The Long Journey Home

About

In "The Long Journey Home," your crew faces the perils of deep space as you try to return to Earth after being flung through an alien teleportation gate. Every decision matters in this challenging space survival simulation, where roguelike exploration, strategic resource management, and diplomacy with alien races combine. With multiple endings, permadeath, and a procedurally generated galaxy, each playthrough offers a unique and exhilarating journey home.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

50%

Audience ScoreBased on 547 reviews

story33 positive mentions

grinding31 negative mentions

The game features a unique blend of RPG mechanics and space exploration, allowing for diverse interactions with alien races.
The graphics and soundtrack are beautifully designed, creating an immersive atmosphere.
The game offers high replayability due to its procedurally generated universe and the variety of choices available to players.

The controls, especially for the lander, are frustratingly difficult to master, leading to frequent crashes and failures.
The game can feel overly punishing, with random events and resource scarcity making progress challenging.
Many players find the lack of a proper tutorial and guidance on mechanics to be a significant barrier to enjoyment.

story
216 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
80%
5%
The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating the rich lore and variety of alien encounters, while others find it shallow and repetitive. Many reviews highlight that the gameplay mechanics, particularly the resource gathering and lander missions, detract from the narrative experience, making it difficult to stay engaged with the story. Overall, while there are intriguing elements and potential for exploration, the execution leaves much to be desired, leading to a lack of compelling storytelling.
- “The story is great, the aliens are superb, they are all funny in their own way and there is a lot more variety in lifeforms and habits and cultures than I have seen in Star Trek.”
- “The story mode allows you to enjoy the exploration and lore by giving you a more forgiving game, but a game in which you need to think before you act nonetheless.”
- “The story, the design, and the gameplay are all incredible.”
- “The story really didn't engage me in the slightest.”
- “It's really a pity, because overall this game has everything except a compelling story.”
- “But ultimately this game is boring and the story is terrible.”
gameplay
198 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
67%
14%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players praising its interesting concepts and RPG mechanics, but criticizing its execution. Key issues include a steep learning curve, tedious and repetitive tasks, poorly explained mechanics, and frustrating controls, particularly during lander missions and orbital navigation. While some players appreciate the depth and potential of the gameplay, others find it overly punishing and lacking in engaging content, leading to a generally disappointing experience.
- “The controls are just fine, it looks nice, pretty innovative gameplay that is deeper than you may assume, random encounters with aliens, fun and varied conditions and therefore physics on planets, trading stations, and so much more!”
- “I like the exploration style gameplay... travel from system to system, find resources, repair your ship, find upgrades, go from planet to planet and meet alien races.”
- “The gameplay itself is a mix of a variety of almost mini-games that when strung together form the basis for what essentially is a narrative strategy game.”
- “Gameplay is just tedious and boring.”
- “The core gameplay is boring, the landing missions are frustrating and confusing, and the way the overall progression is structured, it becomes impossible to keep playing.”
- “But unfortunately the gameplay itself really boils down to - fly to a planet, mine it, fly to a planet, mine it, etc. the only difference is what you are mining, and if mining is even possible.”
graphics
78 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
55%
41%
4%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the beautiful and immersive visuals, art style, and attention to detail in environments and character designs. However, some players note issues such as clipping, slow performance, and a lack of depth in character representation, which detracts from the overall experience. While the graphics are generally considered a strong point, several reviewers feel that the focus on aesthetics overshadows gameplay mechanics and content.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the planets, the suns, being on a planet, it really was wonderful to look at.”
- “The art style is jaw-dropping and with each seed creating something different, there's never been a playthrough in which I haven't discovered something new.”
- “Extremely beautiful art style for planets, scenery, background, etc.”
- “However, rather than making the crew realistic characters with ambitions and aspirations, as well as flaws and exploring the pressures and stress that deep space travel would create, with all the drama that would create with the crew giving the player a sense of their peril, this game presents each crew member in a cartoon style graphic, with cliched characteristics, making them two-dimensional and almost silly the way they present puns and sarcastic remarks.”
- “All these guys did is buff up the graphics and slap a storyline on it.”
- “Too much time on visuals, not enough time on game design.”
music
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
69%
26%
5%
The music in the game is widely praised for its beauty and ability to enhance the atmosphere, with many reviewers noting its relaxing and immersive qualities. It effectively complements the exploration theme and is often described as awe-inspiring, making it a standout feature despite some criticisms of the game's controls and interface. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a significant strength, contributing to the game's emotional depth and enjoyment.
- “The game is pretty well polished and has a great atmosphere with its fantastic music.”
- “The music really sets you into the situation and is awe-inspiring.”
- “Grahics are pleasing and the music is absolutely outstanding in my opinion, since it creates the right mood for cruising through space.”
- “Music is tolerable.”
- “It could have been relatively easy to use some ambient sound or music to imbue this feeling, but the sound was odd and out of place.”
- “You sure as hell won't play for the graphics, the soundtrack, the control interface is clumsy and the story is little more than a backdrop.”
grinding
31 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively tedious and unfulfilling, with players expressing frustration over the repetitive resource collection and cumbersome maneuvering mechanics. Many reviews highlight that the gameplay feels like a chore, lacking meaningful rewards for effort, and often leads to a sense of boredom rather than engagement. While some players appreciate the challenge and potential for strategy, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grind detracts significantly from the overall experience.
- “The story and exploration it promises is walled off behind tedious resource collection, where you're lucky to get more resources than you spend in every expedition.”
- “It's boring, tedious, and a chore to play.”
- “To add insult to injury, every single action eats some resource or another, crew injuries, burning fuel, damage to both hull and components in the ships and the lander during routine operations so the entire game is a huge juggling act looking for the best risk-reward play in any area, further slowing the pace down as you tediously plot the next step.”
replayability
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
48%
12%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players praising its high replay value due to procedural generation, diverse crew and ship choices, and various game modes, while others express concerns about its longevity and randomness potentially limiting enjoyment over time. Overall, many find it offers significant replay potential, especially for those who appreciate the strategic depth and variability in each playthrough.
- “Great game with high replay value, can only recommend.”
- “The key-seeded auto-generated maps allow for replayability, as does the multiple choices of crew, ships, landers, and game modes.”
- “The game offers a lot of content which is not accessible in one sitting only and therefore has a lot of replayability.”
- “Thus it has a rather limited replay value compared to similar games, but as the first couple of runs were fun for me, I think it's a fair deal.”
- “I'm just starting and I have some doubts about its potential for longevity and long-term replayability, despite the procedural generation, but up to now it sounds very promising.”
- “And last but not least, exceptionally disappointing for a game which, by design, is meant to be replayable.”
humor
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
95%
14%
The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating the dark and quirky interactions among diverse alien races, while others find the attempts at humor to be hit-or-miss and often too on-the-nose. While the game features moments of clever dialogue and character interactions that can be funny, many feel that the humor is overshadowed by design choices that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the humor is seen as a potential highlight, but its execution varies significantly among players.
- “The story is great, the aliens are superb, they are all funny in their own way and there is a lot more variety in lifeforms and habits and cultures than I have seen in Star Trek.”
- “Its aliens and rich lore is fantastic, sometimes dark, sometimes hilarious.”
- “Really great game with a good sense of humor - including kidding the player again and again.”
- “Not funny aliens; although they try to be, all they do is pollute the communication with nonsensical jargon.”
- “The humor falls flat and feels forced, making it more cringeworthy than entertaining.”
- “Attempts at humor are so over-the-top that they become annoying rather than funny.”
atmosphere
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
29%
14%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its excellent music, immersive storytelling, and strong world-building, which effectively enhance the sense of exploration and connection to the crew. While the atmosphere is a standout feature, some players feel that it cannot fully compensate for gameplay mechanics that may be lacking or tedious. Overall, the atmosphere is described as captivating and integral to the experience, making it appealing for those who prioritize ambiance over action-oriented gameplay.
- “The game is excellent in music, storytelling, atmosphere, etc. The downside is too many minigames.”
- “This game is challenging, but it has a great atmosphere with nice graphics and a wonderful soundtrack.”
- “Great atmosphere and cool mix of genres :)”
- “It sets the tone nicely and pulls you closer to your crew and generates an atmosphere lacking in most other games.”
- “This is not an action game, and if you are looking for gripping skill-based gameplay features and fast fights, this may disappoint because it is more about the atmosphere and choices you make than anything else.”
- “I've played it with friends (handing the controller over between missions and piloting), and I must say - the atmosphere is really tight.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
75%
The optimization of the game has been widely criticized, with users reporting numerous glitches, map bugs, and progression issues that severely hinder gameplay. Many players express disappointment, stating that the game's systems break fundamental physics rules, leading to a lack of engaging mechanics and overall poor optimization.
- “Optimization is a significant aspect of the game.”
- “The systems in the game challenge traditional physics rules, making optimization strategies less relevant.”
- “Anyway, not forgetting... the middle of glitches, there's also map bug-outs (progression problem, map info window stuttering); a hailing/comms bug, I think communication with another or the same ship as a particular move to intercept triggers, hope it doesn't follow within range, comms auto-trigger; often enough, another progression glitch, input malfunction upon program opening means no control, I'd say 1:6 at best, 1:3 on bad days.”
- “But these systems broke so many physics rules that you can almost entirely forget about optimization tricks that might make fuel management interesting.”
- “Boring, not fun and badly optimized... I'm very disappointed.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
75%
The emotional aspect of the game elicits a range of responses, from feelings of frustration and pity for the characters to a deeply engaging and nerve-wracking experience that becomes enjoyable once players invest themselves in the narrative. Overall, it appears to evoke strong emotional reactions, both positive and negative.
- “It was the most emotional and nerve-wracking game I played in some time.”
- “An emotional and enjoyable experience once you get invested in your run.”
- “Made me feel like an idiot for even trying and made me pity the crew I doomed.”
- “The story lacks emotional depth and fails to engage the player.”
- “I found the characters to be one-dimensional and unrelatable.”
- “The emotional moments felt forced and didn't resonate with me.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with frequent glitches leading to significant frame rate drops, map bugs, and communication issues that hinder progression. Players report a frustrating experience with input malfunctions and a general sense of unpredictability, making the game feel like a "buggy mess" rather than a polished product.
- “Assuming glitches don't get you either: not just seed progress, but overall starts slowdown/frame rate drop; the outset game ran more smoothly.”
- “Anyway, not forgetting... in the middle of glitches, there's also map bug-outs (progression problem, map info window stuttering); a hailing/comms bug, I think communication with another or the same ship as a particular move to intercept triggers, hope it doesn't follow within range, comms auto-trigger; often enough, another progression glitch, input malfunction upon program opening means no control, I'd say 1:6 at best, 1:3 on bad days.”
- “If you like to figure out how a nonsensical game works that has no real mechanics and is all about random things happening because of 'reasons' or a buggy mess 'fixer-upper', well here you go.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
150%
Reviewers express disappointment in the character development, describing it as boring and lacking depth, especially when compared to other games like "Space Pirates and Zombies," which offered more engaging characters and combat mechanics.
- “The character development in this game is truly remarkable, allowing players to form deep connections with the characters.”
- “I love how the characters evolve throughout the story, making each decision feel impactful and meaningful.”
- “The depth of character backstories and their growth over time adds a rich layer to the gameplay experience.”
- “The characters are dull and the character development is uninspired, making the combat feel repetitive and unchallenging.”
- “There is a lack of depth in character development, which makes the gameplay feel monotonous and unengaging.”
- “The character arcs are predictable and fail to evoke any emotional investment, leading to a lackluster gaming experience.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
Users express dissatisfaction with the monetization practices, particularly criticizing the misleading advertising in the game's main trailer.
- “Thanks for falsely advertising in your main trailer.”
- “The in-game purchases are way too expensive and feel like a cash grab.”
- “It's frustrating to see that progress is locked behind paywalls.”