The Long Journey Home

“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.”

“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 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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”