I've edited my review after the January 10 CBS announcement that the game would shut down. It made it abundantly clear who is to blame for the lack of progress and communication. I am leaving my original not recommended view, though don't fault the developer. And while it's still open (until January 31) I do recommend giving it a try to get an idea of the potential it had. And perhaps it'll lead to something new for for Puppet Master Games.


I recently got into CCGs and have been trying most of the free ones and a few paid ones. Out of the lot this is the worst from my perspective, unfortunately. I don't know what it is about the Star Trek license that consistently results in mediocre or outright bad games compared to the other big Sci Fi license. Such a pity.

I don't think it makes much sense to write a review for a free game since everyone can test it for themselves to see what they think but being a Star Trek fan, I felt rather disappointed and compelled to share my thoughts.

My biggest complaint is that there isn't much to do as there are basically two play modes:

- Ranked PVP
- Quark's PVE

There's no campaign, no casual PVP, no puzzles compared to similar games.

Quark's (PVE) is draft only. You must build a deck from random cards and then go up against the AI. As there are no "mana" cards - energy increases automatically with each turn - the AI usually wins as it eventually draws the most powerful cards. Not only that, the AI keeps on drawing multiple cards even when they should be down to a single card draw. I call that cheating.

Also, the developers thought it fun to increase the HP of AI opponents after each win going from 30 to 50 to 55 to 60 while you always have 30 HP. This effectively prevents PVE players from gaining any meaningful rewards in a decent amount of time because each win yields one latinum. It takes 10 to buy a new deck in this mode. However, you can only lose two times. Lose a third time and you’re out. Thus a) having to build a deck from random cards each time to b) every win increasing the next AI opponent’s HP to c) only being allowed two losses before it's game over amounts to a lot of frustration. That’s a bad thing for a F2P game. Add to that all the animations and explosions and the fact that only four ships can be on the field on each side at any given time really draws out every match, a considerable waste of time where as in similar F2P card games I am having fun and racking up rewards. On a positive note I do think the four-ship limit is interesting and you do have the option to retreat any of your ships for an energy refund, but it doesn't really work out to any strategic advantage in the random PVE decks.

Speaking of deck building, there are 25 AI opponents you can test your deck against from easy to Borg. Frankly easy was anything but. And as mentioned earlier the matches draw out too long. Also, you get nothing at the end. Nada. It truly is just practice.

On a side note, why am I fighting federation captains when I myself am playing federation (or Klingon fighting Klingon)? Somehow this really irks me.

I didn’t bother with PVP as I figured it would be even more frustrating since it's ranked PVP and most players would have premium custom decks while I won't spend a dime.

I get the feeling this has been prematurely released because the developer is strapped for cash. There are some interesting mechanics here, but it's wrapped in a frustrating package. Such a shame, I'd love to play a quality Start Trek CCG but will pass as I feel my time here isn’t well spent.

What would redeem this game for me: a PVE practice mode with rewards or a gauntlet mode for testing decks, also with rewards (like in Eternal). Also a casual PVP mode would be great.

I've edited my review after the January 10 CBS announcement that the game would shut down. It made it abundantly clear who is to blame for the lack of progress and communication. I am leaving my original not recommended view, though don't fault the developer. And while it's still open (until January 31) I do recommend giving it a try to get an idea of the potential it had. And perhaps it'll lead to something new for for Puppet Master Games. I recently got into CCGs and have been trying most of the free ones and a few paid ones. Out of the lot this is the worst from my perspective, unfortunately. I don't know what it is about the Star Trek license that consistently results in mediocre or outright bad games compared to the other big Sci Fi license. Such a pity. I don't think it makes much sense to write a review for a free game since everyone can test it for themselves to see what they think but being a Star Trek fan, I felt rather disappointed and compelled to share my thoughts. My biggest complaint is that there isn't much to do as there are basically two play modes: - Ranked PVP - Quark's PVE There's no campaign, no casual PVP, no puzzles compared to similar games. Quark's (PVE) is draft only. You must build a deck from random cards and then go up against the AI. As there are no "mana" cards - energy increases automatically with each turn - the AI usually wins as it eventually draws the most powerful cards. Not only that, the AI keeps on drawing multiple cards even when they should be down to a single card draw. I call that cheating. Also, the developers thought it fun to increase the HP of AI opponents after each win going from 30 to 50 to 55 to 60 while you always have 30 HP. This effectively prevents PVE players from gaining any meaningful rewards in a decent amount of time because each win yields one latinum. It takes 10 to buy a new deck in this mode. However, you can only lose two times. Lose a third time and you’re out. Thus a) having to build a deck from random cards each time to b) every win increasing the next AI opponent’s HP to c) only being allowed two losses before it's game over amounts to a lot of frustration. That’s a bad thing for a F2P game. Add to that all the animations and explosions and the fact that only four ships can be on the field on each side at any given time really draws out every match, a considerable waste of time where as in similar F2P card games I am having fun and racking up rewards. On a positive note I do think the four-ship limit is interesting and you do have the option to retreat any of your ships for an energy refund, but it doesn't really work out to any strategic advantage in the random PVE decks. Speaking of deck building, there are 25 AI opponents you can test your deck against from easy to Borg. Frankly easy was anything but. And as mentioned earlier the matches draw out too long. Also, you get nothing at the end. Nada. It truly is just practice. On a side note, why am I fighting federation captains when I myself am playing federation (or Klingon fighting Klingon)? Somehow this really irks me. I didn’t bother with PVP as I figured it would be even more frustrating since it's ranked PVP and most players would have premium custom decks while I won't spend a dime. I get the feeling this has been prematurely released because the developer is strapped for cash. There are some interesting mechanics here, but it's wrapped in a frustrating package. Such a shame, I'd love to play a quality Start Trek CCG but will pass as I feel my time here isn’t well spent. What would redeem this game for me: a PVE practice mode with rewards or a gauntlet mode for testing decks, also with rewards (like in Eternal). Also a casual PVP mode would be great.