the long journey home psnprofiles

Wot I Think: The Long Journey Home

Star Trekkin'

It's not all that long, the journey, but it is very busy. About six hours might do the trick, but you're likely to get distracted along the way. Part Star Trek Voyager and part The Odyssey, The Long Journey Home [ official site ] puts you in charge of a small crew who have been stranded far from Earth due to a tech malfunction, and must make their way home, making friends and enemies along the way. Though it's clearly inspired by the likes of Star Control and Captain Blood, I've found myself thinking of No Man's Sky as I play. Here's wot I think.

TLJH is one of those games that feels like lots of mini-games stitched together. There's some basic resource management, Thrust-like planetary landings, conversations with alien races, combat, and star system navigation. It's a game that could easily end up being less than the sum of its parts, but the structure of the journey itself ties everything together and makes each decision and challenge important. Whether you're figuring out if a diversion to save a plague-ridden planet is worthwhile or even a realistic possibility given how limited the essential resources needed to keep your ship running might be.

There are four things to consider. Your crew are a primary resource and as they pick up injuries, your journey becomes more perilous. Those injuries come from rough landings, risky flying, certain encounters and ship-to-ship combat. People are your most precious resource, and are irreplaceable, though they can be healed if you find the appropriate items.

The other three resources you'll need to trek across the stars can all be picked up along the way and the core loop of the game involves ensuring you gather enough of each at each stop along the route.

First of all, you'll need fuel to move within systems, and to send your single-seater lander craft down to the surface of planets. It's planetside where you'll find the gases, metals and minerals that are used for refuelling and repair, but you might also want to visit some planets as part of a quest chain, or on the off-chance there'll be some mystery to uncover. But, yes, fuel is of vital importance, and you'll use it to move between planets and find it on planets.

And then there's a second kind of fuel that lets you jump between systems. The ingredients for that are found on planets as well, and you'll always have a fairly good idea what you're going to find once you settle into orbit. A scan tells you what kind of resources to expect, and what quantities they might be found in, and information about inhabitants, atmosphere, weather and overall threat level.

If a planet has firestorms, high winds and scarce supplies, it's probably not worth risking your lander and crew. You can repair both your ship and lander, and that's where the third resource, metal, comes into play.

On one level, that's how The Long Journey Home works; you travel from place to place, gathering enough resources to ensure you can make the next jump, or survive the next tricky landing in order to get the fuel to make the jump. That's where it reminds me of my hours with No Man's Sky, a game in which I never cared for the journey so much as the destination. The lure of discovering new species and biomes was powerful, for a few days, and part of the attraction was knowing that everything I saw mine and mine alone. Discoveries born of code and procedural design.

There is randomisation in The Long Journey Home as well, but it affects the order of things rather than the things themselves. The systems you'll pass through on your way back to our solar system are different each time, but the things within them are hand-crafted. There are several species to encounter, all with their own stories, dialogues and quest chains. Those quests range from delightfully silly interstellar quiz shows and tests of strength to genocide and flirtations with transcendental beings. What they all have in common is a sense of mischievous wit in the writing, which is courtesy of RPS columnist Richard Cobbett, a man who has forgotten more about RPGs and their tropes than most of us have ever known.

The combination of resource-gathering and wordy adventures is an odd one, but it's mostly successful. At worst, the actual business of scooping up fuel and minerals becomes busywork, interrupting the flow of a quest, and the limited number of encounters means that you'll start to see repetition after a few playthroughs. Thankfully, running into aliens you've already met on a previous journey doesn't mean you're in for an identical story – some encounters have fairly predictable outcomes, but some branch and twist, and there are even emergent qualities to some stories, which can be derailed or unexpectedly collide with one another.

There's a lot to like in those encounters but it's hard to escape from the feeling that the actual machinery driving the game is simpler than I'd like it to be. If you come for the stories, you still have to do the work in between them, as if visiting a library with a byzantine membership system that requires you to sign up again every time you want to borrow a book.

Take the lander sections: they're beautiful and simple enough, rarely taking more than five minutes to complete, even if you actually explore the surface and have a mini text adventure rather than just scooping up resources before jetting away. But they're also repetitive and a couple of mistakes can make the cost of landing heavier than rewards. I'd describe The Long Journey Home as a difficult game, given how hard it is to get home, but it's an oddly pitched difficulty. I'm more likely to peter out than to explode in a blaze of glory or perish in a calamitous misadventure.

Simply put, getting home is hard work and even though there are loads of amazing adventures to be had along the way, you'll also be carrying out a lot of maintenance. Think of this more as a warning than a condemnation because I'm still enjoying the game after thirty-five hours of playing. There's something quite soothing about the repetition that puts Long Journey Home into my Podcast Pile – which is to say, the pile of games that I play while listening to podcasts. That's not a bad pile to be in given how many podcasts I listen to every day.

And, yes, it still reminds me of No Man's Sky, but with these discrete mini-games instead of the arduous walking and gathering and crafting and inventory juggling. It also feels like a successor to Digital Eel's Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, and a stronger one than the actual sequel. There's not quite enough here to win me over completely, but there's more than enough to make the numerous trips I've made worthwhile, and part of the charm is in never knowing if there's anything left to discover. The stars are strange and home to many mysteries and it's tempting to stick around until I've seen them all. But keep in mind that there's lots of work to do along the way.

The Long Journey Home is available now for Windows, via Steam and GOG .

Disclosure: Richard Cobbett wrote the words and has a regular column on RPS that I edit most weeks. The fact that I have to look at so many of his words as part of my day-job and actually enjoyed playing a game that was stuffed with even more of them could probably be seen as a compliment.

The Long Journey Home Review

by Alex Fuller · November 30, 2018

Are We Nearly There Yet?

Originally released for PC last year before making its way onto consoles this November, The Long Journey Home is a different title from what many have come to expect from Daedalic Entertainment, a developer and publisher more renowned for its various adventure titles. Tasking players with guiding a ship across the far reaches of space, The Long Journey Home never attempts to make its journey particularly thrilling, but the deliberate pacing combines well with its risk-versus-reward elements and the simple enjoyment of travelling the stars.

The Long Journey Home begins with players selecting the crew, spaceship, and universe seed for a mission to test a new faster-than-light drive. There are ten potential members to fill out the four available crew slots, each with their own item and skill set, as well as three spaceship and lander options providing different attributes in terms of speed, cargo space, and so forth. As the title alludes to, the test does not go quite as planned, and the crew find themselves and the ship far, far away from home. Left to their own devices, the crew must try and find the way home while dealing with dangerous locations, limited resources, and aliens of the friendly and not-so-friendly varieties.

The universe seed is the primary factor that will affect a playthrough of The Long Journey Home . It determines what players will be able to encounter, from the alien species present to the general makeup of the stars and galaxies they will be roaming in. This leads to a wide variety in difficulty between playthroughs, with certain seeds being far more welcoming to new players than others. However, there is always an element of luck to things, and even on an easier seed and with the game’s story difficulty setting, there will be many opportunities for the journey to end prematurely.

Successfully slinging the ship between planets is highly satisfactory.

The structure of the game has players jumping from star system to star system, stopping off at planets, space stations, and asteroid fields to find resources, investigate points of interest, or take on small jobs. Gravity plays a big part in travelling between locations in the star system, and players are heavily encouraged to make use of gravitational slingshots wherever they can to ensure they don’t needlessly waste fuel. Once players have successfully gone into orbit around a planet or moon, they can send the lander down to the surface, where it will have resource points that can be gathered and maybe other points of interest such as an alien settlement or set of ruins to explore. The structure is decently paced, with planetary stopovers always being a quick in-and-out, and it makes for an engaging journey where it can be easy and enjoyable to get sucked into a mindset of “just one more system…”.

The game’s controls are nice and straightforward, but one of the few annoyances comes with controlling the lander. Some planets are more hostile and difficult to land on than others, some having high gravity or winds, others prone to earthquakes or lightning storms, with players able buy and attach modules to the lander to help against these. However, the game always seems to enjoy throwing the lander down at high speed, so that even a lander that has in theory been modified to cope with the conditions will still be flung onto the surface despite the player’s best attempts. In these cases all players can do is hope the damage isn’t too severe and just carry on. It’s understandable that the game is promoting a sense of risk-versus-reward on using the lander, but it’s nevertheless frustrating, particularly given how much more enjoyable and comparatively friendly interplanetary travel is.

Combat encounters are not worth actively seeking out.

Though there are some interesting quests and pieces of lore to discover, there isn’t much of a narrative to The Long Journey Home . Part of this is because quests and jobs often require that players go out of their way to complete them, which is generally a high risk to take considering the limited resources available and the propensity of the ship to be damaged through wear and tear when it jumps. Even on the friendly seeds, money needed for repairs can be hard to come by and so time spent going back and forth in one sector can be very costly in the long run. There are very few named characters in the game, and those that are named generally appear for a single quest before they disappear and are never heard from again. The Long Journey Home is undeniably more about trying to survive the journey above anything else, but there’s some interesting variety to the alien species that can appear, with some enjoyable writing and inconsequential banter between the crew that appears from time to time.

Crew members don’t gain any new skills on top of those they come with; anything they can do to help depends on items picked up throughout the voyage. The main concern is keeping them alive, as various things such as radiation from stars and heavy lander impacts can cause injuries, five of which will cause that crew member’s death. Instead, any progress comes from what helpful items players are able to attain, and crew members can be help get these. For example, Ash is able to turn alien flora into medical items, used to heal aforementioned injuries. Meanwhile, players can also buy new modules for the ship or lander that will provide bonuses such as improved radiation shielding. It all follows the theme of survival above anything else.

Combat is not very interesting and more often than not best avoided. Combat will see the ship come up against another ship, usually bigger, which may itself spawn additional smaller ships. The ships then fly around each other, shooting in pre-defined directions — the default weapon has the player ship fire up to four projectiles directly port and starboard, with players able to buy upgrades from a very limited selection of weapons and shields — then recharging before firing again. If players win, they may be lucky enough to receive a paltry set of credits or resources that may just about cover any repairs. If players lose, then it’s time to rewind back to the start of the star system or start the entire journey anew. The combat itself is straightforward, but is rarely worth the time and effort.

Some planets have very pretty backdrops, but be prepared to see similar ones elsewhere in the galaxy.

There’s not too much to say about the audio in The Long Journey Home . The best thing to say is that the atmospheric music tracks do a nice job combined with the gravitational simulation to make the journeys between planets nice and chilled out. Sound effects are fine, but there’s no voice acting, though given the general lack of narrative in the game, there isn’t much to be gained even if it was present. Visuals also do the job well, with a nice and clear UI, but the positives reduce out over time. Some planets are pleasing to look at, but by the time players are through they will have seen all the templates multiple times. The same goes for the alien species, there is good variation between them, but just one design for each species and nothing to distinguish individual encounters.

The Long Journey Home doesn’t outstay its welcome. A successful journey should take most players around ten hours, which is a good length for those who just want to get home and enjoy the accomplishment while the gameplay cycle remains enjoyable. Meanwhile, the way the universe is generated with seeds means that those who are interested in seeing everything the game has to offer as well as find new challenges have many reasons to keep coming back. It never offers the most in-depth or exciting gameplay moments, but the overall experience of The Long Journey Home is an enjoyable one.

Good at sucking players into the journey

Using gravity is fun

Combat feels like an afterthought

Some lander annoyances

Tags: Daedalic Entertainment PS4 The Long Journey Home

Alex Fuller

Alex joined RPGamer in 2011 as a Previewer before moving onto Reviews, News Director, and Managing Editor. Became Acting Editor-in-Chief in 2018.

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The Long Journey Home review

A punishing resource and repair system gets in the way of the long journey home's characterful exploration., our verdict.

A savage, sometimes frustrating space exploration game that succeeds because of beautiful design and a compelling universe.

PC Gamer's got your back Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.

What is it: A procedural space exploration and resource gathering game where everything will go wrong. Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment Developer Daedalic Studio West Reviewed on: Windows 10, 16GB RAM, Intel Core i7-7700, NVidia GeForce GTX 1070 Expect To Pay: £34 / $40 Multiplayer: No Link: Official site

One of my favourite moments in The Long Journey Home happens before I take off. I spend 15 minutes analysing the characters, picking the ones I’d tolerate being trapped with, trying to work out if there was a secret reason I should take a potted plant into the space. It didn’t matter. Three hours later they were all dead from burns and/or suffocation. This doesn’t mean that what came after was bad (apart from the deaths), but just that the game does a smart job of defining the gravitas of your mission. You’re going into space and, despite the name, you’re probably not coming back.

Your four adventurers are flung to the far side of universe and must navigate their way home by farming resources, maintaining their ship, and negotiating with a selection of distinct alien races. The journey is different each time, and their are loads of combinations of crew and craft, so there’s no ‘right’ way to play it. (Although I discovered multiple times there’s definitely a ‘wrong’ way.) The Long Journey Home largely delivers on the promise of grasping and desperate journey across space, but it’s deliberately tough. Your crew will die. Your equipment will break. Aliens will take your things.

I went into the game expecting the difficulty to be high, but there are times when the balance feels off. You gather resources by dropping your lander onto planets, drilling for metals, and sucking up gases like a vacuum cleaner. You’re given a description of each planet before you land, so you don’t have to be reckless, but it’s always a risk. Any errant bumps and crashes can cause injuries to your pilot which can only be cured with expensive medpacks. Each excursion only takes a few minutes, but it’s still a gruelling, repetitive way of gathering essential resources, and it isn’t always fun. Variables such as convection, which blows your lander off course, only compound the frustration. I pimped my lander to reduce the effect of wind, but I started to dread the threat of landing on a planet’s surface. Sometimes, you have no choice but to brave the most difficult planets, and it often results in disaster.

Gathering essential resources can be a chore, but it’s not the only way to play the game. The Long Journey home is full of alien encounters, which feel like the heart of the game. You could push through by just collecting resources, but interacting with the aliens and completing tasks feels like the more rewarding route. I searched for lost artifacts, located stranded explorers, and helped religious zealots wipe out alien infestation. It felt more righteous than that reads. Each encounter feels different and the aliens are all different, so you get real sense of the universe being inhabited by creatures who were there before you. Being able to actually talk to the aliens helps, too—it’s precisely the thing I felt No Man’s Sky lacked, and it brings this universe to life.

It’s a bright, interesting system to explore. Characters are crisply designed, and I got a strong sense of who everyone was just by looking at them. Planets are striking and varied. The music makes everything you do feel important—even asking a crewmate what they think about a medicinal slime takes on a cosmic significance. But it’s the story that stands out, adding definition and reason to a world that would otherwise seem soulless. It’s good enough, in fact, that sometimes I wished that I could enjoy it without all the broken bones, fuel ruptures, and suffocation. The unpredictability can feel punitive.

Likewise, some of the random, wear-and-tear problems your ship experiences feel mean-spirited. Mechanical failures are common, and they’re expensive to fix. There are also occasions where it feels like a solution should come quicker than it does. I foolishly accepted a gift from a suspiciously-friendly race of infectious plant monsters, because I didn’t want to seem rude—even in space, it’s important to remain civil—and I had to watch as my crew slowly became infested, aware of the issue but unable to fix it. Each playthrough is defined by the things that go wrong, which makes the game striking and memorable, but too often the resources needed to fix problems are too precious or too rare, and the game piles misery upon misery.

Despite this, I like the game enough to keep coming back, and I’m ready to start my fifth (certainly doomed) attempt to get home. Each journey is a learning experience, and the vague promise of success is enough to keep me interested, even if half the missions end up with me screaming at my lander as it blows around like a duckling on a windy day. If nothing else, I won’t rest until I find out what that bloody plant does.

Disclosure: PC Gamer contributor Richard Cobbett worked on The Long Journey Home.

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Summary Explore an endlessly shifting universe. Forge alliances with powerful alien races. Harness your crew’s skills, from research to archaeology to space combat. Do whatever it takes to get Home.

PlayStation 4
Nintendo Switch
Daedalic Studio West
Action Adventure

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The Long Journey Home

Game length provided by HowLongToBeat

Endless Space - Explore a living, procedurally generated universe inspired by both classic and modern Science Fiction. Meet different aliens. Find different stories. Take different risks. Learn the secrets of the universe and with them, new possibilities.
Hidden stories - Raid alien tombs full of traps and treasure. Compete in the galaxy’s greatest combat tournament. Find and research strange artifacts, and use your crew’s skills to find out whether that old skull is just a piece of bone, or the Holy Grail of an aggressive new species.
A crew worth leading - Choose four out of ten experts, all with personality as well as specialties. Far from just stats, you’ll come to know them as they share their feelings, their fears, their excitement and their concerns on the trip and your decisions. Learn how best to use their skills to help the others… and who might be willing to sacrifice themselves to get the others back Home.

© Copyright 2016 Daedalic Entertainment Studio West GmbH and Daedalic Entertainment GmbH. The Long Journey Home is a trademark of Daedalic Entertainment Studio West GmbH. Daedalic and the Daedalic logo are trademarks of Daedalic Entertainment GmbH. All rights reserved.

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The Long Journey Home Achievements

The Long Journey Home News
Walkthrough

The Long Journey Home

2 want to boost

Here is the full list of all 38 The Long Journey Home achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore.

Achievement View View Image view List view Sort by TrueAchievement desc TrueAchievement asc Achievement name desc Achievement name asc GamerScore desc GamerScore asc TA Ratio desc TA Ratio asc Gamers desc Gamers asc Xbox.com order Date won desc Date won asc
37 Offline Mode
37 Single Player
1 Main Storyline
3 Collectable
26 Missable
1 Unobtainable
What are achievement flags? Click to find out Apply

Brought the Daedalus-7 back home

Made it back home in Rogue Mode

Brought your whole crew back home

Brought the Mizzurani plague back to Earth

Flew too close to a star

Dared take a trip through a black hole

Visited and escaped one of the galaxy's most dangerous planets

Collected and kept 5 alien relics

Created a wormhole

Deployed an illegal gate hacking device

Brought at least 15 souvenirs back to Earth in one mission

Encountered all alien races at least once

Sold Earth to the Entrope for harvesting

Made enemies of everyone in the galaxy

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID

Made 999 credits in a single trade

Visited at least one ruin from every ancient civilisation

Failed before even getting out of Sol

Whatever you were thinking - no!

Left the Final Gate open

Destroyed the Final Gate

Double-checked the moon landings weren't a hoax

Discovered a distant piece of Earth history

Docked at a Raxact Black Market

Retrieved a legendary treasure

Exposed a galactic conspiracy

Won a round of Jassikan's Teeth

Helped the Cueddhaest ascend to the Nextplane

Accessed the Entrope database

Helped spark the Wolphax Rebellion

Won the Wolphax Grand Tournament

Discovered a cure for Kirsten's cancer

Defeated an ancient galactic evil

Discovered a stowaway before they were caught or fled

Became allied with the Raxact Horde

Repaid a gambler's debt in full

Let Squire Temrach have his victory

Ejected desperate alien refugees into space

How many achievements are there in The Long Journey Home? There are 38 achievements in The Long Journey Home, worth a total of 1,000 Gamerscore. You can view the full list of The Long Journey Home achievements here .
Is The Long Journey Home on Game Pass? No, The Long Journey Home is not currently available on either Xbox Game Pass or PC Game Pass.
When did The Long Journey Home release on Xbox? The Long Journey Home was released on November 14th, 2018.
Are there any unobtainable achievements in The Long Journey Home? Yes, there is 1 unobtainable achievements in The Long Journey Home.

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The Long Journey Home is a game of great ambition — an ambition that pulled me in before I realized the limited scope of its mechanics.

If you watch a trailer for The Long Journey Home or read the description on its Steam store page, you’ll get a sense for what this game wants to be: a procedurally generated science-fiction universe; a coherent, emergent sci-fi odyssey that players can shape through diplomacy, craft and skill. It’s a tantalizing idea, and one that got me immediately excited to discover more.

The reality is a lot less appealing than the pitch. The Long Journey Home contains some colorful ideas, but it’s dragged down by an overwhelming dependence on repetitive, discouraging tests of mechanical patience and skill.

The Long Journey Home stylizes itself as a more scientific, literary roguelike. You play as the guiding hand behind an expedition to test humanity's first jump drive. It malfunctions, of course, and deposits you on the other side of the galaxy, around a hundred jumps away from Earth. To get back, you'll have to meet alien races, conquer hostile terrain and upgrade your ship. At least, that's the framing idea.

The vast majority of my time with The Long Journey Home was spent controlling the velocity of a fragile spacecraft as I harvested resources from procedurally generated planets. On the primary star map, gravity is represented as a grid, folding and dipping as planets, moons and stars leave their gravitational indentations. And then there's the shuttle landing minigame, where you have to settle your lander down on a resource while managing approach vector, wind speed and escape velocity.

These are the overwhelmingly primary mechanics of the game. No matter what the page on the Steam store promises about diplomacy, trading and surprise encounters, eighty percent of the actual game is trying not to smash into the ground during these frustrating sequences.

It's extraordinarily difficult to navigate around mountains, planets and meteorites in The Long Journey Home . A small miscalculation of velocity when you're trying to achieve stable orbit, and you bounce off the atmosphere, damaging your ship, injuring your crew and forcing you to try again. Even after over a dozen hours familiarizing myself with the game and its controls, I found myself approaching each new planet three or four times, swinging wide, coming up short, too fast, too shallow.

The lander sequences are even more unforgiving and awkward. I routinely shaved off over half the lander's health just trying to perch it atop the meager resources the planet offers. Generally speaking, I did more damage to my lander trying to collect metal than I could ever repair with the metal harvested. Not to mention that bouncing your lander off the surface will seriously injure your pilot. A simple mistake can cause two or three semi-permanent damage conditions that you'll have to spend precious (and rare) items to repair.

The Long Journey Home is a game dependent on extremely miserly resource management, and any kind of deep progress is only made possible by planning your expeditions with care. The game gives you an impression like you don't have to land on dangerous planets, that you can pick and choose to only make dangerous landings in emergencies, but the math just never added up that way. It can take over five individual metal nodes to fix your ship, and a single mineral resource is almost never enough to allow a system-to-system jump. Being imprecise with velocity and skimming off a planet's atmosphere can give you a 30 percent penalty to filling up your jump drive, which can quickly leave you stranded.

So you have to hoover up everything you see to survive. But there are so many serious, long-lasting, deeply impactful penalties for even the simplest of navigation errors in the simplest conditions that it's hard to come out ahead. I routinely quit back to the main menu and reloaded over and over to ensure that I would pull off successful resource runs with minimal damage to my lander. The most intriguing elements of The Long Journey Home are the ones teased as being in the late game: discovering ancient relics, resolving major interstellar conflicts, grand arcs of plot that are only suggested in the early game. But the whole thing is so mechanically punitive, so quick to mire you in the simplest, least engaging mechanics, that actually arriving at those most complex levels seems as distant as Earth itself.

Combat adds a whole new dimension of pain to the experience: Your ship, at least to start, is only capable of firing broadsides. These sequences play out like top-down naval engagements where your puny human vessel, firing and moving as agonizingly slowly as a Spanish galleon, must spar off against alien ships with homing missiles and defensive fighters. After dozens of fights, I still couldn't pin down proper aiming technique. My only workable tactic was to ram the enemy vessel, hook on the geometry of their ship, and fire point-blank. Combat can be expected about once per star system after the first star cluster, with some systems holding a half dozen enemy ships who all ask for Blood or Coin.

The aggressive pace of the combat encounters further gates the narrative content behind a skill wall. There are complicated systems of allegiance with the aliens you meet, and they respond in complex ways to prompts and quests. For example, I accidently showed the leader of a pirate base the head of one of his lieutenants, whose ship I destroyed when they tried to rob me. At first, he screamed at the insult, then immediately offered me a job as a pirate for my bloodthirsty gall. Or consider an over-friendly race who offer helpful items, leaving you to realize too late that the items give your crew an infestation. Narratively speaking, this is engaging. But mechanically, it’s infuriating: insult on top of injury. The excitement of being offered a piracy job is dulled when you consider that it means you have to spend more time with the combat minigame.

I can tell that The Long Journey is a complicated game, but the narrative is the least complex thing about it. That's the fundamental frustration of the game: It's marketed to people exactly like me, sci-fi fans who want a video game that's grounded in the optimism and curiosity of the science fiction novels of yesteryear. Artistically, thematically, the game follows in those footsteps. But don't get the impression that it's a casual game by any means. It's a cruel and finicky physics puzzler. It requires absolute attention be paid to each one of its many mechanical systems, even on the easiest difficulty. It supposes the power of your imagination is enough to make micromanaging the curve and flight velocity of a cursor on a screen exciting.

The Long Journey Home may hold many secrets and wonders, but it's hard to hold on to the promise of them when the game's more likely to break both your legs as soon as you step off the front porch. The promise of a truly narrative-driven roguelike is tantalizing, but this isn’t that game. It's just as tied to your skill with the controller as any bullet hell — more so, really, because you carry the consequences of even the slightest mistake a long ways before finally seeing the game over screen. It promises to be a game about the wonder of unbound space; instead, it’s more about the infuriating heartbreak of high wind speeds in a low gravity environment.

The Long Journey Home was reviewed using a pre-release final Steam code provided by Daedalic Entertainment. You can find additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here .

The Long Journey Home

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The Long Journey Home Media

THE LONG JOURNEY HOME Teaser

Critic Reviews for The Long Journey Home

When The Long Journey Home focuses on interactions with a diverse and entertaining cast of aliens across its procedurally generated star systems, it's possible to find a degree of wonder and personality that many roguelike seldom achieve. Unfortunately, such interactions take a back seat to a barrage of frustrating minigames with rewards that rarely match the risks. The experience as a whole suffers for it.

Read full review

A savage, sometimes frustrating space exploration game that succeeds because of beautiful design and a compelling universe.

The Long Journey Home promises much more than its punishing gameplay can deliver on

Areajugones

Daedalic has created a very brave space roguelike that features strategy elements and a huge universe to keep us in front of our screens.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

God is a Geek

The Long Journey Home has some great ideas. But ultimately it is a victim of its grand ambition. Repetitive, often frustrating gameplay further mar the experience.

COGconnected

The Long Journey Home is bound to drift to the far left side of my Switch home screen, but I hope it’s not forever. I will keep my eyes peeled for an announcement promising “drastic changes.” In the meantime, I will dream of a better game.

The Long Journey Home is a roguelike that tries to do things differently but it still fails to become accessible enough to a wider audience. While there are some interesting mechanics and features, the bad controls for both ship and lander and the lack of precise information will put more than a few players off.

Gaming Nexus

The Long Journey Home is a roguelike sci-fi survival simulator fueled on hope and hopelessness. Bring them home, commander. But be ready to die a hundred deaths before that ever happens.

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“The way it moves between moments of wonder, humour and tragedy makes The Long Journey Home a rare pleasure among science fiction games.” Kotaku “Interacting with different alien races makes the universe in the game feel vivid and alive – that’s something The Long Journey Home does way better than other games in the past.” 90% – Gamereactor “The game can’t teach you everything in tutorial after tutorial. Thank goodness. You’d never start your doomed mission. But you’ll have to be patient with yourself. You know so little going into this.” 80% – GamingNexus

About This Game

System requirements.

OS *: Win 7, 8, 10, 64-bit
Processor: 3 GHz Dual Core CPU
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 650 Ti / AMD Radeon HD 7790
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 16 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible sound card with latest drivers
Processor: 3GHz Quad Core CPU
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 970 / AMD Radeon R9 380
Processor: i5 3GHz
Graphics: AMD R9 M380X
Storage: 15 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD and Controller recommended
Graphics: AMD Radeon Pro 560

© Copyright 2017 Daedalic Entertainment Studio West GmbH and Daedalic Entertainment GmbH. The Long Journey Home is a trademark of Daedalic Entertainment Studio West GmbH. Daedalic and the Daedalic logo are trademarks of Daedalic Entertainment GmbH. All rights reserved.

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How To Play Guide For The Long Journey Home

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1.1 Introduction
1.2.3 Lander
1.2.5.1 Difficulty
1.2.5.2 Type of Start
1.3.1.1.1 Asteroid field
1.3.1.1.2 Orbiting planets
1.3.1.1.3 Landing on planets
1.3.2 Inventory
1.3.3.1 Diplomacy
1.3.3.2 Space Battles
1.4 Morph's Winning strategy
1.5.1 Resources
1.5.2 Jumping
1.5.3 Exotic Matter
1.5.4 Credits
1.5.5.1 Ship Upgrades
1.5.5.2 Lander Upgrades
1.5.5.3 Landings
1.5.5.4 Aliens
1.5.5.5 Crew
2 Official Tutorial Videos

Morph's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [ | ]

Introduction [ | ].

Welcome traveler! It seems you got lost in space and are now looking for guidance? DON'T PANIC! This guide will teach you the basic rules, behaviors and tricks you need to survive and eventually find back home. Since the galaxy is a very random place and one can not foresee which direction your journey will go, this guide will be split into different sections of interactions, that you can look up as they occur. Every time you feel panic coming up, just pause for a minute and think "DON'T PANIC!" and open up this page. Then just navigate to the situation your in aaaaaaand bingo you will master all problems...(disclaimer: mastering all problems takes experience and time, so you probably will die horribly). So have fun on your journey!

Starting the journey [ | ]

Before you can leave port you have to assemble a crew and pick your ship as well as your lander . You might think: "Wow I didn't even start yet and have to make difficult decisions!" if that is the case, then either turn around and go home or "DON'T PANIC!" and read on!

There are 10 people to choose from and to be honest, it's mostly a choice of whose story you would like to get to know, but not to totally leave you hanging, here is the recommended crew: Alessandra - because she has the ability to open some wrecks you otherwise couldn't open and can repair systems, with some scrap items. Malcolm - for easier lander controls and lander repairing with scrap items. Siobhan - for analyzing some items and better ruins exploring. Miriam - so you have a person that can socially interact with passengers and also the distress beacon is pretty handy for somebody new to the game.

You have the choice between 3 ships for your journey: ISS Ulysses - Your basic good in everything bad in nothing ship. ISS Discovery - This ship is squishy as hell but fast like lightning. ISS Endurance - Very Slow but huge cargo and strong hull.

I recommend you pick the ISS Ulysses if you don't know what you are doing, since both the other ships need a specialist strategy to be successful.

Lander [ | ]

You have the choice between 3 landers for your journey:

ISV Serenity - Basicly good in everything and not especially bad, but with disadvanage: Landing-Feet, cumbersome because of its shape)

ISV Pathfinder - A bit more agile, small cargo, weak hull.

ISV Odyssey - Strongest Hull, best at drilling

I recommend you pick the ISV Odyssey lander if you don't know what you are doing. The ISV Serenity is the best lander in my opinion, but the Landing-Feet make it hard to land with it if you have no experience.

The seed is basically the genetic basis code of the universe you will be stranded in. Each time you enter the same code, the galaxy will look the same inhabited by the same aliens, so quests could differ because they are generated randomly regardless.

You can choose and type here what ever you want... But if you have no idea

urukai - This now has a player-made guide. See list for default and player-made guides.

seems to be a good start for beginners.

A list of the seeds for default and player-made guides can be found here . This list contains information such as races/ quests available in each seed and links to the guides.

Start [ | ]

There are 2 things to decide here:

Difficulty [ | ]

Story mode : Added in a patch shortly after the game's release, story mode is easier than adventure mode, with easier planetary conditions, lower prices for reparations, higher prices for resources, reduced damage and a larger autopilot zone, among other things.

Adventure mode : Originally called Explorer mode, this is the game's standard mode.

Rogue mode : In this mode there are some changes to the game:

Your resources fill less fuel, em fuel and hull
The rewind function is not available
You start the game with 2 injuries instead of one
One of your systems starts damaged
The starting system is not generated friendly and can have some pretty bad and hard planets

Obviously, story or adventure mode are recommended for beginners.

Type of Start [ | ]

You have 2 choices here:

Normal Start: You get to see the full story and get a tutorial starting the journey from earth.

Quick Start: This skips the whole beginning and starts you off after you already stranded and right after you picked up the keystone .

If you play for the first time, regardless if you know the controls pick normal start to get the full story experience. Otherwise pick quick start even if you are still a beginner. Should you be reading this guide along your first playthrough then please finish the tutorial and come back here after you picked up the keystone .

Space, lots of Space [ | ]

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Daedalus-7. Stranded approximately 37000 parsecs (~120000 light-years) away from the Sol system, in the corner of an obscure galaxy. You must now navigate from system to system within the galaxy, traveling closer to earth. To bridge the distance between sectors , there are space stations which allow connections for a price. On this journey you will need to manage your resources, engage in diplomacy and adventure into ruins and other weird places. The following sections will provide you an overview how to start out with the travel.

Resources [ | ]

Captain: How long does the repair of the warpdrive take? Mechanic: Sir,... thats about 3 days Captain: You have 3 hours! Mechanic: Okay Sir, i do it in 2!

Resources are your indirect Life force, They come in 3 types:

Minerals - Minerals are used to refuel your jump drive, they are marked in green on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay. Metals - Metals are used for repairing your ship and landers hulls, they are marked in gray on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay. Gases - Gases are used to refuel your regular fuel tank, they are marked in blue on the minimaps on planets and in your cargo bay.

Each type has 3 rarities:

Common - Fills very little of the appropriate Bar and sells for very little price at stores. Uncommon - Fills little of the appropriate Bar and sells for medium price at stores. Rare - Fills medium of the appropriate Bar and sells for high price at stores.

Gathering Resources [ | ]

Resources can be mostly won in 2 ways: Landing on planets and searching an asteroid field .

Let's start with the easy one:

Asteroid field [ | ]

I assume you played the tutorial, so you should already been in the asteroid field of the big sphere. This is basically similar you enter a belt by hitting it on the space map(you don't have to orbit it like a planet) and your ship will enter the asteroid field . In there a white arrow will lead you to some strange looking asteroids, that you can shoot with your weapons and they will drop small orange drops, that are resources. Just fly over them and they will be added to your cargo.

Orbiting planets [ | ]

Before you can Land on a planet you need to orbit it, i recommend watching the video tutorial . Else the tutorial should have given you a good overview how to achieve it. Fly near a planet try to stay in the yellow ring and hold your autopilot button till it locks you in.

Landing on planets [ | ]

Before you throw yourself at a planet you should always check the top right summary of a planet . Not every planet is intended for you to land on without having the right upgrades . For a beginner i would recommend not to attempt a landing when one of the following is true, since it is very likely you loose more from it than the planet will give you:

Very High or Extreme gravity - You will crash into the surface like a stone without the right upgrade .
Searing or Infernal Temperatures - Without the right upgrade you will take very high damage to your crew and lander.
Earthquakes - As a beginner it is really hard to avoid the earthquakes while mining so i don't recommend landing, if you are able to avoid them it's fine.
Strong/Violent Convection - The wind makes it very very hard for beginners to land on such a planet, if you still feel like landing remember to boost down while mining so the wind doesn't push you away.

If your planet is safe to land or you decided you still take the challenge because there is a rare resource or a ruin or something down there you hit land and the lander mini game starts. I recommend watching the video tutorial for that here .

Inventory [ | ]

"Boy, it's lucky you have these compartments." "I use them for smuggling. I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them. This is ridiculous."

You find your inventory in your lab view. From here you can use all the items you start with and that you gather on your journey. Each crew member is able to do different things with an item , so its always worth selecting a new item and hovering over all crew members to see what they can do with it. Some crew member will also comment on an item and what do to with it, so it's also worth reading their comment to an item , as that text can have valuable hints, like if an item is worth much or if it can be used to start a quest .

Sometimes when you enter an encounter like searching a ruin or a wreck. The game will ask you for a certain item to raise your chance to be successful and since nearly all items are a one time use, it might be worse to keep some of them around.

Besides using items in the lab or at an encounter, they can also be shown to other aliens and be sold in a store, look at the diplomacy section later in this guide to get more information about that.

Aliens [ | ]

Diplomacy [ | ].

The enemy of my enemy is my friend - in order to become friends with a race again, you can shoot its enemies and your relationship improves.

Space Battles [ | ]

Morph's winning strategy [ | ].

WORK IN PROGRESS

Tips and Tricks for Winning (Three times in a row) [ | ]

Jumping [ | ].

Look at the Galaxy Map any time you jump to a new cluster. Find any nearby starports and choose the jump gate you will be heading towards. Then jump from starport to starport; this is essential because you want to refuel only at starports and jump gates, not with resources or fuel tanks. Stay away from black holes and pulsars; white and brown dwarfs are great for refueling exotic matter. Find systems with lots of asteroid fields; these are literal gold mines, giving you lots of rare resources, minerals, and therefore credits without having to risk a landing. The last cluster will be filled with enemies, so make sure to have 4 jumps in EM tanks (even the Mizzurani one will do), minerals, and the ship EM tank to get through to Earth.

Exotic Matter [ | ]

Credits [ | ].

Spend your credits wisely; it's not worth it to fix everything that you can. Only patch up the hull when it's low and refuel when fuel is at or below 30%. Frequently visiting starport systems allows you to do this with low risk; if you're not going to be going near starports soon, then you will have to fuel up beforehand. Do not spend money fixing useless things like the "adsorbers" or "fuel gauge." Your first priorities should be fuel, hull, lasers, shields, jump drive. You will need to stock up on credits because you may encounter a cluster with few resources and will have to run a deficit through that cluster. So don't spend everything.

Modules [ | ]

Ship upgrades [ | ].

Radiation Shield - If you see this, get it immediately. It will halve your EM refueling costs (in terms of hull, burns, etc.) and save your life near black holes/pulsars.

Lasers - Any improved weapon (except perhaps the Plasma Harpoon) is better than your crappy mining laser. Buy these if you have any spare credits after refueling and hull repair. Do note that the Laser Array goes to 20% effectiveness after it takes damage, which could cripple your defensive capabilities.

Shields - Get the ones with improved side shielding, or the all-around 2 levels; two levels of shield is enough to kill most enemies without a scratch (with an improved laser). Three levels is just a cake walk.

Subspace Scanner - Situational; the 20% boost to jump range is often not worth the high price. But if you find yourself consistently buying EM (instead of scooping) it may be worth it.

Impulse Driver - Very useful for combat and asteroid mining.

EM Tank - Gives two extra jumps in the exotic matter tank. Not useful for either the Ulysses or Endurance, but possibly good for the Discovery, especially for the last cluster.

Lander Upgrades [ | ]

Aerodynamic Compensators - Absolutely invaluable for planets with moderate+ convection. You'll save so much on lander repair.

Antigrav Generator - Hugely useful on gas giants and large planets; very high gravity is difficult to deal with in the beginning, but not with this upgrade!

Heat Shield - Essential for mining rare metals off molten planets. This one pays for itself with just two planets of mining rare resources.

Impact Dampener (not Shock Absorber) - Helps if you are bad at piloting the lander.

Lander device slots will be filled up with these, so if you get a Yggdrasil Pollen Collector, you should remove it when you get these upgrades.

Landings [ | ]

Don't be a fool; landing on an "Inferno" planet without the proper equipment will only lose you credits in the long run. Only land on planets if you have the correct equipment; Aerodynamic Compensators for violent convection, Heat Shield for molten planets, Antigrav Generator for extreme gravity, etc. Lightning isn't a guaranteed death, but it's probably best to be safe and skip those planets unless there's a compelling reason to land. Land on risky planets only for rare resources; don't land on a molten planet if all it has is copper or gas, even if you have a heat shield.

Mizzurani - Don't use their EM Tank unless absolutely necessary at the end of the game; the infestation will eventually kill all your crew unless you're lucky enough to have it cured. Don't land on planets with worms; your crew will be infested for just being in the atmosphere.

Don't just pick the crew who bring the most stuff.

Ash is invaluable for synthesizing medicine from biological samples and vine flowers. Literally the cheapest cure for diseases out there.

Alessandra can fix a lot of things. She brings a valuable toolbox and can loot wrecks without a Salvage Kit. She also assembles Nanobots from the Rattling Device; these repair your hull for cheap fuel.

Miri can talk to alien stowaways.

Kirsten has cancer; she might die before the end unless you can find the quest to cure her. Not the best choice.

Official Tutorial Videos [ | ]

Developer-produced tutorial videos are available here .

From Turks & Caicos to South Jersey to ... NFL? That's the plan for Yvandy Rigby

Yvandy Rigby wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

As he anxiously waits to hear if his name gets called at the NFL Draft this weekend, the hulking 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker plans to just “chill with (his) family.”

Amazing when one considers that the kid from a tropical island didn’t even know what a football was, nor did he know the people he now calls family, when he reached the United States a decade ago.

Rigby is projected to be a late-round pick in this weekend’s NFL Draft and, if that doesn’t develop, he would likely be signed as an undrafted free agent by a team.

“It’s been a great journey,” said Rigby, a native of Turks and Caicos, an island group about 230 miles north of the Dominican Republic and 1,300 miles from South Jersey.

“If it’s going to happen, it will happen. This is what I’ve worked for.”

He would become the second player drafted from Turks and Caicos, joining Faion Hicks, who was selected by the Denver Broncos in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Rigby hopes to celebrate with the Stetsers — who took Rigby into their family when he was a junior at Egg Harbor Township High School. Kevin Stetser is a special education teacher and former head football coach at EHT.

“When I came to live with them, that’s when I began to flourish like a flower,” Rigby said. “They sacrificed so much for me. Coach was the father figure in my life and (with his wife Laura), they definitely took on the mom and dad role when I needed it the most.”

Long way from home

Rigby calls his homeland a “beautiful island,” a paradise for tourists and fishermen.

What it doesn’t have, according to Rigby, is a lot of opportunities.

“I had a lot of ambition and it just wasn’t going to happen there,” he said.

His mother, Almonthe, wanted the best for son, a chance to succeed in life. That was going to be a challenge on the British Overseas Territory.

So, at the age of 14, Rigby entered the United States and lived with a family friend. He attended Atlantic City High School as a freshman.

That’s where he was introduced to football.

“Never even grabbed a football in my life, but it was love at first sight,” said Rigby, who was recruited by one of the football players to give the sport a try because of his size.

Love didn’t translate into success right away. It was more like heartache.

“I was terrible,” he said with soft laugh. “They put me on defense, I was playing safety. The running back broke through the hole. I had no idea what I was doing. He juked me and I fell down on the ground. Everybody on the whole field was laughing at me.

“I never wanted to feel that way again. I knew I had to get better.”

So Rigby kept practicing, but he also turned to YouTube.

“I just watched as many videos as I could,” Rigby said. “I became a student of the game. I watched Peyton Manning on how to throw spirals. I watched Jerry Rice on how he worked out. I watched all the greats and how they worked to get better. I needed to sharpen my tools and get better.”

No Friday Night Lights

When he arrived stateside, Rigby joined the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, his guardian’s faith.

The church observes Saturday as the Sabbath, which begins at sunset on Friday.

That meant no Friday Night football for Rigby.

While he was practicing hard throughout the week, not being able to compete in a game with his teammates really tested his faith.

“I just felt like there was this big cloud over my head that I couldn’t shake off,” Rigby said. “I was a true believer in Christ. I was also passionate about the game.

“I went all out at practice. I wanted the guys next to me to get better. It made me feel good as a teammate. But it also took a toll on me not being able to go out there and showcase my talents. I got angry during that time. I was questioning things like why I had this skill, but couldn’t showcase it (in games).”

Before his junior season at EHT, Rigby and Stetser arranged a meeting with the church’s pastor and Rigby’s guardian to talk about playing football on Friday nights.

After getting the OK from his mother, Rigby said the pastor also gave his blessing for him to play. However, his guardian still balked at the idea.

“I thought that meeting was going to go nice and smooth,” Rigby said. “The pastor said I was a young, Black man who came to this country and is trying to better his life. But my guardian got so angry, and said, ‘If he plays in that game on Friday night, I’m going to kick him out of the house.’”

“That’s when I started to get really paranoid. I was worried. I was 16 years old.”

The day of the season opener against Millville, Rigby was thrilled to wear his varsity jersey to school, but was “also losing my mind” about what would happen later that night when he got home.

But he drew some comfort, remembering that Stetser said he would have his back whatever decision he made.

Rigby took the field that night. When he arrived home, all of his clothes were in a black trash bag.

Before moving in with the Stetser family, Rigby remembers meeting Laura for the first time.

When Rigby was a sophomore, Kevin Stetser noticed he kept looking at the sun as he competed in the javelin throw at the Woodbury Relays. The athlete was getting really antsy, the coach realized.

“He tells me he has to be home before that sun goes down and I’m like, 'You couldn’t have told me that earlier?'” Kevin said. “There I am, asking my wife to drive a kid who she’s never met in her life back home.”

The usually quiet Rigby was a “chatterbox” on the one-hour ride, opening up to Laura like she was a best friend.

“We talked the whole ride home,” Rigby said. “She was just so accepting. We talked about a lot of things, but I just remember telling her Coach was wrong, I’m not a linebacker, I should be a safety.”

For eight months after playing in that fateful Friday night game, Rigby bounced around, staying with the Stetsers, offensive coordinator Jim DeBendictis Jr.’s family, and his guardian. On Mother’s Day weekend in 2017, Rigby moved in full-time with the Stetsers.

While he was the newest member of the Stetser household, Rigby was still for responsible for chores, even one he had never experienced before: shoveling snow.

“I’d never seen snow in my life,” Rigby said.

He was even pressed into some babysitting duties, watching the Stetsers’ son Jack and daughter Madeleine, who were 7 and 8 at the time.

Higher learning

Rigby’s dream of playing in the NFL will likely be as a linebacker, something he and his high school football coach still laugh about now.

“As frustrating as it is, I tell him every day that he was right, I’m a linebacker," Rigby said.

Kevin Stetser knew where Rigby’s strength was on the football field, but he also had a good feeling of what type of kid he was bringing home to join his family.

“He attached himself to this crazy train of our family and what a ride it’s been,” Stetser said. “We consider him our son. He has a heart of gold. And we’re extremely proud of what he has become.

“He’s worked for everything that he’s earned. When he first moved in with us, he learned one of our neighbors was a reading specialist. He met with her every single night to help improve his reading level. He wanted to be a better student.”

After graduating from Egg Harbor Township, Rigby played one season at Milford Academy (N.Y.) before landing in North Philadelphia at Temple University.

Rigby was a three-year letter winner with 207 tackles in 35 career games for the Cherry and White and earned a single-digit uniform number, a huge deal in Temple tradition that is awarded to those who lead on and off the field. He was only the second TU player to ever wear No. 0.

Rigby graduated last spring with a bachelor’s degree in Adult Organization Development.

“Getting that degree was the highlight of my career,” Rigby said. “It means a lot because I wasn’t the most studious student in school when I got to the United States. Football came natural for me. School was more challenging than football for me, a lot more challenging.

“I wanted to make my mom proud. She gambled and risked a lot in me (in letting me come to the United States). She would never ask me about football, she always asked me about getting my degree and how that was going.”

Rigby’s mom and two sisters, Johnika and Ashley, have moved to the United States and remain a big part in Yvandy’s life. His two older brothers, John and John Paul, remain in Turks and Caicos.

“My mom has come to some of my games, but she always watches with her hands over eyes. She’s afraid of me getting hurt,” Yvandy said.

If Rigby gets the opportunity to play on Sundays in the fall, he would become the first player from Egg Harbor Township to make the NFL.

A path that began with so much uncertainty has turned into an unbelievable journey.

Tom McGurk is a regional sports reporter for the Courier-Post, The Daily Journal and Burlington County Times, covering South Jersey sports for over 30 years. If you have a sports story that needs to be told, contact him at (856) 486-2420 or email [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter at @McGurkSports. Help support local journalism with a digital subscription.

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House Approves $95 Billion Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

After months of delay at the hands of a bloc of ultraconservative Republicans, the package drew overwhelming bipartisan support, reflecting broad consensus.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson surrounded by members of the news media in the Capitol.

By Catie Edmondson

Reporting from the Capitol

The House voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled aid package by marshaling support from mainstream Republicans and Democrats.

In four back-to-back votes, overwhelming bipartisan coalitions of lawmakers approved fresh rounds of funding for the three U.S. allies, as well as another bill meant to sweeten the deal for conservatives that could result in a nationwide ban of TikTok.

The scene on the House floor reflected both the broad support in Congress for continuing to help the Ukrainian military beat back Russia, and the extraordinary political risk taken by Mr. Johnson to defy the anti-interventionist wing of his party who had sought to thwart the measure. Minutes before the vote on assistance for Kyiv, Democrats began to wave small Ukrainian flags on the House floor, as hard-right Republicans jeered.

How the House Voted on Foreign Aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

Here’s how each member of the House voted on the foreign aid bills.

The legislation includes $60 billion for Kyiv; $26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza; and $8 billion for the Indo-Pacific region. It would direct the president to seek repayment from the Ukrainian government of $10 billion in economic assistance, a concept supported by former President Donald J. Trump, who had pushed for any aid to Kyiv to be in the form of a loan. But it also would allow the president to forgive those loans starting in 2026.

It also contained a measure to help pave the way to selling off frozen Russian sovereign assets to help fund the Ukrainian war effort, and a new round of sanctions on Iran. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation as early as Tuesday and send it to President Biden’s desk, capping its tortured journey through Congress.

“Our adversaries are working together to undermine our Western values and demean our democracy,” Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Saturday as the House debated the measure. “We cannot be afraid at this moment. We have to do what’s right. Evil is on the march. History is calling and now is the time to act.”

“History will judge us by our actions here today,” he continued. “As we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself this question: ‘Am I Chamberlain or Churchill?’”

The vote was 311 to 112 in favor of the aid to Ukraine, with a majority of Republicans — 112 — voting against it and one, Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, voting “present.” The House approved assistance to Israel 366 to 58; and to Taiwan 385 to 34, with Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, voting “present.” The bill to impose sanctions on Iran and require the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban the app in the United States passed 360 to 58.

“Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage,” Mr. Biden said. “At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.”

Minutes after the vote, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine thanked lawmakers, singling out Mr. Johnson by name “for the decision that keeps history on the right track.”

“Democracy and freedom will always have global significance and will never fail as long as America helps to protect it,” he wrote on social media. “The vital U.S. aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger.”

Outside the Capitol, a jubilant crowd waved Ukrainian flags and chanted, “Thank you U.S.A.” as exiting lawmakers gave them a thumbs-up and waved smaller flags of their own.

For months, it had been uncertain whether Congress would approve new funding for Ukraine, even as momentum shifted in Moscow’s favor. That prompted a wave of anxiety in Kyiv and in Europe that the United States, the single biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine, would turn its back on the young democracy.

And it raised questions about whether the political turmoil that has roiled the United States had effectively destroyed what has long been a strong bipartisan consensus in favor of projecting American values around the world. The last time the Congress approved a major tranche of funding to Ukraine was in 2022, before Republicans took control of the House.

With an “America First” sentiment gripping the party’s voter base, led by Mr. Trump, Republicans dug in last year against another aid package for Kyiv, saying the matter should not even be considered unless Mr. Biden agreed to stringent anti-immigration measures. When Senate Democrats agreed earlier this year to legislation that paired the aid with stiffer border enforcement provisions, Mr. Trump denounced it and Republicans rejected it out of hand.

But after the Senate passed its own $95 billion emergency aid legislation for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan without any immigration measures, Mr. Johnson began — first privately, then loudly — telling allies that he would ensure the U.S. would send aid to Kyiv.

In the end, even in the face of an ouster threat from ultraconservative members, he circumvented the hard-line contingent of lawmakers that once was his political home and relied on Democrats to push the measure through. It was a remarkable turnabout for a right-wing lawmaker who voted repeatedly against aid to Ukraine as a rank-and-file member, and as recently as a couple of months ago declared he would never allow the matter to come to a vote until his party’s border demands were met.

In the days leading up to the vote, Mr. Johnson began forcefully making the case that it was Congress’s role to help Ukraine fend off the advances of an authoritarian. Warning that Russian forces could march through the Baltics and Poland if Ukraine falls, Mr. Johnson said he had made the decision to advance aid to Kyiv because he “would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys.”

“I think this is an important moment and important opportunity to make that decision,” Mr. Johnson told reporters at the Capitol after the votes. “I think we did our work here and I think history will judge it well.”

Mr. Johnson structured the measures, which were sent to the Senate as one bill, to capture different coalitions of support without allowing opposition to any one element to defeat the whole thing.

“I’m going to allow an opportunity for every single member of the House to vote their conscience and their will,” he had said.

In a nod to right-wing demands, Mr. Johnson allowed a vote just before the foreign aid bills on a stringent border enforcement measure, but it was defeated after failing to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage. And the speaker refused to link the immigration bill to the foreign aid package, knowing that would effectively kill the spending plan.

His decision to advance the package infuriated the ultraconservatives in his conference who accused Mr. Johnson of reneging on his promise not to allow a vote on foreign aid without first securing sweeping policy concessions on the southern border. It prompted two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Paul Gosar of Arizona to join a bid by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to oust Mr. Johnson from the top job.

Ms. Greene claimed the Ukraine aid bill supported “a business model built on blood and murder and war in foreign countries.”

“We should be funding to build up our weapons and ammunition, not to send it over to foreign countries,” she said before her proposal to zero out the money for Kyiv failed on a vote of 351 to 71.

Much of the funding for Ukraine is earmarked to replenish U.S. stockpiles after shipping supplies to Kyiv.

Since Russia’s invasion in 2022, Congress has appropriated $113 billion in funding to support Ukraine’s war effort. $75 billion was directly allocated to the country for humanitarian, financial and military support, and another $38 billion in security assistance-related funding was spent largely in the United States, according to the Institute for Study of War , a Washington-based research group.

Hard-right Republican opposition to the legislation — both on the House floor and in the critical Rules panel — forced Mr. Johnson to rely on Democrats to push the legislation across the finish line.

“If Ukraine does not receive this support that it requires to defeat Russia’s outrageous assault on its sovereign territory, the legacy of this Congress will be the appeasement of a dictator, the destruction of an allied nation and a fractured Europe,” said Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “Gone will be our credibility, in the eyes of our allies and of our adversaries. And gone will be the America that promised to stand up for freedom, democracy, and human rights, wherever they are threatened or wherever they are under attack.”

Thirty-seven liberal Democrats opposed the $26 billion aid package for Israel because the legislation placed no conditions on how Israel could use American funding, as the death toll in Gaza has reached more than 33,000 and the threat of famine looms. That showed a notable dent in the longstanding ironclad bipartisan backing for Israel in Congress, but was a relatively small bloc of opposition given that left-wing lawmakers had pressed for a large “no” vote on the bill to send a message to Mr. Biden about the depth of opposition within his political coalition to his backing for Israel’s tactics in the war.

“Sending more weapons to the Netanyahu government will make the U.S. even more responsible for atrocities and the horrific humanitarian crisis in Gaza which is now in a season of famine,” said Representative Jonathan L. Jackson, Democrat of Illinois.

Carl Hulse , Annie Karni , and Kayla Guo contributed reporting from Washington and Marc Santora from Kyiv.

Catie Edmondson covers Congress for The Times. More about Catie Edmondson

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

Ukrainian officials have taken several steps to swell the ranks of an army depleted by more than two years of grueling combat. The government passed a new mobilization bill aimed at increasing troop numbers and has stepped up border patrols to catch draft dodgers.

Ukrainian forces will soon be able to use a newly delivered, coveted long-range missile system to more effectively target Russian forces in occupied Crimea.

Chasiv Yar, a small Ukrainian town, has been under relentless attack by Russian forces. Controlling the town would put them in striking distance of key Ukrainian operational and supply centers.

Patriotism or Survival: As the war drags on, communities that were steadfast in their commitment to the war effort have been shaken by the unending violence on the front line.

Images From Year Three of the War: For all that time, photographers with The New York Times and other news organizations have chronicled the war , capturing a slice of how soldiers and civilians have experienced it. Some images will never leave them.

Nato’s Show of Force: About 90,000 NATO troops have been training in Europe for the Great Power war that most hope will never come : a clash between Russia and the West with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Resuming U.S. Military Aid: Weapons from the support package, considered “a lifeline” for Ukraine’s military , could be arriving on the battlefield within days . But experts say it could take weeks before there is a direct impact on the war . What would $60 billion buy ?

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

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The Long Journey Home

PS4 Version DUALSHOCK 4 vibration

Global player ratings

It was supposed to be a short test run – a quick flight to Alpha Centauri and back. But when mankind’s first experimental jump drive goes wrong, you and your crew find yourselves trapped on the wrong side of the galaxy. Now, you are entirely on your own – and the only way back leads through the vast unknown of outer space. On your strange journey, you will encounter unforeseen obstacles and unimaginable treasures. You will fail and you will pick yourselves up again. You will suffer painful losses and also make new friends – in a vibrant universe that changes its design with every new journey. Your most important goal: Bring your crew back home to their families and friends. The Long Journey Home combines an open world full of galaxies, planets and anomalies with quests and mechanics of a rogue-like RPG. You have to make decisions – and choose to live with the consequences. One destination. Endless adventures. Where will this journey take you?

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The Long Journey Home Review
Space Exploration RPG The Long Journey Home to Launch May 30
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Space Exploration RPG The Long Journey Home To Release On PC On May 30th

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COMMENTS

The Long Journey Home Trophies • PSNProfiles.com
The Long Journey Home Trophy List • 39 Trophies • 1,029 Owners • 2.89% Average 1 Platinum • 4 Gold • 12 Silver • 22 Bronze The Long Journey Home Trophies • PSNProfiles.com
The Long Journey Home › WELCOME TO THE GALAXY
The Long Journey Home › WELCOME TO THE GALAXY. Trophies; Leaderboard; 100% Club; Platinum Club; Forum; WELCOME TO THE GALAXY Left the Final Gate open 36
The Long Journey Home Platinum Club • PSNProfiles.com
PSNProfiles is not affiliated with Sony or PlayStation in any way © 2022 Gaming Profiles Ltd
The Long Journey Home (video game)
PlayStation 4, Xbox One. November 14, 2018. Nintendo Switch. September 4, 2019. Genre (s) Adventure. Mode (s) Single-player. The Long Journey Home is a 2017 space exploration video game by Daedalic Entertainment for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch .
The Long Journey Home
THE VERY LONG JOURNEY HOME . Made it back home in Rogue Mode. PERFECT MISSION . Brought your whole crew back home. TO HELL AND BACK . Visited and escaped one of the galaxy's most dangerous planets. View the complete trophy list; Leaderboard. User. Completed #1. DarlingBaphomet. 2 12 20 80% #2. Xemik. 1 5 18 48% #3.
The Long Journey Home Review (Switch eShop)
In practice, The Long Journey Home plays like a cross between FTL: Faster Than Light and Out There: Ω The Alliance with a sprinkling of The Outer Wilds.As the crew of a ship whose test of ...
The Long Journey home review
The Long Journey Home is available now for Windows, via Steam and GOG. Disclosure: Richard Cobbett wrote the words and has a regular column on RPS that I edit most weeks. The fact that I have to look at so many of his words as part of my day-job and actually enjoyed playing a game that was stuffed with even more of them could probably be seen ...
The Long Journey Home Review
The Long Journey Home begins with players selecting the crew, spaceship, and universe seed for a mission to test a new faster-than-light drive. There are ten potential members to fill out the four available crew slots, each with their own item and skill set, as well as three spaceship and lander options providing different attributes in terms ...
The Long Journey Home review
The Long Journey home is full of alien encounters, which feel like the heart of the game. You could push through by just collecting resources, but interacting with the aliens and completing tasks ...
The Long Journey Home
The Long Journey Home. View All Platforms. Released On: May 30, 2017. Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 26 Critic Reviews. 68. User Score Mixed or Average Based on 31 User Ratings. 7.2. My Score. Hover and click to give a rating.
The Long Journey Home Wiki
The Long Journey Home was released 30 May, 2017 for PC (14 November, 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One and 4 September, 2019 for Nintendo Switch) and focuses on a procedurally generated, endless surprising living universe inspired by beloved modern science fiction shows like Farscape and Firefly available on Steam and GOG...
The Long Journey Home › IN, THROUGH... AND BEYOND!
Home; Forums; Guides; Leaderboard; Games; Trophies; Gaming; Boosting; Competitive; Just for Fun; Cooperative; Sessions; Sessions; Log In or Create Account; 1,007 Game Owners 1 Recent Player 2 (0.2%) Platinum Achievers 3% Average Completion 1,384 Trophies Earned 2 (0.2%) 100% Completed. The Long Journey Home ...
The Long Journey Home on GOG.com
Description. There are a million worlds in the galaxy. Only one of them is Home. It was supposed to be a short test run - a quick flight to Alpha Centauri and back. But when mankind's first experimental jump drive goes wrong, a misfit crew finds itself trapped on the wrong side of the universe - alone, injured, falling apart.
The Long Journey Home
You will suffer painful losses and also make new friends - in a vibrant universe that changes its design with every new journey. Your most important goal: Bring your crew back home to their families and friends. The Long Journey Home combines an open world full of galaxies, planets and anomalies with quests and mechanics of a rogue-like RPG.
The Long Journey Home Achievements
The Long Journey Home Achievements. Here is the full list of all 38 The Long Journey Home achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore. Filter. THE LONG JOURNEY HOME. Brought the Daedalus-7 back home. THE ...
The Long Journey Home review
The Long Journey Home is a game of great ambition — an ambition that pulled me in before I realized the limited scope of its mechanics.. If you watch a trailer for The Long Journey Home or read ...
The Long Journey Home Reviews
The Long Journey Home is a roguelike sci-fi survival simulator fueled on hope and hopelessness. Bring them home, commander. But be ready to die a hundred deaths before that ever happens. Read full review. View All Critic Reviews (30) The Long Journey Home is rated 'Weak' after being reviewed by 30 critics, with an overall average score of 64 ...
Save 90% on The Long Journey Home on Steam
Your most important goal: Bring your crew back home to their families and friends. The Long Journey Home combines an open world full of galaxies, planets and anomalies with quests and mechanics of a rogue-like RPG. You have to make decisions - and choose to live with the consequences. One destination. Endless adventures.
The Long Journey Home › BAD NEIGHBOURS
PSNProfiles is not affiliated with Sony or PlayStation in any way © 2022 Gaming Profiles Ltd
How To Play Guide For The Long Journey Home
Quick Start: This skips the whole beginning and starts you off after you already stranded and right after you picked up the keystone. If you play for the first time, regardless if you know the controls pick normal start to get the full story experience. Otherwise pick quick start even if you are still a beginner.
The Long Journey Home 100% Club • PSNProfiles.com
No one has 100% in The Long Journey Home yet Let's see who's close
Yvandy Rigby hopes to land spot in NFL after long journey
"It's been a great journey," said Rigby, a native of Turks and Caicos, an island group about 230 miles north of the Dominican Republic and 1,300 miles from South Jersey.
House Approves $95 Billion Aid Bill for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
The House voted resoundingly on Saturday to approve $95 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled aid ...
The Long Journey Home
Your most important goal Bring your crew back home to their families and friends. The Long Journey Home combines an open world full of galaxies, planets and anomalies with quests and mechanics of a rogue-like RPG. You have to make decisions - and choose to live with the consequences. One destination. Endless adventures.
Journey Trophies • PSNProfiles.com
36.9% Rare. 51.67% Common. Companion Finish the game with the same partner for the majority of the journey and return to the beginning. 5.6% Very Rare. 13.65% Rare. Reflection Sit and meditate with another player for more than 20 seconds. 10.5% Very Rare. 20.21% Uncommon. Wonder Meet 10 or more unique travelers.

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How To Play Guide For The Long Journey Home

Morph's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [ | ]

Starting the journey [ | ]

Lander [ | ]

Start [ | ]

Difficulty [ | ]

Type of Start [ | ]

Space, lots of Space [ | ]

Resources [ | ]

Gathering Resources [ | ]

Asteroid field [ | ]

Orbiting planets [ | ]

Landing on planets [ | ]

Inventory [ | ]

Aliens [ | ]

Space Battles [ | ]

Tips and Tricks for Winning (Three times in a row) [ | ]

Exotic Matter [ | ]