Review: STAR TREK: STAR REALMS — GeekTyrant

A few months ago, UVS Games and Wise Wizard Games released Star Trek: Star Realms. This game is designed for 2-4 players and is a competitive, combative deck builder.

The UVS team was kind enough to send me a copy of Star Trek: Star Realms for review purposes, but all thoughts below are my own.

Prepare for warp speed! Star Realms combines deck-building with TCG-style combat. Acquire Ships and Bases, generate Trade or Combat, and outmaneuver your opponents to reduce their Authority to zero. Live long and prosper as the ultimate strategist.

Star Realms originally released back in 2014 and I played the digital version a couple of times back then. I want to be clear that it was a long time ago and I did not play extensively, so I cannot do big comparisons between the original and Star Trek: Star Realms. If that’s what you are hoping for, I’m sorry that I cannot provide that. Your review is on another site.

Let’s talk about the basic gameplay. If you’ve ever played a deck builder such as Power Rangers Deck-Building Game, Dominion, etc., you know the core gameplay. You start with about 10 cards in your deck and play cards that allow you to purchase more cards for your deck, damage your opponent, and more.

It’s a simple concept that many gamers have enjoyed for a long time. Star Trek: Star Realms continues to implement this fairly well.

That’s right, this shouldn’t be that surprising but Star Trek: Star Realms appears to play identical to the original game. The art, names, and even some colors have changed, but everything else seems to be the same.

You have the Federation (blue), Klingon (red), Romulans (blue), and Dominion (yellow/purple). Like I said, I cannot do a great comparison between the original Star Realms and Star Trek: Star Realms, but a friend of mine who played a lot more of the original did note that it appears that there has been no rebalancing or meaningful adjustments to the game. Therefore, if you want a Star Trek reskin of a decent 10-year-old game, go for it!

If you’re new to Star Realms, I do want to highlight some things. First, my 7-year-old kid wanted to play it with me and we’ve played it at least three times. The game is recommended for ages 14+.

My 7-year-old was able to grasp the base mechanics of Star Trek: Star Realms no problem. They don’t understand a lot of the strategy in the game, but they know how to play the game and did legitimately beat me once.

This is not to say the gameplay is bad, just to help highlight how simple it can be and that you shouldn’t always take age suggestions for games very seriously. I do think the gameplay of Star Trek: Star Realms is fun in part due to the fact that it’s simple on the surface with a bit more depth the more you play.

I do want to take a minute to talk about the game components. The cards are well made and feel good. The box is not a bad size, although in all honesty it could be smaller.

The insert is very standard and uninspired. There’s a singular trench in the middle that’s slightly bigger than the width of the cards for everything to fit into. This could have been better designed in my opinion to have a spot for the Authority (victory point) tokens, maybe have a separate spot for starter cards, etc.

The game does also come with a paper playmat for the main deck and store. It’s nice because it has a glossary for the different icons to help remind you mid-game without looking through the rules.

I do think that a deluxe playmat could be made available, but for about $25, I guess we shouldn’t expect more than a paper playmat. If it didn’t have the iconography, it would definitely be superfluous though.

Do I like Star Trek: Star Realms? It’s okay. It is pretty fun and for someone who enjoys Star Trek, I like little details such as each card does have different artwork and an appropriate name showing some attention to detail.

I just wish that they had revisited some of the gameplay to make it feel a bit more balanced and modern somehow. Unfortunately, at this time I do not feel like I’ve played it enough to really have those suggestions ready.

I wouldn’t write off Star Trek: Star Realms, but I do want to acknowledge that this is just a reskin with no other value to it.