A Long Journey to an Uncertain End

A tentative recommend--probably with the caveat that I would wait for a sale in retrospect. Overall, it's a charming game that clearly had a lot of love put into it, and a great concept with a mid-execution. I paid day one price for it and while I don't regret purchasing it at that price, that mostly stems from the fact that I am supporting an indie studio and a passion project that I hope they work on or spin-off. Pros: -Interesting concept: The world and lore is more interesting than the central story, but I like the layers of "VN meets timed escape meets resource management." And I'm a sucker for Sci-Fi. Would love to see more in this universe. -Not too easy: had two failures before really understanding the mechanics and nailing my third attempt. -Little hand-holding. I appreciate the game letting me figure it out. -Art Style: I'm seeing some complaints and I disagree. Yes, it's different, but it looks best on the characters in-world, not the PC. -UI: Once you get the hang of it, the UI is clean and the mission system makes a lot of sense. -Text and click-through: VN at your own pace, but if you don't like to read skipping through is easy "Beige" Flag -More customization options are available for your character as time goes on. Fun idea, but more base options should be available at start. Cons: -The main story is fairly short -I don't anticipate replaying it--there was not enough time with characters to want to dive back in and get them all -Bugs: Changing costumes was a nightmare and never worked for me. Additionally, it forced an early game character on me when I didn't recruit them, including all cutscenes. -[Potential Spoiler, or something I missed in game] [spoiler]You have a character that does drag, and we never get to see the drag persona, despite being hinted that the character wants to perform?? A crime! [/spoiler]

A long Journey has so far been fun for me, I can see a lot of replay potential by making different choices. I started my game on my PC , but then out of curiosity wanted to see if it would run in my steam deck and it runs perfectly without me having to change a thing. This type of game is really perfect for the steam deck as it has a pretty casual pace if you need it to. I can see a lot of room for variability between runs by taking on (or not taking on) certain crew members as well as in the dialogue choices you make. The crew building aspects of the game fell somewhat similar to Mass Effect (which I consider a good thing) where crew members have different strengths and weakness in different situations. Each crew member brings unique dialogue choices with them as well. Some of the core game play feels like a mix between FTL and other mission bast rouge like games. To me the game goes the extra steps to have options in there related to pronouns and sexual preference that some may feel are unnecessary, but I don't feel like it is obtrusive, to me it is just like doing initial characters set up in almost any modern RPG, with just a couple of extra steps. Within the games story line you come across people with all kind of preferences and the characters back stories are built up enough and the dialogue is well enough constructed that it doesn't feel like a modern (forcefully all inclusive) Disney movie. My favorite character so far is the gigantic muscle bound guy who gives you access to intimidation and muscle checks for dialogue and just so happens to also be a famous drag queen. The contrast presented in just this one character is hilarious and there are many many more I just haven't come across yet. I havent completed my first run yet, but am already planning on different choices to make on my next go around.

A delightful little narrative-based space management game. I was a little childish with the custom pronouns but having all the characters call my ex ******* and similar things absolutely never got old.

A short little game, cute story and very fun characters. Makes me want to play a space ttrpg with my friends!

A nice short game! i do think a bit too much at its current price, as i finished it in 2 hours, but its a solid rpg experience with resource management elements. i like the setting, and the characters, but mostly i could see how much the team really loved this game. Maybe it could be longer, but the setting is clearly very loved and thought out

Wow Wow I hoped that if art style is bad, at least story would be intriguing? At least that was my thoughts after checking out the description Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut THIS IS such a boring ♥♥♥♥, ♥♥♥♥♥♥ then possible, if it was longer it would bore me to death. No realyy, one of the most unimpressive, unengaging stories that I ever read, and there was a lot of boring stories main character is pathetic, empty, there no backbone, no character, even no AI flavor in the MC Characters cast are uninvolving and mediocore except the first one. They are so boring that I even cant remeber there names right after the game and that's when I am writing literally after closing it.

A LONG JOURNEY TO AN UNCERTAIN END has you playing the sentient AI of a spaceship, on the run from a vengeful and possessive ex, picking up an assorted crew of misfits as you hop from planet to planet, station to station, picking up odd jobs to keep yourself and your crew fueled up and content! I find myself charmed by this game, even as I acknowledge its shortcomings: the crew members you pick up have well-defined colorful personalities and backstories, but they take a backseat to your own journey as you try to stay ahead of your increasingly deranged, threatening ex. In fact, your ex takes the spotlight for most of the game, which could perhaps be seen as an unfortunate truth in fiction; as they take every opportunity to center themselves in your life and harass you over the comms: mixing sweet honeyed words with threats over how you'll regret trying to escape in the first place, gaslighting you into doubting your own decisions. I named my ex "Lungexploder". I hope you'll find that amusing. ‪ Furthermore, while the crew are great characters: they don't really interact among themselves, which I feel is the whole point to having such a colorful cast? You got a cranky grandma cyborg, a casanova pilot, and an intergalactic drag queen on the ship, and they DON'T have fun conversations? Granted, it would have been a lot of additional writing to figure out who would would be on the ship at any one time and then writing for potential pairs or trios (or even a whole group if/when you wrangle the whole crew together!). But I think it would have been worth it. Like a whole lot. ‪ The majority of the game will involve you landing on planets/space stations and assigning your crew to odd jobs to either get more resources to keep yourself spaceborne, or sniff out clues on where to head on next; all the while the timer at the top of the screen counts down to your ex catching up. In theory, this should be a finely tuned tension in time management: scrounging for food/fuel while making sure to keep ahead of your ex. In practice, by the time your crew is large enough you can take every job available at a location and be out in a couple of hours: the rewards from jobs tending towards VERY generous. In fact, I think something might genuinely be wrong with the numbers under the hood of this game? I personally don't mind how easy it is, but veterans of roguelikes should beware: this long journey to an uncertain end will probably be much shorter and also more certain than you're used to. What I think is DEFINITELY broken are the shields/hull resource, which are used in "finales" after visiting a series of locations: where you have to break through a blockade set up by your ex, and either use the crew's skills or your resources to avoid fire or take shield/hull damage. In theory. In practice: I have never, not once, failed a finale or taken any ship damage during them. I have even tried making every bad decision that would result in... something? Anything? But no, the only time your shields/hull resource goes down is if you trade it away for food and fuel. ‪ In the end, this is a game I liked that I wish I loved instead. The characters are fun but underused (ex is pitch perfect terrible and terrifying though: no notes). The game mechanics are easily exploitable and maybe even broken. I can see a version of this game that was given more of a budget and time to bake, but alas: here we are.

Witty, light, and frothy despite the subject matter! I enjoyed all the little quests on the planets and the crew members are a lot of fun. Lot of comments made on the length and ease. I'm not sure how well the game works if it's twice as long or five times as hard, but it did look like I'd seen most of the planets and quests in one playthrough. There's no real reason not to do all planet quests simultaneously once you have enough crew, and a good chunk of the planets are defined by the plot. Could be more variation between quests and planets than I think, though! As is, it's a very charming little experience. I think my main disappointment is the description hints at misbehaving mayhem by the crew, and the crew provided no real mayhem. Where are my cascading riots??

I was really looking forward to this game. I backed it on kickstarter. I like the visual design of the characters on your ship and their personalities. Unfortunately I found the gameplay and story structure significantly lacking. I was surprised by the plot premise (granted, I was trying to keep those aspects of it a surprise for myself during development so it could be that I was just ill-prepared), but I just think it's a premise that doesn't make any real sense in the structure of this style of game. I really wanted to like it, but I have no desire to delve further into it. Especially with all of the additional reviews on ultimate gameplay length.

I want to start this review by saying that even though I got the game for free, I get many free games & this is one of very few that I have played all the way through because it drew me in so strongly. I will be editing this later with a fully fleshed out review but the TL;DR is that you don't want to pass on this game. I laughed, I cried - the story touched me at my core & the characters will be in my heart forever. Not to mention I am so enamored with the art style. This game checks so many of my boxes: Representation of marginalized individuals (BIPOC, queer, trans & characters with various disabilities) Ability to make your character look however you want with no gendered terms in regards to the body shape Well written & emotional dialogue Broaches sensitive topics with grace (& includes a content warning that you can have pop up every time you boot the game!) On top of that its fun to play. Looking forward to what Crispy Creative puts out next!