Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown Review

Thanks to the folks at Gamexcite and Daedalic Entertainment, I’m checking out their recent and much anticipated release Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown. This galaxy-exploring strategy is based on my all-time favourite Star Trek spin off, and I’ve been looking forward to it for some time.

Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is out now for Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2. For this review I’ve been jumping into the Delta Quadrant on PC and Steam Deck and I’ll let you know all about it in our extended review just below!

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The Basics – What is Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown About?

In Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown you take on the iconic role as captain of the Intrepid-class Voyager vessel. Pulled across the galaxy, you’ll be tasked with getting your crew home, just like Captain Janeway herself (or, possibly not…).

Through various “What If” choices, you’ll navigate familiar storylines, where you’ll be able to choose your own outcomes – with a little RNG success and failure thrown in there for good measure.

Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is split into three major areas – ship maintenance, system and sector navigation (and away missions!), and combat. You’ll need to work hard in all three areas, to give your crew any chance of navigating the 12 sectors and (maybe) making it back home.

Stranded in the Delta Quadrant, and in poor shape, you’ll need to unlock floors, clear out debris and build your own vision of Voyager in game here. Each room has purpose, and whether it’s housing or feeding crew, aiding in combat, raising morale or fixing up Voyager, you’ll need to build and upgrade carefully to maximise the available space.

As you travel through systems and sectors, you’ll find (and hopefully acquire) vital resources that you’ll need to keep the crew, and the ship, well looked after. You’ll also find primary campaign missions and side quests along your voyage, where you’ll use stat-based RNG not dissimilar to tabletop gaming skill checks, to get through familiar narrative arcs in your own way (if you succeed).

Combat is largely automated in Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, but you’ll still need to give basic orders on where to attack, where to defend, and which of your crew’s Hero skills to use as you battle Hirogen, Kazon, Borg, Species 8472 and a host of familiar faces.

Is Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown Safe for Kids?

Rating: Mild Issues.

Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is rated by PEGI at 12 and above, and by the ESRB at Everybody 10+. These ratings are based on bad language, fantasy violence, and alcohol depictions.

I’ve not found anything that has shocked me too much in Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, but in addition to the mild elements listed above, it should probably be noted that younger players likely won’t get too much out of this one, with relatively complex systems, and slow-paced, mostly text-based gameplay.

There are some tough choices, and it’s possible for characters to die, though this comes with no blood or gore, and is instead delivered through text and doesn’t have heavy depictions of violence.

Combat itself is strictly a ship-on-ship affair, with phasers and torpedoes that use more fantastical effects than anything remotely realistic. Overall, for our own Micro-Bandits, this is one which I’d be pretty happy to play in front of all of them, with only minor concerns.

How Does Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown Play on Steam Deck?

Rating: Minor Wobbles.

I’ve actually been playing Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown almost exclusively on Deck, apart from a few hours for our post-release Twitch live stream. It’s played really well here on Deck, with only some very minor wobbles.

Text is mostly fine, although the really small stuff can be a slight issue (my only real problem was that I couldn’t tell if my crew morale was a plus or minus sign). Controls work really well without any faffing about or having to use the track pad, and visuals are great on the OLED steam screen.

One thing of particular note, is that Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown has a drastically minimal impact on Steam Deck hardware – with barely any fan noise, and optimisation that leads to incredibly long play times, with hardly any impact on battery life.

Overall, if you’re playing on Deck, Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is a great shout for some Voyager gaming on the go (it might even work in the Delta Quadrant).

The Run Down

Our Five-Point Quality Check for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown

Gameplay – 04/05: Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is a solid strategy, wrapped up in one of my favourite sci-fi franchises. But even though it has a great Voyager setting, the mechanics themselves work well enough to make it a good title for strategy lovers, rather than only Star Trek lovers.

Visuals – 04/05: I’d have liked to see more in the way of video clips here, but those that we do have (usually Voyager navigating a planet) are stunning. While I’d like to see Away-team video, the art that is in there is great, and the overall look of Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is a polished, and well presented sci-fi outing (wrapped in LCARS, as well)

Audio – 02/05: I don’t love giving Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown such a low mark, as the TV score is beautiful and well implemented. However, apart from a few sound effects and voice logs at the start of each sector (from Paris and Tuvok), there’s not really much sound work to speak of and when there is – such as in combat – it can quickly get repetitive. Effects are well done, but it definitely feels like more could have been done for audio.

Narrative – 03/05: The overall narrative arc for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is great, and the What If..? options you have really help you to write your own Voyager story. Away missions have been the biggest hit to this, often made as generic (i.e. “the ex-borg” rather than “Seven” performing actions or saying a character has done something that another character did) where you have to make choices.

Replay – 03/05: There are 12 sectors to complete within Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown and these all come with (at least roughly) one primary mission and two side missions – all based on (and usually named for) episodes from the Voyager show. The What If? Scenarios mean that there’s a decent enough amount of different options to go back and deviate from Janeway’s original path, but I’m not entirely drawn back into doing so.

The Verdict

Is Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown Worth Grabbing?

Overall, our Pixel Bandits’ Make It So (don’t @ me) score for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown is a high-ranking 8 / 10.

This one definitely has areas where I’d like to see more work – especially on voice acting and making sure those generalised choice statements are a little more tailored – but I have had a great time with Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown overall.

It’s been brilliant to jump back into Voyager, and the ability to make your own path and see what could have happened had Janeway gone in a different direction, is fantastic. Gameplay basics are all here, and with tight mechanics and an expansive tech tree to unlock along your way, it’s a title for strategy fans and not just those who (like me) adore Voyager.

I love the inclusion of different difficulties, and I think these will allow anybody to get into this one without too many troubles – though I’m sticking well clear of the Year of Hell option as I don’t hate myself that much.

You can tell that real thought has gone into this one – with each crew member and room having an impact on your abilities and the (potential) outcome of your RNG tests. Whether you’re playing on PC or on Deck, if you’re a Voyager fan, it’s definitely worth a trip to the Delta Quadrant… Just make sure you come home.

As ever, to provide our Pixel Bandits review and common-sense parent’s guide for Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown we received a game code from the folks at Daedalic Entertainment