All 15 Star Trek: The Next Generation Games (& When They Take Place)

Star Trek: The Next Generation spans fifteen years, seven television seasons, four movies, and fifteen video games, which can make it difficult to determine the chronology of events. Beyond Captain Picard and his crew, there’s an entire galaxy full of alien civilizations and complicated interplanetary politics that are hard for even the biggest Trek fans to keep straight.

The Next Generation was a cultural phenomenon that resurrected the Star Trek franchise and created a whole new generation of Trekkies. The television series was set in the years 2364-2370 and then was followed by the movies Star Trek Generations (set in 2371), Star Trek: First Contact (2373), Star Trek: Insurrection (2375), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2379).

Many of the Star Trek: The Next Generation video games fill in the gaps between movies, with several games tackling the Dominion War that occurred after Insurrection. Other TNG games explore alternate timelines or let players serve aboard the Enterprise-D under Captain Picard himself. Here are all fifteen Star Trek: The Next Generation games and when they take place.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Birth of the Federation

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Birth of the Federation is a 1999 PC game developed by MicroProse and published by Hasbro Interactive. This turn-based strategy game gives players control of the Federation, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Ferengi Alliance, or Cardassian Union and features empire-building mechanics similar to the Civilization games. Though this game ties into TNG, the actual timeline is all over the place because players are controlling empires from their first inception through to the events of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Conquest

Star Trek: Conquest is a 2007 strategy game for the Wii and PlayStation 2 developed by 4J Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Players can command the Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, or Breen fleets and are responsible for building support structures, managing admirals and other officers, and commanding ships during combat. Star Trek: Conquest takes place in a non-canon alternate reality, but it’s set in the year 2364 which places it during the first season of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Borg

Star Trek: Borg is a 1996 point-and-click adventure game from Simon and Schuster for Windows and Mac. The player is a Starfleet cadet who encounters Q and is sent back in time to the Battle of Wolf 359. This battle took place in the two-part episode “The Best of Both Worlds” at the end of season 3 and beginning of season 4 of TNG, in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg and leads an attack on a Starfleet armada.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1993)

Star Trek: The Next Generation is a 1993 Game Boy and NES game by Absolute Entertainment in which the player takes the role of a Starfleet cadet participating in a training simulation.

The game takes place on board the Enterprise-D, and though there’s no specific date mentioned, the bridge officers on duty in the game line up with the command structure during seasons 2-7 of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1994)

In 1994, Spectrum HoloByte developed a Star Trek: The Next Generation game that was published under the subtitle Echoes from the Past for Sega and Future’s Past for Super Nintendo. It’s an adventure game in which players are investigating a temporal device being sought after by the Romulans and the Chodak. Echoes from the Past/Future’s Past doesn’t mention a specific date or year, but it takes place onboard the Enterprise-D with the same crew and bridge officers as seasons 2-7 of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity

Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity is a 1995 point-and-click adventure game developed by MicroProse and published by Spectrum HoloByte for PC and Mac. Players control Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D who are all voiced by the original cast of The Next Generation. The storyline of A Final Unity takes place around the year 2370, between the first two episodes of season 7 (“Descent” and “Liaisons”).

Star Trek: Klingon

Star Trek: Klingon is an interactive movie/RPG released by Simon & Schuster Interaction in 1996 for PC and Mac that was directed by Jonathan Frakes. The player is a young Klingon about to pass his Rite of Ascension when there is an assassination attempt on Chancellor Gowron, forcing the player to embark on a blood oath to avenge the Klingon High Council.

The exact timeline of Star Trek: Klingon is unknown, but it has to take place during Gowron’s chancellorship, placing it sometime between his election in season 4 of The Next Generation and his death in season 7 of Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek: The Next Generation – Klingon Honor Guard

Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard is a 1998 first-person shooter for Mac and PC released by MicroProse. This game is very similar in concept to Star Trek: Klingon, with the player in the role of a young Klingon investigating a plot to assassinate Chancellor Gowron. Klingon Honor Guard also takes place at some unspecified point during Gowron’s chancellorship.

Star Trek: ConQuest Online

Star Trek: ConQuest Online is an online strategy game for PC developed by Genetic Anomalies and published by Activision in 2000. The player is a member of the Q collective fighting against other Qs for control of the galaxy using game mechanics similar to Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering. As with anything relating to the Q, the timeline of ConQuest Online is hard to pin down, but it loosely takes place during The Next Generation.

Star Trek Generations

Star Trek Generations is a 1997 first-person shooter developed for the PC by MicroProse. Star Trek Generations essentially just follows the plot of the 1994 movie by the same name, so it takes place in the year 2371, shortly after the events of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Hidden Evil

Star Trek: Hidden Evil is an adventure game for the PC developed by Presto Studios and published by Activision in 1999. The player takes the role of Ensign Sovok, a human raised by Vulcans who must foil a plot to use a rare genetic seed’s destructive powers to control the galaxy.

Star Trek: Hidden Evil was marketed as a direct sequel to Star Trek: Insurrection, which took place roughly five years after the end of The Next Generation.

Star Trek: Invasion

Star Trek: Invasion is a 2000 space combat game developed by Warthog Games and published by Activision for the PlayStation. Star Trek: Invasion takes place during 2377, after the end of the Dominion War, which means it occurs after TNG and between the Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis movies.

Star Trek: Armada and Star Trek: Armada II

Star Trek: Armada and Star Trek: Armada II are PC games from Mad Doc Software and Activision that were released in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The Armada games are real-time strategy games in which players build and maintain fleets as either the Federation, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, or Borg Collective. Star Trek: Armada takes place in 2376 and Armada II occurs in 2377, placing both games in between the events of Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis.

Star Trek: Away Team

Star Trek: Away Team is a 2001 PC strategy game from Reflexive Entertainment and Activision. Players serve aboard the USS Incursion, an experimental Starfleet ship equipped with holographic technology that allows it to impersonate any vessel. Star Trek: Away Team takes place after the end of the Dominion War in 2377, after Star Trek Insurrection, and before Star Trek: Nemesis.

Star Trek: Bridge Commander

Star Trek: Bridge Commander is a space combat simulation game for PC developed by Totally Games and published by Activision in 2002. The player is a newly promoted captain who is assigned to investigate an exploding star. Star Trek: Bridge Commander occurs just after the Dominion War, which means it’s in between Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis.

There are Star Trek: The Next Generation video games in every major genre, spanning across the entire fifteen-year run of the TNG era, providing fans with a variety of ways to interact with Gene Roddenberry’s vast and complicated universe.

About The Author