The Long Journey Home (video game)
The Long Journey Home is a space exploration and roguelike video game developed by Daedalic Entertainment Studio West and published by Daedalic Entertainment. Released in 2017 for PC, Mac, and Linux, and later ported to consoles, the game tasks players with guiding a ship and its crew back to Earth after a prototype jump drive malfunctions and sends them light years away from home.
Gameplay focuses on resource management, ship upgrades, crew relationships, and dialogue-driven encounters with various alien species and civilizations. The game features a procedurally generated universe, meaning each playthrough offers a unique experience with different planets, resources, and alien factions.
The central objective is to gather the resources necessary to repair the jump drive and make the long and arduous journey back to Earth. Players must make difficult choices that impact the crew's morale, relationships, and the ship's condition. These choices often have significant consequences, leading to branching storylines and multiple endings.
Key elements of the gameplay include:
- Exploration: Navigating through star systems, scanning planets, and landing to collect resources.
- Resource Management: Gathering and managing fuel, oxygen, hull integrity, and other vital resources for survival.
- Crew Management: Assigning tasks to crew members, managing their skills and morale, and dealing with interpersonal conflicts.
- Dialogue and Diplomacy: Interacting with a wide array of alien species, making choices that can lead to alliances, trade, or conflict.
- Ship Upgrades: Improving the ship's capabilities by upgrading various systems such as engines, shields, and sensors.
- Procedural Generation: Offering a unique and unpredictable experience with each playthrough.