A Long Journey to an Uncertain End gives me that feeling of joining a tiny online community or starting at a new job where I don’t know anybody. Basically, it feels like sitting down at a table with a group of people who know each other already and have established dynamics and relationships. I’m sitting there trying to figure out where I fit into it all, and the people I’m meeting for the first time are welcoming me like I’m one of their own.
It’s a game that puts you in charge of a crew of weirdos, each with their own skills and place in the world. Understanding these people, where they excel, and how they can best handle a situation, is key to success. In the preview build I played, I didn’t feel like I’d learned enough about these folks to wrap my head around their roles on my team until I had a fair amount of time with them. Now that I ended the demo feeling like I understood these six members of my crew, I’m excited to get to know them better.
Take Matias, the gruff, but lovable ex-drag queen who’s a big softy. On a ship full of roguish types, he’s the sweetheart that I never suspected or wondered if he might have an ulterior motive. Then there’s Truly, the pilot with street smarts, who used their expertise to secure us a cloaking device through smugglers.
In the short time I spent with these characters, I feel like I only scratched the surface of who they were and how they would grow to care for each other along the way. That scratch at least was deep enough to finally gain an understanding of how their skills, interests, and specialties would determine if we could complete odd jobs as we traveled through space.
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A Long Journey to an Uncertain End is all about leveraging your team’s talents to most effectively gather resources to power through your intergalactic getaway. That means recognizing when a job requires someone’s specific touch. Such as Aylah, the ship’s grandma, using her technical prowess to fix up one of the local’s machinery in exchange for fuel for the ship. Or maybe we need something acquired by less than lawful means, which is something Denny is particularly adept at doing. If I felt so compelled or alternatives were busy on other jobs, I could send Matias in to brute force his way through these problems. But that’s hardly an efficient use of our limited time.
After all, my ex is chasing after us. He’s the reason I’m on the run. And if this band of nerds is willing to help me escape his abusive clutches, I’ll take every bit of help they can offer.
Also, there’s an AI corgi. Look at zem!
Being plucked into A Long Journey to an Uncertain End’s little family of spacefaring nerds felt like being wrapped in a warm blanket. With all my new friends tending to my needs as a captain, a friend, and someone on the run from some asshole who hurt me. It’s got a rough, grungy science fiction setting, but its cast makes it feel cozy in the face of dire circumstances. I’m ready to learn more about these new friends once A Long Journey to an Uncertain End launches on PC later this year.
The game is now crowdsourcing on Kickstarter.
Disclaimer: A Long Journey to an Uncertain End is being represented by Player Two PR, where Fanbyte Featured Contributor and wife of Garrus Vakarian Natalie Flores is currently interning. But I’m not Natalie, I’m Kenneth Shepard. We are two totally independent human beings and I have my own opinions and I expressed them for you in this here blog.
