A Long Journey to an Uncertain End Reviews

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.