Star Trek Online may continue the stories after the TV shows and movies, but the game's tasks and features push the game into mirror universe territory. Star Trek Online allows players to purchase ships of immense firepower that even the Borg would see as overkill and gives players the ability to use banned weapons in the Star Trek lore. Moreover, instead of peaceful negotiations with an equally peaceful resolution, Star Trek Online opts for combat, killing multiple alien races in the process.
Released by developer Cryptic Studios and published by Atari in 2010, Star Trek Online is a free-to-play MMORPG that gives fans of the franchise a more interactive experience - much like the Star Trek Tabletop RPG adaptations. Set after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, Star Trek Online continues to get a reasonably steady stream of content like new factions such as the Dominion and various in-game events. Moreover, the game also continues the Star Trek narrative with new story arcs that even have the actors and actresses from the show reprising their characters.
While the missions may seemingly always end in a conflict in Star Trek Online, the game's narrative holds to the Star Trek spirit. Star Trek Online builds a narrative through various story arcs that mirror the episodic structure of the shows. From the state of the Klingon Empire and how Romulus became a Republic to re-exploring the Delta Quadrant, Star Trek Online fills in the gaps that other Star Trek games from The Next Generation to The Original Series only build upon. The gameplay may not match the movies and shows, but the narrative is essentially playing episodes from the Star Trek series.
How Star Trek Online Is Essentially A Mirror Universe
Star Trek Online lets players try out their favorite starships from the franchise; however, some of these ships seem out of place in Star Trek lore. From a Battlecruiser of the Romulan Tal Shiar, the Star Trek equivalent of Earth's secret police during World War II, to an Undine Bio-cruiser, a ship from a xenophobic species that tried to wipe out the Federation, Star Trek Online plays around Star Trek canon. Moreover, with the Star Trek Online Stormfall update, the game's vessels have among the highest damage output capabilities and are not only broken during PVP but possibly violate a treaty or two in Federation law.
Starships of mass destruction aside, Star Trek Online also plays around with canonically banned weapons. A relatively frequent weapon used in the MMO is a tricobalt torpedo, a high yield explosive device that can cause distortions or even tears in subspace that can endanger any ship with a warp core. While the tricobalt device is technically not made to cause subspace distortions, unlike a subspace weapon, which is banned under the second Khitomer Accords, the weapon can disrupt subspace, especially with a high enough yield. However, Star Trek Online continues making the weapon easily obtainable and downplaying the potential danger, a mistake that The Next Generation game, Star Trek: Resurgence, will hopefully correct.
Star Trek Online allows fans, new and old, to live out their dream of being a Captain and exploring the galaxy. However, while the game is seen as the de facto canon continuation of the show, Star Trek Online's gameplay takes relatively considerable liberties at the expense of Star Trek lore. Star Trek Online offers players the opportunity to boldly go where no one has gone before, but it's difficult to ignore how close the game is to the Mirror Universe.