Voidship: The Long Journey
- February 8, 2019
- Cydonian Games
- 8h median play time
Get on SteamIn "Voidship: The Long Journey" , you must travel through space for centuries to reach a set of coordinates, building and customizing your own warship using different weapons and modules. Space travel leads to the aging and death of your crew, who each have unique skills. A traditions system allows you to decide the principles of the surviving Terran people, and the game features complex strategic gameplay with tactical overlays for enemy weaknesses.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Voidship offers a unique blend of ship customization and crew management, allowing players to build their own ships and manage crew members who age and die over time.
- The game features engaging real-time combat with the option to control the ship directly or use an RTS-style interface, providing flexibility in gameplay.
- Despite its flaws, many players find the game entertaining and worth the price, especially when on sale, with a nostalgic feel reminiscent of titles like FTL and SPAZ.
- The game suffers from repetitiveness, with many encounters feeling similar and lacking variety, leading to a grindy experience over time.
- Technical issues and bugs, such as crashes and glitches, detract from the overall experience, making it feel unfinished for some players.
- The crew management system, while interesting, can feel shallow as crew members die quickly, and the impact of their skills is often minimal, reducing player investment.
- story33 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered intriguing but somewhat standard, with players noting its simplicity and lack of depth in mission variety. While it features interesting lore and context for the gameplay, many reviewers express a desire for more substantial narrative elements and mission diversity. Overall, the story provides a decent backdrop for the action, but it could benefit from further development and polish.
“Intriguing story, great combat, easy to pick up but difficult to master, and great explosions!”
“The story seems interesting, and I read along with it and was compelled to see where it was going.”
“The story and the feel of it channel sci-fi greats like Babylon 5 and Battlestar Galactica.”
“Choosing not to continue upon death is a flat restart - no fanfare, no story recap or salute to fallen travelers, it's just straight-up black screen, then main menu.”
“There are only a few (~10) randomly generated events that exist at all, with each system being a random combination of them + 5 story events which don't scale with difficulty progression.”
“Unfortunately, Voidship's take on this story is pretty vanilla.”
- gameplay31 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 55 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics, such as officer spawning and ship customization, which initially provide a fun and addictive experience. However, many players find that the combat becomes repetitive and tedious after a few hours, with some describing the mechanics as shallow and the overall experience as lacking depth. While the game has a polished presentation and interesting themes, technical issues and a limited gameplay loop detract from its long-term appeal.
“I like the officer spawning mechanic, with key crew members appearing from your ship population.”
“Creating your own ship module by module is a cool mechanic and actually has gameplay significance, forcing you to adapt your flight path accordingly.”
“The gameplay loop is really fun and addicting.”
“After one hour of gameplay, the game becomes boring.”
“The game is buggy (looping sound effects, accidentally nuking yourself while picking story dialogue options, etc.), and has some broken mechanics.”
“I really wanted to like this game, but the mechanics are too lightweight to offer you an engaging experience beyond the first few hours.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are described as serviceable and visually appealing, effectively showcasing a variety of weapons and ships while maintaining a polished art style. Players appreciate the graphical fidelity as consistent with the provided screenshots, though some minor glitches have been noted. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the game's experience, complemented by a good musical score.
“Serviceable graphics that do a particularly good job of visually depicting the diversity of weapons and ships.”
“The game is polished, well executed and very pleasant in visuals, UX, and gameplay in general.”
“The game folder is full of XML files, so the only 'modding' that can be done is changing numbers and texts, but there's no chance to add new graphics or do any serious coding.”
“Think gratuitous space battle's graphical style/combat, with a sprinkling of FTL, namely the sector map, and text-based story and events.”
“Graphics – exactly what it looks like in the screenshots.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, leading to a decline in enjoyment after a few hours of play. While the game has potential, the need for extensive grinding and the resulting monotony in combat mechanics detract from the overall experience.
“So much potential in this game, but it just became tedious and boring.”
“Really the only negative thing I have to say about the game is that it gets very grindy and repetitive quite quickly.”
“Unfortunately, combat becomes tedious, and the complexity of the game's other mechanics are really only good enough to sustain 3-4 hours of playtime before it feels boring.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players find it highly immersive and engaging enough to lose track of time, others criticize it for limited content and repetitive gameplay, leading to a lack of long-term replay value. Overall, opinions vary significantly, with some praising its depth and others deeming it lacking in replayability after a short playthrough.
“Some have said this is 'just another FTL clone', but I assure you it goes much further than that. Although the modules and incidents are limited, it has a high replayability value. You may be surprised when you take a look at the clock and notice how many hours you've been playing.”
“After playing Voidship for just a couple of hours, I have so much to say, and this proves that the game offers a ton of depth and replayability.”
“Despite being a roguelike, this game has a surprising amount of replayability that keeps you coming back for more.”
“For me, the replay value is none.”
“The game can be beaten in under 4 hours, and after that, there isn't much replayability, honestly.”
“Not a ton of replayability here despite being a roguelike.”
- music5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- -20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, effectively conveying a unique emotional tone that balances between uplifting and melancholic, though it can be repetitive. While the soundtrack complements the gameplay, some users noted a limited variety in both music and sound effects. Overall, the music enhances the experience, despite some critiques regarding its repetitiveness.
“The story is standard fare, but the music tracks manage to convey the rare 'depressing but not actually depressing' feeling.”
“The art style and direction are good, and the music is great (but also repetitive).”
“The soundtrack is matching.”
“Limited music and sound effects.”
“Your arsenal: monodirectional weapons, omnidirectional weapons, fighters, drones, bombs, missiles; the only lethal thing you won't have is disco music from the 60s.”
“The story is standard fare, but the music track(s) manage to convey the rare 'depressing but not actually depressing' feeling.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from numerous stability issues, including various bugs like looping sound effects and broken mechanics that hinder gameplay, such as problems with weapon usage and targeting systems. Despite these frustrations, players still find themselves drawn back to the game.
“The game is buggy (looping sound effects, accidentally nuking yourself while picking story dialogue options, etc), and has some broken mechanics.”
“The ability to use both RTS and WASD modes is good, but somewhat buggy and missing useful functionality: in WASD mode, you lose the ability to use different weapons independently, and using module targeting in RTS screws up your defense turrets for some reason.”
“The game is buggy as hell too.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Overall, the game performs smoothly without crashes, but players feel it lacks polish and balancing, suggesting that further optimization could enhance the experience.
“Everything runs smoothly enough, but I get the impression it could use a lot more polish and balancing.”
“I don't know the history of this game and what bugs it had, but everything runs smoothly and there are no crashes.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is described as mildly entertaining, with moments of absurdity, such as ships ricocheting off walls, providing both amusement and frustration during gameplay. Overall, players appreciate the comedic elements, though they can sometimes interfere with the game's flow.
“If you want a more in-depth and mildly humorous take on this game, I made a video review.”
“I've had a larger ship start ricocheting from wall to wall at wild speeds, which is funny but frustrating when it delays a battle.”
