In August, when gameXcite announced Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, a new strategy game set in the ’90s Trek timeline, longtime Trek fans too notice of a key line in its description: that “familiar faces return, but their fates may differ.” The assumption was that Across the Unknown might cross into the plots of popular episodes, giving players a chance to live it for themselves, and rewrite Captain Janeway’s decisions. Little did we realize the creative team meant that episode.
As teased in a new gameplay trailer, players will have the chance to oversee operations aboard Janeway’s Intrepid-class starship, futzing with the warp core, caring for patients in the medical bay with the help of the hologram Doctor, and fending off the Borg using photon torpedoes. In away missions, it looks like various shipmates will be playable, from Tom Paris and Henry Kim and even Artuis from the season 4 finale. But the big shocker is an appearance by Tuvix, the hybrid of Tuvok and Neelix. People who think they knew what to do better than Janeway did back in 1996, now it’s your turn.
Why did I literally gasp when Tuvix popped up in the footage for Across the Unknown? See, while Tuvix is the product of a transporter accident, he isn’t a monster or a temporary glitch; he’s competent, kind, and in short time proves valuable to the ship. Weeks pass while the crew searches for a way to reverse the accident, and when a method is finally found, Tuvix refuses for obvious reasons: separating him would end his life.
So Captain Janeway must choose: restore two original crew members (who never consented to being “gone”) or honor the autonomy of the new individual who wants to keep living. The ship’s Doctor refuses to perform the procedure on ethical grounds, so Janeway orders it herself, effectively killing Tuvix to bring back Tuvok and Neelix. The decision ignited a long-running debate — about identity, personhood, consent, and leadership under impossible circumstances — that’s since become a major Star Trek in-joke and moral touchstone. There’s one thing every Trek person seems to agree on: all Tuvix memes are good.
In Across the Unknown, the impossible scenario is presented as a perfunctory decision tree. It’s absolutely wicked — and hilarious.
If the rest of Across the Unknown is as prepared to send Trek discourse to warp speed, then it might just be an all-timer.
Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown does not have a release date, but will be released on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X.
