Preview: A Long Journey To An Uncertain End

No video game demo has ever managed to make me cry - that is, until this one. Crispy Creative’s first original IP, A Long Journey to an Uncertain End, has the potential to be the best queer representation in a video game to date.

A Long Journey to an Uncertain End is described as “a narrative management space opera where you recruit eclectic crew members, explore the known - and unknown - galaxy, make choices to drive your journey, and escape the clutches of your abusive ex.” Our preview demo provided us with a sample of just that: a hint at the story, an introduction to the diverse cast of characters, and a taste of exploring the stunning star system. Every second left me intrigued and itching for more. 

Presentation

Upon starting the demo, I was immediately mesmerized by the cheerful music, reminiscent of audio dramas among the likes of Eos 10 and Marsfall. By combining upbeat, lo-fi beats with an ambiance of space, you are given a perfect background for your on-the-run space antics, and it fucking slaps. The soundtrack perfectly matches the whimsical art style, which gives off neon pastel vibes with a modern cosmos twist. I am so enamored with the atmosphere of this game; everything including the design, story, and addictive gameplay loop left me invested and wanting to disappear into this world. 

I was then struck by the game making no assumptions about the player. Your character begins as an unnamed silhouette with a futuristic, abstract glitch effect and remains so until you customize xem. In a refreshing twist, this character creator does nearly everything right. The player is given four pronoun options: he/him, she/her, they/them, and custom - allowing folks who use neopronouns or more than one set of pronouns to be authentically represented in their characters. For body types, you are given the option of a masculine, feminine, or censored chest in both a slim and a thick build. My biggest gripe with the character creation is the hair; while there are color options on the hairstyle, eyebrow, and facial hair screens, all three will default to whatever color is selected on one of them. In addition, the styles are very limited. Most of the hairstyles are short and all of them are straight, leaving me wanting for more curly or protective style options.

Gameplay

The gameplay takes the concept of a standard 2-D management simulator and adds a twist. Playing as an illegal sentient ship, you must use your crew to collect resources by matching them to various jobs based on their skills. You get to decide the crewmate’s actions; job success is determined by the crew’s skills, player choices, and a bit of luck. If all else fails, built up goodwill from previous successful missions can be spent as favors to redetermine the outcome. The system of calling in favors makes for interesting narrative gameplay - encouraging the player to build connections with NPCs to improve chances of success in future jobs. I am not usually a fan of gameplay loops in management sims due to their impersonal and repetitive nature. However, all of the jobs in the three featured locations felt unique and had me longing for more locations to explore. Likewise, the travel system could have easily been brushed off as a simple transition between locations, but the resource management aspect of travel managed to hold my attention as my ship flew between locations. 

Accessibility

This demo is mostly accessible for folks with hearing loss and low mobility. The narrative is fully presented via text, with the only auditory component being the soundtrack . The gameplay is mostly mouse based, with limited reliance on the keyboard for entering names and the optional customized pronouns. For blind and low vision players, the demo is significantly less accessible. While the menus and in-game text is decently sized, there are no options for text resizing or text narration. I hope to see more accessibility options included in the full game. 

Inclusion

A Long Journey to an Uncertain End does not tell a diversity story - it tells the story of a space drama with diverse characters. Every piece of information about a character feels intentional - whether it be clothing, speech patterns, or disabilities. Your crew includes a range of brown, queer, and disabled characters who never feel like a minority in the world Crispy Creative has made.

The immaculate attention to detail continues through to the NPCs. Every queer person knows the feeling of not expecting to grow old; between losing nearly an entire generation to a preventable epidemic and most older generations not being publicly out and visible, most queer folks like myself have never seen an old person who looks like them. So when I saw Caspar, an old nonbinary person just living their best life and looking to hire some folks for a job, I broke down in tears. Never in my life did I expect to see that level of representation, much less in a video game. 

Closing Thoughts

As a queer, disabled person, A Long Journey to an Uncertain End normalizes my life experiences in a profound way. The range of character backgrounds are so vast that players from all perspectives should see themselves somewhere in this game. While I was not impressed by the lack of hair options and blind accessibility in this demo, I hope those features will be included in the final build. Overall, Crispy Creative set out to be radically inclusive in their creative team, and that commitment certainly shines through in their incredibly promising demo.

For more information and a chance to play through the demo yourself, you can visit Crispy Creative’s Kickstarter page and directly support A Long Journey to an Uncertain End right here.

Written by Ryden Forsyth