It’s always a pleasure to see Star Trek games hit new platforms. With such a rich universe spanning decades of television and film, there’s plenty of potential for captivating storytelling, tactical battles, and deep exploration. Star Trek Legends, developed by Emerald City Games and published by Qubic Games, attempts to bring all of this to the Nintendo Switch. However, after spending too much time staring at loading screens, I wondered whether my time would have been better spent playing Kobayashi Maru: The Home Edition. Originally a mobile game on Apple Arcade, Star Trek Legends promises a gacha-free experience with many legendary characters to recruit and command.
Star Trek Legends – A Not-So-Boldly Going Mobile Port
I was genuinely excited to dive into Star Trek Legends, eager to command my favourite characters and see how a “pay once” game, while still retaining the structure of a microtransaction-heavy mobile title, would translate onto the Switch. The concept alone had so much potential, but did it boldly go where no game has gone before?
Trekkies, I want to hear from you! Were you just as excited to see all these legendary characters in one place? For those of you who love turn-based strategy games or are veterans of mobile gaming, does this kind of experience appeal to you? Let us know in the comments. What were you looking forward to most, and did the game live up to your expectations?
Gameplay
The premise of Star Trek Legends is straightforward: you take command of the U.S.S. Artemis, assemble a crew of legendary Star Trek characters, and battle across various missions to uncover the secrets of the Nexus. The story is a convenient excuse to mix and match heroes from across The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, and Picard. On paper, this sounds like a Trekkie’s dream, but in execution, it feels more like a half-hearted nostalgia grab rather than a meaningful Star Trek experience.
Phaser Set To kill
The core gameplay loop consists of turn-based combat with a team of four characters. Each character has unique abilities and synergies, combining standard attacks and special moves. However, the battles quickly become repetitive, exacerbated by the lack of animation skips for special abilities. You can speed things up with a *4 multiplier, but that only makes you realise how little engagement is needed. There is an auto-battle feature, which lets the game handle combat for you. This could be useful for grinding, but it doesn’t progress the game automatically—you still have to manually move from battle to battle, meaning you can’t just set it running and come back later. It’s a strange middle ground that neither fully embraces automation nor encourages hands-on strategy.
While character synergy adds some tactical depth, most battles boil down to the same rinse-and-repeat routine. A few shields or environmental obstacles might pop up occasionally, but they don’t fundamentally change how you approach fights. Once you’ve found a winning strategy—like buffing Riker and letting him obliterate everything—it rarely feels necessary to experiment with different teams.
Graphics & Audio
Remember Red Shirts Die first
To give credit where it’s due, the character selection is impressive. Over 90 characters from across Star Trek history are here, from iconic captains like Kirk and Picard to fan favourites like Data and Worf. The game even lets you mix Starfleet officers with Klingons, Borg, and other factions, which is a fun way to create unique teams.
One of the biggest disappointments is the presentation. While the character models are serviceable in a Fortnite-esque stylised way, the environments are incredibly bland. You beam down to various planets and ships, but everything feels static and uninspired. With a franchise as rich in visual splendour as Star Trek, it’s disheartening to see such lifeless locations. The animations, while repetitive, do capture each character’s personality. Seeing Data casually analyse a tricorder mid-battle or Worf swing his bat’leth with ferocity is satisfying. But despite the roster’s size, the gacha-style unlock system means you’ll still be grinding to collect them all, which, without the usual gacha monetisation, just feels like busywork.
There’s no voice acting beyond a few battle grunts and occasional hand-drawn cutscenes, leaving the narrative even more hollow. Imagine Star Trek without the gravitas of Patrick Stewart, or the iconic tones of Leonard Nimoy—it’s just not the same. Yes you get the usual phaser noises, the beam down and the ethereal Star trek “we are in space” type noises but it’s nothing special.
Longevity
Well this isn’t hyperspeed
Whether docked or in handheld mode, loading screens are painfully long. You’ll spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for battles to load, missions to start, and menus to transition. This isn’t a vast open-world RPG; it’s a game that, consists of small combat instances and static menus. There’s no reason for load times this long, and it drags the entire experience down. The real challenge isn’t the battles—it’s finding the patience to endure the endless waiting. No amount of Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra references can make up for the frustration of watching the same static loading screen over and over again. You can go back through the story to continue collecting things or take a different path to see different story elements. It will still be tedious. So, while the game could take about 8-10 hours, you could push it further if you really wanted.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Star Trek Legends doesn’t do enough to justify its existence on the Switch. While the UI is slick, and the game runs well on the Switch, there’s no escaping the feeling that this is still, at its core, a mobile game awkwardly forced onto a console. The long loading times, lack of voice acting, uninspired environments, and mobile-first design choices make it hard to recommend; even to die-hard Star Trek fans.
If you’re looking for a turn-based RPG with Star Trek flavour, this might scratch a minor itch, but it won’t leave a lasting impression. The mobile DNA is impossible to ignore. The structure of daily tasks, resource collection, and character unlocks all scream “mobile-first.” It might have made more sense if this had been released as a free-to-play game with optional purchases. But as a premium Switch title, it feels like a hard sell—especially when better Star Trek experiences exist elsewhere.
Set phasers to ‘missed opportunity’. This title gets a Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
If you enjoyed this review, why not check out my previous article here on another turn based game here
Tyler Denyer/ Tyluild is a passionate journalist, whose love of video games runs deep. With a focus on crafting captivating video game reviews, they immerse themselves in the worlds of gaming, especially ones with deep and rich lore. Beyond games Tyler is a lover of cats, travelling and finding a tasty treat to eat. Eager to stay on top of the latest trends, they regularly attend video game events, and keep on top of news in the gaming world. Fuelled by an insatiable curiosity, our journalist is equally enthralled by not just games themselves, but also new accessories. Their favorite style of game? Without a doubt, RPGs, allowing Tyler to fully explore his imagination, the grind in game is less tedious than in life.
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