allowing yourself to be outpaced by your opponents. Players are guided through the process by a faction-specific mission tree that encourages you to play to your empire’s strengths. The Federation’s biggest advantage is that its ability to provide nearly infinite creature comforts means rarely worrying about internal stability, so you can feel free to start exploring strange new worlds right away. In