Jumplight Odyssey

63%
Game Brain Score Based on 590 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • graphics
Jumplight Odyssey Game Cover
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Jumplight Odyssey is a strategy role-playing game that takes players on a journey through a vibrant, ever-changing universe. Command a fleet of ships, explore new worlds, and engage in thrilling tactical battles against alien races. Your decisions and the alliances you forge will shape the fate of the Jumplight Galaxy.

  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

63%
Audience ScoreBased on 590 reviews
story13 positive mentions
stability39 negative mentions
  • The game features a charming retro anime aesthetic that appeals to fans of classic sci-fi.
  • The ship building and layout management aspects are engaging and provide a unique gameplay experience.
  • The developers are responsive to community feedback and actively working on bug fixes and improvements.
  • The game is plagued by numerous bugs and performance issues, making it frustrating to play.
  • Many core gameplay mechanics, such as resource management and crew AI, are underdeveloped and lead to confusion.
  • Development has been paused indefinitely, leaving the game in an incomplete state with no clear future updates.
  • story121 mentions

    The game's story is described as having great potential but currently feels underdeveloped and repetitive, primarily revolving around away missions that lack variety and depth. Players appreciate the art style and character diversity, but many express disappointment over the absence of engaging narrative elements and scripted events, leading to a gameplay experience that feels flat and on rails. While the core concept is intriguing, the execution leaves much to be desired, with hopes for future updates to enhance the storytelling aspects.

    • “The world and story are engaging and exciting, the art is nostalgic and beautiful, and the gameplay is deeply satisfying, a great source of dopamine.”
    • “The highlight so far has been sending crew out on missions and watching the emergent stories and micro-interactions between crew.”
    • “It's a good balance of story, strategy, and world building.”
    • “It's exceptionally sad because there was supposed to be a lot of content coming along the way, like new ships and storylines; however, now there is just one storyline and with the same ship, which is not much considering you're paying almost €30 for it.”
    • “Right now it plays like it's on rails and any story content or random events aren't there, so the game's main failing right now is its core gameplay loop is quite bland.”
    • “More specifically, the game's description made me think there would be a focus on characters and storytelling, maybe random events about the crew's needs and moods... but there's nothing.”
  • gameplay100 mentions

    The gameplay of the game is described as addictive and engaging, featuring a mix of resource management and ship-building mechanics reminiscent of titles like "FTL" and "Evil Genius." However, many players report significant bugs and unfinished mechanics that detract from the experience, leading to a frustrating gameplay loop that can feel repetitive and shallow. While the core gameplay has potential and offers a unique aesthetic, it requires further development and polish to fully realize its promise.

    • “The base builder + FTL combo scratches both of my favorite gameplay itches.”
    • “Gameplay is heavily focused on resource acquisition and management, which in turn allows you to build things on your multiple ship decks like metal extractors, medical beds, and greenhouses consisting of various crops.”
    • “Even at this early access stage, it's a fun game with challenging gameplay that makes you want to come back for more when you eventually have to start a new run due to mishaps!”
    • “I wanted to like this game, but development has stalled and I don't see any of the major issues I had with the gameplay addressed in the patch notes.”
    • “Unfortunately, there are a lot of bugs which makes gameplay a bit boring.”
    • “The current bugs completely break gameplay.”
  • graphics94 mentions

    The graphics of the game are widely praised for their retro anime aesthetic, reminiscent of classic 80s and 90s space operas, which evokes nostalgia among players. While the art style and animations are considered charming and visually appealing, some users note that the game suffers from technical issues and bugs that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are seen as a strong point, but the game requires further polish to fully realize its potential.

    • “The game is beautiful, and I absolutely love the art style.”
    • “The graphics are cutesy cool and cartoonish; it's a nice blend of enough realism to keep things working, but cute enough that it's fun and a great aesthetic choice.”
    • “Its early sci-fi anime art style fills me with nostalgia and looks amazing, and I love the premise of the game, space battleship Yamato meets Battlestar Galactica.”
    • “I really wanted to like this game, but it basically only has aesthetics going for it at the moment.”
    • “There are graphical quirks like crew members' knees bending backwards while carrying objects, and placeholder art in the form of featureless white boxes instead of control panels.”
    • “I've not once gotten past 31 fps, and given the game's non-challenging art style, I'd wager it's a lot of inefficient code related to the real-time management of hundreds of characters.”
  • stability41 mentions

    The game is widely reported to be in a very buggy and unstable state, typical for early access titles, with numerous glitches, AI issues, and performance problems such as lag and corrupted saves. While some players find enjoyment in the core gameplay despite these issues, many express frustration over the lack of development progress and the game's unfinished nature. Overall, while there is potential, the current stability significantly detracts from the experience.

    • “I have enjoyed the game when I can get it to play properly with no glitches or crashes.”
    • “It's a total buggy mess; the AI quickly gets overloaded and unresponsive.”
    • “The early access is bug-ridden and glitches galore.”
    • “Still far too buggy and frustrating to enjoy at all; maybe it will improve with more patches, but this one hasn't really addressed anything useful.”
  • music30 mentions

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its beautiful and nostalgic soundtrack that evokes feelings of hope and captures the essence of 1970s animation and 80s aesthetics. However, some players found the pause screen music to be repetitive and off-putting, leading to a desire for an option to disable it. Overall, while the main soundtrack is celebrated for its quality, there are concerns about balance and the impact of certain tracks on the gaming experience.

    • “One of the most beautiful soundtracks in a long time.”
    • “The soundtrack is a masterpiece at reflecting romantic 1970's animation, btw.”
    • “The music feels me with a sense of hope and the soundtrack is a superb delight.”
    • “I make use of the pause screen frequently to consider builds and the music there is like an elevator style which evokes a smile the first time but quickly becomes nauseating and thus I had to turn the music off, which is a shame as the main music is quite good.”
    • “Also, the music makes my ears bleed.”
    • “The soundtrack is the sort of thing you would expect to hear in an elevator.”
  • optimization18 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with some players experiencing significant performance issues such as stuttering and sluggishness, particularly after extended play sessions. While some users report solid performance and high frame rates, others highlight the need for further optimization, especially regarding crew management and gameplay responsiveness. Many players express hope that ongoing updates will address these concerns, given the developers' commitment to improving the game.

    • “Performance has been solid for me and I get around 100+ fps at 5120x1440.”
    • “Updated following some early patches: performance issues I experienced on launch are fixed, and now this feels like a really strong foundation to an interesting spin on the survival city builder genre.”
    • “The devs are doing a good job squashing the obvious bugs, but there's some gameplay issues that still need to be developed or optimized (which is understandable but noticeable), I think the biggest being crew optimization.”
    • “It could be better optimized - sometimes it feels sluggish and creating rooms is a pain, and things happen maybe too fast for us to get connected to the crew.”
    • “The final update has caused a horrible stuttering problem that only gets worse the longer your playthrough continues.”
    • “Great game with a lot of potential, but currently unplayable due to bugs and performance issues.”
  • grinding9 mentions

    Players frequently describe the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and cumbersome, particularly due to repetitive tasks like assigning resources and managing crew roles. Many express frustration with the user interface, which complicates access to essential information, making the overall experience feel laborious. Despite these issues, some players still find enjoyment in the campaign, indicating that the grind can be bearable for those willing to invest the time.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “Assigning civilians to divisions is tedious, especially over the manifest.”
    • “Things are very tedious and invisible, and I just have to guess where to focus my resources.”
    • “The UI is extremely tedious; you have to go through several steps to get information that should be accessible right at your fingertips.”
  • humor7 mentions

    The game's humor is characterized by its charming and colorful graphics reminiscent of 70s space anime and 80s cartoons, with amusing character interactions and quirky AI behaviors that lead to humorous situations. While some players find the humor in the game's design choices and crew dynamics entertaining, others feel that certain aspects can detract from the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully blends charm and humor, though it may not always hit the mark for everyone.

    • “The game is full of charm and humor, with colorful graphics and animations that evoke the classic space anime of the 70s.”
    • “Love the 80s cartoon feel of the game, and love the pig and robot characters (except when the robot gets depressed and stops working) - I hope more side characters are added with abilities and more humorous 80s cartoon incidents.”
    • “There is technically an 'ending,' but the game isn't close to finished yet, which makes my old review quite funny in retrospect.”
  • replayability7 mentions

    Overall, the game demonstrates significant replayability, particularly due to its engaging content and the developers' commitment to future enhancements. However, some players have noted that bugs and design choices can hinder the experience, leading to frustrations that may limit replay value for others. Despite these issues, many users still find themselves investing considerable hours into the game.

    • “The dev team has amazing heart and soul invested into this, and even though it's early access, it has amazing replay value. If and when the project is revived, I look forward to seeing many more features added. Until then, I'm going to keep racking up the hours.”
    • “The game is still in early access, but it already offers a lot of content and replay value.”
    • “I have now spent over 150 hours in this game just tinkering around and seeing what breaks, what doesn't, and the replay value is still huge for me.”
    • “This in fact makes the game almost unplayable and kills any replayability (your fuel is in the kitchen, your food is in the engine room).”
    • “Replayability is limited.”
    • “There are still bugs that forced me to save, quit, and reload, but it is definitely much more playable.”
  • emotional5 mentions

    Reviews indicate that the game struggles to evoke the deep emotional connections found in classic 70s anime, particularly during quieter moments. While players express heartbreak over the game's halted development, they also find solace in the community's shared experiences. However, concerns arise regarding the game's emotional morale system, which seems to detract from the overall emotional engagement.

    • “Seeing that the devs had to pause development on this game was honestly heartbreaking, because it's easily one of my favorite management games yet.”
    • “So you can imagine how incredibly heartwarming it’s been to see all of you come along after development has already been placed on hold and hear of the grand adventures you are all having!”
    • “Then the rest of the crew began their emotional break spiral.”
  • monetization4 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, with early access being perceived as a way to gauge interest while the developers simultaneously work on another project. While some players appreciate the game's unique qualities, concerns about its potential abandonment and the developers' financial issues have led to negative sentiments regarding its monetization approach.

    • “The developers put this up as early access as a cash grab and to gauge interest.”
    • “The game was good, but selling it as early access and then a few months later claiming they don't have the money anymore, while also developing another game, smells like a cash grab.”
    • “I see the game being called abandonware and a cash grab.”
  • character development4 mentions

    Reviewers express a desire for deeper character development, particularly for the lower deck crew, indicating that while the character design, artwork, and audio elements are praised, the narrative depth and growth of characters could be enhanced.

    • “The character design, artwork, music, sound effects, and voice acting are very nice.”
    • “The artwork and character design and music are really calming, and the game is pretty to look at.”
    • “Personally, I'd like to see more in the way of character development, even for the lower deck crew.”
  • atmosphere4 mentions

    The atmosphere in the game is highly praised for its immersive art and music, effectively capturing the essence of a space battleship simulator. Players must navigate complex environmental challenges, such as managing atmospheric pressure and fire hazards, which adds depth to the gameplay experience. Overall, the atmosphere is a critical element that enhances the tension and strategic decision-making within the game.

    • “It knows what it wants to be - a Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato simulator with incredible art, music, and atmosphere.”
    • “You've got to consider power, atmospheric pressure, production, as well as layout to enable your crew to perform their duties as best they can.”
    • “That's not good when one of them starts a fire and 10 crew members run in to put the fire out with no success. After you see the fire spread, the only thing you can do is vent the atmosphere, and this way, you kill the 10.”
    • “You've got to consider power, atmospheric pressure, production as well as layout to enable your crew to perform their duties as best they can.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

23hMedian play time
20hAverage play time
14-33hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 7 analyzed playthroughs

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