5 Best Star Trek Games For Fans Of The Next Generation

Sep 06, 2026 - 01:08

0 1

5 Best Star Trek Games For Fans Of The Next Generation

Star Trek Infinite still from the trailer showing numerous starships under attack

Published Sep 5, 2026, 5:13 PM EDT

The Next Generation remains the gold standard for so many Star Trek fans across the world. Picard's Enterprise, its moral dilemmas, and that perfect blend of exploration, diplomacy, and high-stakes space opera still represent the best of what the franchise has to offer. Unfortunately, finding games that actually capture that specific TNG feeling can be surprisingly difficult.

What's most important to honoring TNG is the spirit of the 24th Century. That means thoughtful storytelling, interesting crew dynamics, political intrigue, and a lived-in galaxy players can sink into for hours are our real points of focus. With that in mind, these five options represent those values in different ways and represent a strong array of options for more great Trek action.

5 Star Trek Online

The clear favorite choice for TNG fans is still the illustrious Star Trek Online. There's just no way to beat the sheer volume and quality of content that is directly linked to or inspired by Picard's team in this game. It is easy to get lost in the game's years of content, but that's what makes it easy to love. Being so expansive makes it feel authentic to what a Star Trek game should be at its core.

STO takes place in the 25th century, and everything that is happening in-game is a result of the combined works of the Prime timeline, with a smattering of story fragments derived from the Kelvin timeline. Every corner of the world is rife with bits and bobs connecting the mainline Trek entries and using them to shape the player experience. Small moments in The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager echo throughout the timeline in the form of the history of the universe and the state we find it in when loading into the game for the first time.

The gameplay is fun, if a little stiff. Both ground and space combat have minor bumps, but it's not a significant enough blight on the game to skip it entirely. There's still plenty of fun to be had when fighting through Borg, Romulans, and Klingons while you collect your upgrades and improve the odds for Starfleet across the universe. You'll get more entertainment value out of this free-to-play entry than anything else in the entire Trek library, as there's just not any other multiplayer game that feels as Star Trek as Star Trek Online.

4 Star Trek: Infinite

This one requires some patience, but I still think the juice is worth the squeeze. Star Trek: Infinite is essentially a glorified Stellaris mod that was simplified and spun off into its own game. Unfortunately, the game was abandoned too early to fix some of the problems that haunt it. That being said, it's still worth a go for anyone who fell in love with The Next Generation for its grand strategies and politics.

If the MMORPG is the best fit for a Trek game, 4X Strategy is the natural second choice. Even the simple systems in Infinite require a good amount of thought and planning when applied to the game's grand scale. It's a cerebral experience. Each move requires careful calculation as players navigate as the leader of their chosen faction. Players take control of one of four major powers and decide how their version of the galaxy develops through civil diplomacy, espionage or all out warfare.

You can play as the Federation, Klingons, Romulans, or Cardassians, with the ability to shape their future as the game's timeline unfolds. Every choice comes with a weight, and carefully considering opportunity cost is the key to victory. I would only recommend this game for someone who really wants to get into the weeds of space exploration and navigation. If that's not your jam, there are definitely better options available.

3 Star Trek Fleet Command

Star Trek Fleet Command showing a woman in front of a galaxy.

Games don't come much more accessible than Star Trek Fleet Command. Certainly not in the Trek world, anyway. It's a mobile strategy game where the highlights are mostly running a starbase and picking up all the minor tasks involved in its day-to-day operations.

The core gameplay loop of Fleet Command consists of upgrading your Fleet, collecting resources, and then sending your improved flock out into the universe to knock off an ever-growing list of tasks. The expectation is for players to get their feet underneath them and then join an alliance, which makes it possible to reach warp-speed level growth and begin to tackle endgame content.

There are surprisingly deep hooks for The Next Generation here though. I won't spoil exactly what they are, but the story takes some weird turns that feel incredibly appropriate for a franchise where Woodstock was essentially saved by an extradimensional being.

A word to the wise: pacing is important in this game, so don't stress over rushing to the endgame. There are waves upon waves of content to play through, and trying to blitz through it all is a recipe for failure.

2 Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova

Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova is the complete and utter opposite of Infinite, serving up a relaxed adventure experience designed with a younger audience in mind. That being said, it embraces a lot of the core values of The Next Generation, and it's also one of the most accessible ways to explore more pockets of the universe.

Exploring worlds, coming together to solve problems, learning about different cultures and seeing things from a new point-of-view are inherent to TNG. Supernova often does it in a more kid-friendly way, but it's extremely charming as a result.

This is a simple story about a crew becoming a family, with a few lessons on teamwork and cooperation filling in the cracks. It's not revolutionary, and neither is the Zelda-esque puzzle crawling you'll find along the way. You'll tackle standard fair problems like connecting powerlines or flipping switches, all requiring either 2-player participation via drop-in coop or switching to the alternate character to utilize their skills to open the path. It's all been done before, but it's totally competent here.

This is also the most accessible entry on the list. You don't have to be a seasoned MMO veteran or a 4X strategy number cruncher to enjoy what's on offer with Dal R’El and Gwyndala's adventure through a new system. Having a little knowledge of Star Trek: Prodigy certainly helps to get your bearings (and will likely endear you to the cast), but the game is a good on-boarding opportunity for kids and adults alike.

1 Star Trek Voyager — Across The Unknown

The first thing to say about Star Trek Voyager — Across the Unknown is that it's a bit rigid, which is why it's a good fit for this list. This is a pick for any TNG fans that have wanted to get into Voyager but have never taken the plunge.

ATU is essentially a retelling of Voyager's storyline via an interactive survival game. Players can take small deviations from the show, but the larger story beats are all derived from its source material, and in that way, it's quite a decent option to dive into a new era of Trek without committing to seven seasons and 150+ episodes of material.

Don't look this way if slow, methodical gameplay is a deal-breaker for you. Everything in ATU is deliberately paced so that players make informed decisions and are ready to live with the weight of them. This is a captain's chair fantasy. You can never know what the exact right decision is or the best way to approach a situation, but choices must be made, and it's up to the player to make them.

Even without Patrick Stewart at the helm of the Enterprise, the game makes it easy to immerse yourself in the world of Trek, especially when you feel the pain of a bad decision made with good intentions. If uneasy choices, like the one Picard makes in "The Best of Both Worlds" are what draws you to Star Trek, this is the game to play.