Star Trek: Bridge Crew developer Red Storm Entertainment announced the most perfect imaginable DLC on Wednesday: The Next Generation.
The DLC adds the bridge of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, commanded by Jean-Luc Picard throughout the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, until it was shot down by the Duras Sisters in Star Trek: Generations, to be replaced by the NCC-1701-E. A kitted out 24th century Enterprise bridge needs bridge officers to match, so the Bridge Crew DLC also includes TNG-era uniforms and Soong-type android avatars (Data lookalikes).
Since the bridge of this Enterprise is one hundred years more advanced than the original, the engineering bridge position has been replaced with a role called "Operations," which focuses on "crew management and maximizing ship buffs." IGN describes the Operations interface for ordering around personnel as like a "little mini-game in itself," with panel providing players an interior view, as if the ship had been cut in half vertically. From there, crew can be assigned to different systems, either for damage control or combat bonuses, like an enhanced reload for the player on Tactical duty.
The new Bridge Crew DLC, fully titled, as you might expect, Star Trek: Bridge Crew The Next Generation , also adds Romulans and the Borg, who first appeared in TNG episode "Q Who." One of the two new "Ongoing Voyages" missions, "Resistance," has players race from system to system, gathering "anti-Borg prototypes" to take down the Borg Cube chasing them through the galaxy, assimilating or killing anything in its way.
"I wanted to scare people," Star Trek: Bridge Crew designer Hunter Janes writes. "It's meant to be difficult, encourage serious lateral thinking, and reward a spectrum of success," he said, comparing it to the game's unbeatable Kobayashi Maru mission.
"if you beat this voyage with a perfect score on the original bridge, I'll frame your after action report above my desk," Janes added, describing the additional difficulty "Resistance" would represent for players using the original Enterprise, with its limitations and tricky controls. "The Borg Cube is big and scary, being chased by them is fun, and a great crew can beat them if they work together and think outside of the box."
There's plenty of other minor tweaks in the new Star Trek Bridge Crew DLC as well, including new "shield modulation" and "precision phaser fire mechanics," plus better randomization from the Starfleet mission generator.
"Your Reddit posts and tweets suggesting new content were all quietly read by the development team," Janes writes, going on to describe the DLC as more than a reskin, but as a "cohesive package" shaped by player feedback.
While the DLC's main focus is, of course, The Next Generation, Red Storm Entertainment also announced a fun nod to Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Doomsday Machine," with the addition of a "fully functional" Planet Killer.
Star Trek: Bridge Crew The Next Generation DLC launches for PlayStation VR on May 22. LLAP.
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