In June of 2026, during the PC Gaming Show, Playstack and Magic Fuel Games revealed a new city-builder, or in this case, outpost builder, with Star Trek: Outposts Unknown. The game is a narrative-driven outpost builder where players take command of the U.S.S Resonant, leading a crew across strange new worlds.
Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is set in the 23rd century, the same era as Paramount’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. While it is still left to be seen if there will be any connections, there will be plenty of familiar Star Trek technology that fans of the IP will recognize.
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During Gamescom, we got a chance to go hands-on with Star Trek: Outposts Unknown. We got to see some of the building aspects and what to expect from the upcoming game. The narrative of the game will have players explore and build outposts on three distinct planets. Players will begin by building an outpost on a planet and then completing quests, pushing the story forward before moving on, until eventually unraveling everything.
I did not get a chance to see any of the story in my play session, but it will be interesting to see how a narrative-driven builder will work, as that is typically not the focus in these types of games. The building mechanics will be pretty familiar for anyone who has played other colony-builders such as Surviving Mars or Frostpunk.
Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is meeting players as a colony-builder while still embracing its IP.
Obviously, the main difference between these and Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is the Star Trek of it all. Players will be managing a federation crew, assigning them jobs and providing them with food, shelter, and other basic needs. In speaking with Magic Fuel Games developers, while there is a story, it is a vital part of the game; players could stay on a planet exploring and building a larger and larger outpost for quite some time before eventually being forced to move on.
From my limited play time, I could see all the intricate systems for building and management for your outpost. At one point, I was curious as to why Star Trek: Outposts Unknown even really wanted to focus on a more story-driven component because I could easily see myself just building a massive outpost all over the planet. There are management systems for crew, water, electricity, and resources to go with discovery and research, and even trade with other traders within the galaxy.
One of the more interesting aspects of Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is way players will manage their crew. They have different specializations and can be leveled up over time, which is nothing too unique, but players can choose to build no shelter and just have players live on their ship instead. So if players want to expand and build up their U.S.S Resonant, they can, or they can go the more traditional route of building actual shelter for them.
Star Trek: Outposts Unknown is balancing story-driven content with survival systems.
Now this will matter over time, as the crew will not be as efficient, as they must return the ship each night for sleep and/or other basic needs such as food. This becomes more complex as players expand across different planets, as they can manage supplies and resources across their outposts. Each planet will have a different set of points of interest (POI) for players to explore and help expand their manufacturing or unlock other complex systems.
All of these decisions will lead to various ways for players to manage their outposts: do you make more expansive outposts where people can just live on the planet, or do you treat it more like a manufacturing 9-5 job where your crew does their work and beams off the planet at night?
Star Trek fans will get to recognize all their favorite technology and that whole feeling of exploration and discovery that is very familiar to the franchise over all these years. Star Trek: Outposts Unknown, in my limited playtime, seems to be shaping up like a game that has plenty to offer for any fan of builder and management games, but it is still to be seen how all of these systems will completely interact and come together with a game that wants players to move forward and be story-driven.
Star Trek: Outposts Unknown will release on October 20, 2026 via Steam.
