Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a virtual reality game where players explore space as a member of the Federation. Playable cooperatively with a crew or solo as Captain, Star Trek: Bridge Crew puts players directly onto the bridge in a Starfleet ship.

The mission: explore a largely uncharted sector of space known as The Trench, in hopes of locating a suitable new home world for the decimated Vulcan populace while coming into direct conflict with the vaunted Klingon Empire. Star Trek: Bridge Crew puts a player and their friends into the heart of a new starship, the U.S.S. Aegis, where every action and decision that is made together will determine the fate of the ship and crew.

Developed by Red Storm Entertainment, a Ubisoft Studio, Star Trek: Bridge Crew was designed exclusively for VR, capitalizing on the powerful sense of social presence only possible through virtual reality. Through hand tracking and full-body avatars, including real-time lip-sync, players can experience what it's like to serve as an officer on the bridge of a Federation starship.

You’ve probably heard of IBM’s Watson, the cognitive, question-answering computer that’s been busy beating Jeopardy! champions, editing movie trailers, collaborating on art and music, and making great strides in customer service and healthcare. Appropriately for something that sounds straight out of sci-fi, some of Watson’s technology is now coming to Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

Part of what makes Watson an effective question-answering machine is its ability to work with natural language – and it’s those interactive speech and cognitive abilities that are set to boldly make their way into Bridge Crew. When playing as Captain on either ship, the U.S.S. Aegis or U.S.S. Enterprise, you’ll be able to speak direct, interactive commands to your virtual Starfleet shipmates. Captains can use Watson for any crew of less than four players. And where in the past voice commands in games have often been a source of frustration and controller-hurling, this new technology – built using IBM’s VR Speech Sandbox system – promises a far smoother and more responsive experience.

“We have been eager to find the right way to use interactive speech to tap into the more immersive and interactive experiences that virtual reality offers,” says David Votypka, senior creative director on Star Trek: Bridge Crew. “Watson gives captains the ability to issue commands to non-player crew members in the same way they do with a human crew: by using their voice.”

Watson’s speech features will be available to Star Trek: Bridge Crew players this summer in beta for cross-platform play, enabling combinations of AI and human players and ensuring a seamless experience if a player drops out mid-session (or if two or three friends want to play privately).

As a crew, players will form a team of four to operate the roles of Captain, Helm, Tactical or Engineer. Each role is crucial to the success of the varied missions players face, and only by working together can the crew complete their objectives. Also playable in solo, players will assume the role of Captain and dispatch orders to their NPC crew mates. The Captain's strategic decisions will be vital in order to successfully complete missions.

It's up to players and their crew to chart the region, and to secure a peaceful Federation presence. The maiden voyage of the U.S.S. Aegis is theirs to command.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew marks the latest venture into virtual reality for Ubisoft, who believes in the strong potential of VR to redefine social gaming with a unique sense of reality. Keen to explore the opportunities of this emerging technology, Ubisoft recently announced the games Werewolves Within and Eagle Flight, as well as a VR partnership with the film company, SpectreVision.

The iconic U.S.S. Enterprise bridge from Star Trek: The Original Series will be playable in Star Trek: Bridge Crew.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew will arrive on May 30 for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.