- Original Release: N/A (Cancelled 2001)
- Developer: Cyberlore
- Publisher: Activision
- Original Platform: PC
- Not played: No leaked prototypes.
Borg Assimilator was an RTS game where you played as the Borg. In each of the 12 missions, you would have started with a few drones, building up your resources and assimilating enemies. Each mission would have you assimilating a new race, with the ultimate goal of getting the technology to produce an Omega Particle. If you complete these missions, you could then try to conquer the alpha quadrant in free mode.
There would also be threats along the way, such as Species 8472, viruses and individuality. You played as the “hive” with a Borg Queen acting as your conduit.
After announcing it, Activision ended up cancelling the game because “the game’s design did not reflect the established Star Trek universe”. The game was supposedly near completion at the time.
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I would have played the shit out of this!
THE LOSS THE WORLD SUFFERED
zoo/rollercoaster tycoon but with terraforming a planet with borg tech AKA the LBC’s age of isolation
OH MAN I WANT TO PLAY THIS
Thank you! I was thinking about this a while back when I was talking about Sim City but I couldn’t remember the name of it! I remember seeing some pictures in magazines back then but then heard nothing about it since
should have been made.
I want this. just finish it
What!!! Never heard of this. Would have been awesome
Ahh pity it was cancelled, that sounds really interesting.
Using the Aoe 2 engine. What a dream
Unfortunate it was cancelled though I really enjoy playing as the Borg in the Armada games (including Fleet Ops) and taking over everything.
always wanted this one to leak ngl
It does really seem that as the early 2000s got underway, gaming suffered, in part, due to some of the Star Trek fatigue that was undeniably starting to set in.
Urgh what a great frickin’ concept. Wish that had come out
This is a cool concept for a Trek game! Very unique as well for a game in general. Very sad to hear it never hit the shelves as I bet, if had been a well made game, would have been an instant classic amongst fans!
Borgcraft.
I was really hype by the game back in the day because of the concept, I was sad when they cancelled it.
This would have been awesome.
As someone who loves the Borg, I was so disappointed when this got cancelled! I think the concept was really cool, but I can definitely see now it may have been considered too dark for Trek considering you play as the ultimate bad guy
Look at those Starcraft aesthetics, looks just like a command center!
Shame it got canceled. Rather it not it fit the established Trek universe, I feel fans would have loved to play as the Borg and assimilate everything.
To bad it was cancelled, looks like a fun game
I wish a beta would have leaked or something, that actually sounds really interesting.
This looks so fun! Shame it never made it to full release. I woulda played the crap outta this!
This actually sounds like a really cool game. It says there were no leaked prototypes, which is a shame, but I know people have straight-up recreated lost media in modern engines just based off promotional materials. Someone should make this.
Okay, but this is an interesting concept! Like, I’m imagining a game like Civilization, but where you can only advance up the tech tree by assimilating technologies from other people; and you start off weaker than most of them, so you need to very carefully plan which civilizations you assimilate in which order until you become strong enough to just take them by force.
Also intrigued by the fact that “individuality” is a threat mechanic! Do you occasionally have some group of drones getting Hugh’d and you need to disconnect them before the infection spreads? Do you have to fight these rogue Borg?
And then there’s the metatextual level, where all cultures are always intrinsically hiveminds in games of this type, in that all of their units are under the control of a single player! Like, if you’re playing the Romans in Civ, the narration tells you that you’re playing as Caesar, but in reality you’re playing as the entire Roman Empire. I assume that the genesis of this game was someone noticing this fact and opting to literalise it.
Also, it’s a shame that it was cancelled, but I can definitely see why Paramount wouldn’t want what amounts to a genocide simulator representing their optimistic science fiction franchise.