rakesh's a long journey home

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.

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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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The Long Journey Home Review

Never tell me the odds..

The Long Journey Home Review - IGN Image

According to one of my playthroughs of the roguelike The Long Journey Home, humanity's first meeting with an alien species took place between the crew of our first interstellar vessel and a squat little glukkt trader named Mendarch. Here it was: the chance of enlightenment and the promise of advances in science beyond our wildest dreams. There was a whole unspoken history in his calling our place the galaxy the "prohibited sector." And what were the fruits of that first mission? He offered to loan me 600 galactic credits and only told me that he expected 200 credits in interest after we finished the transaction. Aliens will be human, I guess.

The Long Journey Home Screens

rakesh's a long journey home

Unfortunately, those interactions turn out to be a fairly small part of The Long Journey Home. The vast majority of a playthrough involves either easing the ship into a planet's orbit or sending the lander down to a planet's surface to scrounge for gases and metals needed to refuel or repair the craft, or to pick up the "exotic" matter needed to power the jump drive when I wanted to port to a neighboring star. Both minigames are 2D and factor in a given planet's gravity, which appeals to the science nerd inside me in a simplified Kerbal Space Program sort of way. Both require a careful dance of the left and right mouse buttons; in space you use the left button to fire off lightweight "thrusts" for precision maneuvering and the right for "boosts" that guzzle fuel and propel you from a big planet's orbit. When you visit a planet with the lander, you use the left mouse button to thrust upward and the right to thrust downward.

Charmers, those glukkt.

The bumps and bruises you get from botched attempts aren't mere "aw, shucks" moments. They're life-threatening, damaging not only your craft but often breaking the bones of your crewmembers in the process. Upgrades you can pick up from quests of vendor help, yes, but it's always challenging. (And using a controller is far worse as far as I'm concerned, though I've also heard people say the opposite.)

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.

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The Long Journey Home

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From the bridge of your ship, you see a million points of light. Only one of them matters. Home.

It was only supposed to be a short trip. But when your jump drive malfunctions, you and a mismatched crew of specialists along for the ride find yourselves trapped and alone on the wrong side of the galaxy. The only way back is through. Forge alliances with strange Alien Races . Explore distant Planets for the Ruins , Artifacts and Resources they hide. Harness your crew’s Skills , from archeology to diplomacy. Make deals and moral decisions that change the universe. Do whatever it takes to survive.

And every game, enter a new galaxy. Will you find yourself welcomed by Traders and noble warrior knights... or surrounded by Pirates , psychopaths, and an unspeakable cosmic horror that threatens to snuff out the stars themselves. One destination. Endless adventures. Where will your Journey take you?

rakesh's a long journey home

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Enmanuel Reyes Pla: the 'Prophet' of Spanish boxing's long and challenging Olympic odyssey 

Paris 2024

Pla's journey from Cuba to Spain was strewn with obstacles. After spending four months locked away in an apartment in Moscow, living as a refugee in Austria and being detained in Germany, the boxer found a home in Spain and will wear the nation's flag as he attempts to obtain a quota for Paris 2024. 

Enmanuel Pla Reyes at Tokyo 2020

Enmanuel Reyes Pla's journey to Spain was anything but easy.

After leaving Cuba, the boxer spent four months locked away in a Moscow apartment out of fear of being detained. But the Russian capital was just the first stop on an odyssey that took him through Belarus, a refugee centre in Austria, and a migrant detention centre in Germany before he was reunited with his family in A Coruña (Spain).

The boxer, known in the ring as El Profeta ('The Prophet'), represented Spain at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 and is aiming to repeat the feat at Paris 2024 .

"Fighting for first place in Paris is my goal and the reason why I practice this beautiful sport," Pla said in an interview with Olympics.com.

Pla was born in Havana, Cuba in 1992, where boxing is a religion. The Caribbean country is the second most successful nation in Olympic boxing, with 78 medals - 41 of them gold. He started boxing at the age of six, not out of tradition but out of necessity: some boys at school were looking for trouble, and his father wanted him to learn to defend himself.

Step by step, Enmanuel Reyes Pla established himself as a promising boxer in his native country, first in the light heavyweight (-81 kilograms) division and then in the heavyweight (-91 kilograms) category. He was runner-up to Rio 2016 bronze medallist Erislandy Savón in the Cuban nationals, and there he hit a stumbling block: Pla understood that, as long as Savón was still standing, his country would not call him up for international tournaments. With no clear pathway to follow his dreams and encouraged by relatives living in Spain, he embarked on an odyssey.

Enmanuel Reyes Pla's long journey to Spain

After leaving Cuba, Pla's first destination was Moscow. From there, he travelled to Belarus where, as he explained to El Confidencial , he and his uncle looked for a way to enter the European Union. After a month without success, he returned to Moscow, where he spent four months locked in an apartment out of fear of being detained.

"During that time, I couldn't leave the apartment. If the police stopped me, they would ask me for money, and if I didn't give it to them, they would put me in a car and leave me on a road at 20 degrees below zero... It had already happened to others before," he explained.

Finally, he was able to travel to Austria, where he applied for political asylum and spent two months in a refugee centre. The plan was to continue his journey to Spain, but he was detained in Germany when trying to cross the border to France. The German authorities sent him to a migrant detention centre, where he spent some time before being sent back to Austria. He finally decided to take the risk and take a direct flight to Spain, where he was able to reunite with his family in the summer of 2017.

"Leaving Cuba was already difficult because I left behind many loved ones and didn't know what life had in store for me when travelling to A Coruña; those were difficult months jumping borders, [...] but in the end, thanks to God, I was able to reach my family," he confessed in an interview with La Opinión de A Coruña .

From hard travels to success in international rings

Pla's idea was to dedicate himself to boxing, and he put himself in the hands of the Planas brothers, two major figures in the boxing world of Galicia, in the northwest corner of Spain. However, when they saw the level he was operating at, they decided, along with the national coach, Rafael Lozano, that he should try out for the Spanish national team.

Even before being naturalised, Pla began working with the Spanish team, with the coaches seeing him as a strong contender for the heavyweight category at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Enmanuel Reyes Pla received Spanish nationality in January 2020, and in March of the same year, he began competing in the Olympic qualifier in London. Before the competition was brought to an abrupt halt due to the coronavirus pandemic, he had time to win his first bout. After a year of waiting, he secured his Olympic quota for Tokyo 2020 in Paris.

For Pla, who fights at -91 kilograms, his participation in the Games marked the beginning of a career fighting for Spain that led him to win three consecutive medals: bronze at the Belgrade 2021 World Championships, silver at the European Championship in Yerevan in 2022, and bronze at the European Games in Krakow in 2023.

But he is not satisfied: his dream is to experience the Olympic Games again at Paris 2024 and stand on the top step of the podium.

"Qualifying for Paris 2024 would mean being in my second Olympic Games and once again seeking the gold medal that I couldn't achieve in the previous ones. My goal is to go for that Olympic gold medal, with God's favour," Pla told Olympics.com.

Boxing | Olympic Qualifier | 1st World Qualification Tournament | Busto Arsizio

How to watch Enmanuel Reyes Pla on his pathway to Paris 2024

Pla's next step on the roach to reaching Paris 2024 is the 1st World Qualification Tournament , which will be held from 3 to 11 March in Busto Arsizio (Italy).

The last days of competitions, in which boxing Olympic quotas will be on offer, will be streamed on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com.

Enmanuel REYES PLA

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3 thoughts: No. 20 SDSU 72, San Jose State 64 ... an absolutely bonkers night, a broken play and a homecoming

SDSU's Elijah Saunders dunks after an assist from Darrion Trammell on a broken play in the final minute.

The wildest night in the Mountain West’s 25-year history, making lemonade out of lemons and Trey Anderson’s long journey brings him back home

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Three thoughts on No. 20 San Diego State’s 72-64 win against San Jose State on Tuesday at Viejas Arena:

1. Absolutely bonkers

San Jose State coach Tim Miles got back to the hotel and watched the highlights from the other Mountain West games.

“We were the stinker of the night,” he said, and the Spartans were within four points inside a minute to go despite having only eight available bodies (including three who typically don’t play much). And the Aztecs had won their previous seven conference home games all by double digits.

The Spartans were also the only road team that failed to win on what will be remembered as the craziest, zaniest, wildest, wackiest night in the 25-year history of the conference — or any conference, for that matter.

The CBS Sports Network telecast didn’t join the game at Viejas Arena until seven minutes into the first half. That’s because they were still showing UNLV at Wyoming, which went to overtime after the third-place Rebels blew a four-point lead with 20 seconds left in regulation and nearly blew the game right there.

A turnover resulted in two free throws with 5.7 seconds left for Wyoming freshman Kael Combs, who shoots 55.6 percent from the line and calmly made both to tie it. Then UNLV inbounded to Rob Whaley Jr., who caught the pass but landed with his toes out of bounds – another turnover. Wyoming’s Sam Griffin got a decent look to win it, but his shot hit the front rim and bounced away.

The Rebels won in overtime.

OT IN LARAMIE 🚨 UNLV and Wyoming tied up at 61. pic.twitter.com/KUi18M4mhw — Paloma Villicana (@PalomaFOX5News) February 28, 2024

At halftime of the SDSU game, first-place Utah State was down four at Fresno State with 45 seconds left and still down by three with 7.5 seconds left, inbounding 94 feet from their basket. Bulldogs coach Justin Hutson instructed his team to foul instead of letting the Aggies attempt a potentially tying 3, only they didn’t … and Darius Brown II banked in a double-clutch 3 to tie it.

The Aggies won in overtime.

Said Hutson: “We called them over to the side and said, ‘On the second dribble, go foul them. Make sure you don’t foul them in the act of shooting.’ Didn’t get done.”

DOWNTOWN DARIUS BROWN‼️ We're going to overtime! ⚡️ @dariusbrownii #AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/8nR5lNCuo8 — USU Men's Hoops (@USUBasketball) February 28, 2024

Twenty minutes later Nevada, playing without injured star Kenan Blackshear, was up six at Colorado State inside 40 seconds to go. But Jarod Lucas, a 91 percent free throw shooter, missed three of four, and the Rams tied it with 2.5 seconds left on an Isaiah Stevens jumper.

The Wolf Pack ran a play where Lucas cut from left to right, received a pass, took two dribbles and launched a halfcourt shot. Except he awkwardly took off on his right leg (as a right-handed shooter) instead of his left.

Didn’t matter. It banked in, the buzzer sounded while the ball was in the air, game over. Nevada 77, CSU 74.

THE SHOT OF THE YEAR?!?! @jarodlucash ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! 😱 @NevadaHoops pic.twitter.com/2opdwQ5oO2 — FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) February 28, 2024

It was the second time in six days that the Rams had lost on a last-second shot (the other coming at New Mexico), but it’s not completely out of character for the Mountain West. It ranks sixth out of 32 Division I leagues this season in one-possession or overtime games — 22 of 84, or 26.2 percent. (SDSU has had three in 15 conference games.)

But three that are absolutely bonkers … on the same night … finishing within minutes of one another?

“I’ve never seen anything as dramatic,” Miles said. “Never seen anything like it.”

2. Ad libbing

Up by four points with 54.1 seconds left, Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher called timeout to set his offense.

They emerged from the huddle and Darrion Trammell drove baseline, dished to a cutting Elijah Saunders for an uncontested two-hand dunk and an insurmountable six-point lead.

“What a play designed by Brian Dutcher and staff at the timeout,” play-by-play announcer Chris Lewis said on the CBS Sports Network telecast.

“Actually,” Saunders conceded, “the play was completely broken.”

The play Dutcher diagrammed was for Lamont Butler to inbound to Jaedon LeDee coming off a down screen, then get a handoff while LeDee rolls to the basket and Trammell lifts from the corner to open the lane. Saunders and Micah Parrish were spaced on the weak side behind the 3-point line to deter help.

But the Spartans sniffed it out, double-teaming LeDee and forcing Butler to instead pass to Trammell in the right corner. San Jose State’s Myon “MJ” Amey Jr. overplayed him on the high side, so Trammell drove hard baseline.

Tibet Gorener, Saunders’ defender, slid over to help.

Saunders cut behind him into the lane.

Pass. Catch. Dunk.

It showed growth by Saunders, a sophomore in his first season playing meaningful minutes. He recognized a situation that the Aztecs regularly drill in practice and then executed it with perfect timing.

“I saw my man go (to help), so I knew the rim was open,” Saunders said. “I feel I’ve definitely become a better cutter. That was a good cut.”

Dutcher says it all the time — that whatever play you scribble on the whiteboard during a timeout usually doesn’t work, that more important is what happens if or when the initial action is stopped, that players win games.

“Whatever play I drew up, it wasn’t going to result in a dunk,” Dutcher said. “So I’m glad we had to ad lib. That was a really good play by those two with the game on the line.”

San Jose State's Trey Anderson, a Mater Dei Catholic High alum, shoots over SDSU's Jaedon LeDee.

3. A Spartan warrior

It’s just another line in the box score — 36 minutes, 14 points, six rebounds, two assists, two blocks — in a close loss, but Tuesday night was a triumphant moment of sorts for San Jose State senior Trey Anderson, the culmination of a long, winding journey.

He’s from San Diego. He grew up dreaming of playing in Viejas Arena. And here he was, playing, scoring, scaring the Aztecs in a place where they have won 20 straight.

The 6-foot-7 Anderson was part of a loaded team of uber-talented youngsters at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista alongside Jaylen Hands and Miles Norris. But then Hands transferred to Foothills Christian and Norris to Helix. Hands would go on to UCLA, Norris to Oregon and then UC Santa Barbara. Both are pros now (Hands in Spain, Norris in the G League.)

Anderson stuck it out at Mater Dei, had a nice high school career but was unsigned as a senior and headed to a post-grad prep academy in Connecticut. He landed at South Carolina under coach Frank Martin the following year, averaged 5.5 minutes and 1.7 points per game in two seasons, then quietly transferred to San Jose State to play for Tim Miles.

He has thrived there, starting 86 games and averaging 11.2 points this season. The Spartans didn’t play at Viejas Arena last season, but Anderson rose to the occasion Tuesday with several clutch baskets down the stretch that kept them in the game — a flying tip-in between two Aztecs defenders, a layup that pulled them within four points with 39 seconds left.

The sand is running out in his collegiate hourglass, with only a handful of games remaining for the fifth-year senior.

It’s not a bad way to go out.

“I’ve played him at wing, forward and center,” Miles said. “He is a Spartan, he’s a warrior. Anything you ask, it’s, ‘Yes, sir.’ Every day he shows up and looks exhausted at the end of every day, he works so hard. He has just a champion’s heart.

“Just a great kid from a great family.”

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San Diego CA - February 27: San Diego State's Darrion Trammell battles San Jose State's Alvaro Cardenas for a loose ball after Trammell tipped it away at Viejas Arena on February, 2024 in San Diego, CA. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

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A controversial idea at the heart of Bidenomics

Jeff Guo, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.

Willa Rubin

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his Bidenomics agenda in Washington, DC, on October 23, 2023.

Réka Juhász is a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, and she studies what's known as industrial policy.

That's the general term for whenever the government tries to promote specific sectors of the economy. Industrial policy used to be pretty popular — countries thought they could supercharge economic growth by giving money to certain kinds of businesses, or by putting up trade barriers to protect certain industries.

But since the 1980s, industrial policy has largely fallen out of favor among policymakers. Among economists, it's been called a "taboo" subject, and "one of the most toxic phrases" in economics. The mainstream view has become that industrial policy is inefficient, even harmful — that governments shouldn't try to mess with what the economy produces, because that will just waste money or prop up bad businesses.

rakesh's a long journey home

Réka Juhász is an economist who studies what's known as industrial policy. Andras Vlaszak/Réka Juhász hide caption

But in the past several years, countries have started to embrace industrial policy in big and public ways. Most notably: the United States. Right now, under President Biden, the U.S. is set to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on industrial policy, to fund things like microchip manufacturing and clean energy investments. It is one of the most ambitious tests of industrial policy in U.S. history. And the billion dollar question is ... will it work?

On today's show, Réka takes us on a fun, nerdy journey to explain the theory behind industrial policy, why it's so controversial, and where President Biden's huge experiment might be headed.

Interview Highlights

Can you just tell us, what is the definition of industrial policy?

So the definition of industrial policy that I like to use is that it is the government trying to change the composition of the economy in the service of some long run goal. So historically, this has been the government trying to kickstart industrialization. A more contemporary example would be trying to move the economy from being a fossil fuel based economy to a renewables economy, but it is very much trying to change what is produced domestically.

It seems like there are real market failures that the Biden administration is trying to target with the market not investing enough in green energy, but there are critics who say, "They're just propping up industries that are politically important. They're doing things that sound good, like manufacturing, even though, who knows if manufacturing really is the future of jobs in America."

I think those are reasonable concerns and concerns that I worry about. There is some guidance I think that the literature yields in terms of how to manage the challenges to industrial policy. In terms of informational challenges, one thing that we see across the board in cases of successful industrial policy are deep investments in bureaucratic capacity, in having a high quality bureaucracy that is technocratic. I know that sounds funny, but if you look at the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office that is distributing a lot of the Inflation Reduction Act money, that is exactly what we see happening. They have scaled up their personnel massively because they are looking at proposals for green technology. They are thinking about, who should we be giving loans to? That needs people who actually understand the technology, who actually understand the science of this stuff.

You studied France at the time of Napoleon, back when Napoleon was trying to take over the world. And you found actually a really great natural experiment hiding in all of this war stuff that was going on.

That's right. So the Industrial Revolution has started in Britain. They figured out this amazing new technology to produce cotton yarn very cheaply. And so they have this head start in this industry, and France is sort of trying to keep up. And so the Napoleonic blockade enters in this moment, and where sort of the entry point for this paper comes in is that the blockade isn't successful: It's partially successful. So what I found in this paper is that the parts of France that became more protected from trade, they thrived in the long run. And even after the blockade ended, the less well protected parts of France never managed to get into the industry in the same way. Indeed, it seems like there was some market failure in France that prevented firms from being able to enter the industry. And this temporary event was enough to sort of give certain producers in certain parts of France, the ability to overcome that externality and become competitive in the long run.

I think the message from your paper is that these market failures are real, and industrial policy can, in some circumstances, fix them and make things better. But also like, is it replicable? Could we do it again?

That's the challenge I think the paper leaves us with. So this really makes me worry that we should spend a lot more time figuring out how to do industrial policy well, because the problem is very real.

This episode was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Sally Helm. It was engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez with help from Maggie Luthar. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Our executive producer is Alex Goldmark.

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On Wednesday morning, a robotic lunar lander launched by a Houston company got closer to reaching the moon.

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Because solar panels provide the spacecraft’s power, its mission will last only about seven days until the sun sets on the landing site. That’s when a two-week long, frigid lunar night begins, and Odysseus was not designed to survive those conditions.

The six NASA instruments carried to the moon by Odysseus and what their tasks are:

A laser retroreflector array that bounces back laser beams.

A LIDAR instrument that precisely measures the spacecraft’s altitude and velocity as it descends to the lunar surface.

A stereo camera that will capture video of the plume of dust produced by Odysseus’ engines during landing.

A low-frequency radio receiver that measures the effects of charged particles on radio signals near the lunar surface, providing information that could aid the design of future radio observation on the moon.

A beacon, Lunar Node-1, that will demonstrate an autonomous navigation system.

An instrument in the propellant tank that uses radio waves to measure fuel levels.

The lander is also carrying other payloads, including a camera built by students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.; a precursor instrument for a future moon telescope; and an art project by Jeff Koons .

How’s the mission going, so far?

Mostly very well.

On Feb. 15, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent Odysseus on a trajectory toward the moon. After the spacecraft separated, it successfully turned itself on. An initial engine burn to test the propulsion system was postponed because the liquid oxygen propellant took longer to chill down than ground-based tests had predicted.

Engineers adjusted the ignition procedures, and the burn was successfully performed on Feb. 16.

Along the way, the spacecraft transmitted photographs taken of both Earth and the moon.

Flight controllers fired the engine twice more, on Feb. 18 and Feb. 20, to fine-tune the spacecraft’s path to the moon. The second effort was precise enough that the flight controllers decided to skip a planned third correction.

How big is the spacecraft?

The Intuitive Machines lander is a hexagonal cylinder with six landing legs, standing about 14 feet tall and five feet wide. For fans of “Dr. Who,” the science fiction television show, the body of the lander is roughly the size of the Tardis, the time-traveling spacecraft that, on the outside, looks like an old British police telephone booth.

At launch, with a full load of propellant, the lander weighed about 4,200 pounds.

Why isn’t NASA running this mission?

Odysseus is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which allows private companies to send experiments to the moon and spares NASA from building and operating its own moon landers.

The space agency hopes this approach will be much cheaper, letting it send more missions more frequently while it is preparing for U.S. astronauts to return to the moon as part of its Artemis program.

Kenneth Chang has been at The Times since 2000, writing about physics, geology, chemistry, and the planets. Before becoming a science writer, he was a graduate student whose research involved the control of chaos. More about Kenneth Chang

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rakesh's a long journey home

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The Long Journey Home review

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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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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 Review (Switch eShop)

Homeward bound

Version Reviewed: European

  • review by Dom Reseigh-Lincoln Fri 6th Sep 2019

The randomised yet finely-crafted adventures found within The Long Journey Home are filled with wonder. Manoeuvring your ship through vast and numerous solar systems, navigating unexplored planets and meeting strange and wonderful alien species – it's all good stuff. But the coin is always flipping in the vacuum of space; the cosmos is unforgivable as it is beguiling. Hostile environments might cause your crew to suffer everything from whiplash to ruptured organs, while winds buffet your lander into sheer rock faces, crippling its thrusters or breaching its hull. Aliens that once seemed friendly might suddenly turn hostile, or inadvertently infect your people with a potentially incurable contagion. You're constantly in awe and in danger.

As an interactive experience, unsurprisingly, this procedurally-generated indie title offers engaging moments of systemic excitement as you stumble on random encounters and strange constructs, tempered with mercilessly brutal periods of punishment, malfunction and death. The Long Journey Home wants you to take in the abject joy of exploring hitherto unexplored corners of space, but it makes it clear you’re unlikely to make it home, despite the promise of its title. It’s both the carrot on the stick and the foreboding warning that you’ll have a run of luck with your resource collecting, then see it all fall apart as an unexpected malfunction jettisons all your fuel or suffocates your entire crew.

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 humanity’s first faster-than-light engine sends them hurtling across space to regions unknown, it’s up to you to guide your sailors back to the warm space docks of home. Every time you jump to a new system, you never know where you might end up next. It’s one of the game’s biggest allures; a Battlestar Galactica -esque proposition that ties into its procedurally-generated destinations.

Boil down all the references and familiar ideas and what your left with is a rogue-like that’s happy to take things at a narrative pace more akin to a hard science fiction novel, a la The Expanse or Alastair Reynolds’ Revelation Space saga than, say, the fast-paced space opera of a game such as Mass Effect . Play is split between moving between planets (where your ship is represented by an arrow on a star map), a top-down view showing more detailed space exploration and a side-scrolling perspective when you land on a planet. Flung across the stars, resource management becomes a vital part of your existence. In order to keep your crew of four (available from a set of 10 you choose a the start of the game, each with their own unique traits) you’ll need to mine raw materials to keep your boat afloat.

Learning how to accurately use thrust and boost to move between planets takes a while to master, but once you get the hang of using gravity wells to affect your trajectory (so you can eventually enter a geosynchronous orbit) it adds an invigorating agency that's often ignored by space exploration simulators. In fact, most of The Long Journey Home's systems are all about getting your head around the importance of doing everything manually. There are no training wheels here. You'll need to learn to accurately control the lander you send to mine resources on each new planet, because one false move can send it crashing into the ground. Environmental changes such as storms can really affect an already unwieldy control model that reacts to the slightest misjudgement in thrust or rotation. Once you land, you'll get to scan certain points of interest (such as the giant bones of long-dead leviathans), but the damage you'll take to get there doesn't often warrant the trip itself.

Everything from the integrity of your hull to the reliability of your life support systems need to be carefully managed and topped up. Causing damage to your ship is incredibly easy, as you’ll soon discover, so you’re constantly locked in a cycle of mining and refining. And it’s so easy to damage your ship, and the lander you use to visit planets. A little too easy, if we’re honest. Fly too close to a star and you’ll risk irradiating your vessel. End up a field of debris and you’ll be torn to ribbons. Misjudge a landing and you’ll pulverise the occupants of your lander. The thing is, you have to keep gathering resources – especially the energy needed to power your FTL drive – so you're constantly courting disaster.

Lander controls and the variables that affect its handling are a little too unpredictable, though. We often reminisce fondly on the sedate mechanics of Mass Effect 2 ’s mining mini-game, but where filling up your tanks with minerals and metals was a fun side job in that entry, resource gathering too often becomes the main crux of your existence. It turns The Long Journey Home into more of a survival simulator, and it’s at these times that the game becomes laborious and less engaging. It’s at odds with the creativity poured into the other aspects of the game, namely the randomness of exploration and diplomacy. Because it’s here that this science fiction odyssey is at its most memorable.

You might stray across a roving transponder, pointing you in the direction of a stranded alien species. You might stumble upon an ancient space station constructed by a long lost civilisation. You’ll collect artefacts, gather samples of brand new fauna and fill your data banks with information on far-flung cultures. Not every species you meet is friendly, and if you’re not infected, infested or eaten alive, you’ll need to fire up your weapon systems and defend your crew from destruction. The random nature of The Long Journey Home works really well as a canvas for its cosmic story with twists and turns aplenty, but it’s a concept that's undermined by seemingly random malfunctions and issues that can completely destroy your good fortune and force you to restart a new run.

Playing The Long Journey Home can often be rewarding as it is frustrating. The creativity of the writing, the whimsy of the soundtrack and vast number of cosmic variations you’ll encounter makes each new jump a leap into the unknown. But it too often airs on the unfair, with a careful and calculated set of jumps undone by a sudden and unpredictable calamity or a trip to a planet that cripples your lander, effectively ending your game. The resource management aspect really is a drag, but push past the constant need to spin those plates and there are some really wonderful moments to experience. The procedurally-generated nature of each jump warrants countless replays – you’ll just have to deal with a game that’s often doing its best to scupper its own best characteristics.

Comments 12

  • Fri 6th Sep 2019

Sounds like the RNG is strong with this one.

I think the best rogue-lites/likes use RNG to unexpectedly throttle the level of challenges — while still making nearly all challenges surmountable, given sufficient skill and planning. I fear this balance might not have been well-calibrated in this case, given what I’ve read here & in Steam reviews.

@sfb Thankfully it sounds like an issue that should be easily patchable.

@sfb I certainly hope they pay attention to this and fine-tune it to be a little more forgiving. I totally agree that the RNG should be there to dictate pacing, not doom a playthrough outright. It's hard to get into a game where you can do everything right, yet still have zero chances of success is the RNG's aren't favorable.

I hope they get this sorted out, because the premise, visuals, and audio tracks are just begging me to pull the trigger.

Yeah, if they tweak this a bit I’m down.

If they add some way to customize the difficulty I’d buy it.

  • Sat 7th Sep 2019

Since the PC release was last updated in 2017, I would not hold my breath for any design tweaks in the near future.

I was eyeing this as it sounded right up my alley. I thought this would be the space sim "Oregon Trail" I've been waiting for but that RNG... Ugh. I still intrigued, but I'll wait for now.

  • Tempestryke

Sounds like a normal day on planet earth XD

  • 120frames-please

Interesting review. I'm more interested in this one now, just not sure if I'll give it a try. Could they patch the mining bits? Maybe create and easy mode so one could enjoy the creative aspects more? I don't know...

  • JasmineDragon

This sounds amazing. Random fatalities are part of roguelikes. You're gonna die from RNG in this genre. It's part of its DNA.

  • Mon 9th Sep 2019

@JasmineDragon Usually random events and enemies in roguelikes can be either at least very difficult, or avoidable. Randomly dying through no fault of your own whatsoever is taking it a bit too far even for roguelikes.

  • Thu 29th Dec 2022

I gotta say that I got this in the sale for £1.80 or something and I've played it for about 2 hours or so now and not like I expected. I was a bit dubious coz it's right on the edge of what normally like to play but actually it's been a good way to pass the time. "Not Bad" is bang on the money. I've not died (yet) and I have no idea if I'll restart if I do but for under £2 it's all good.

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rakesh's a long journey home

A Long Journey Summary & Analysis by Musaemura Zimunya

  • Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
  • Poetic Devices
  • Vocabulary & References
  • Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
  • Line-by-Line Explanations

rakesh's a long journey home

"A Long Journey" is a free verse poem by the Zimbabwean poet Musaemura Zimunya. Zimunya included "A Long Journey" in his book Country Dawns and City Lights , published in 1985—just five years after Zimbabwe attained independence from Britain. In “A Long Journey,” a Zimbabwean speaker describes the effects of industrialization and the complex changes that their village undergoes during British colonial rule, appreciating the many comforts and conveniences of modern life while also struggling with the immense legacy of suffering and violence that preceded it.

  • Read the full text of “A Long Journey”

rakesh's a long journey home

The Full Text of “A Long Journey”

“a long journey” summary, “a long journey” themes.

Theme The Complicated Legacy of Colonialism

The Complicated Legacy of Colonialism

Theme The Cost of Development

The Cost of Development

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “a long journey”.

Through decades that ... ... long long journey

rakesh's a long journey home

When the motor-car ... ... every village boy

With the arrival ... ... behind the horizons

Lines 12-13

Such a long ... ... bush to concrete

Lines 14-17

And now I ... ... my mother country

Lines 18-22

I fight in ... ... rain and cold

Lines 23-27

We have fled ... ... rattling around me

Lines 28-30

We moved into ... ... for our shirts

“A Long Journey” Symbols

Symbol City Lights

City Lights

  • Line 25: “the halo of ,” “tower lights”
  • Line 28: “We moved into the lights”

“A Long Journey” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Lines 1-2: “decades that ran like rivers / endless rivers of endless woes”

Alliteration

  • Line 1: “ran,” “rivers”
  • Line 3: “jail”
  • Line 4: “journey”
  • Line 5: “car came”
  • Line 6: “cart”
  • Line 7: “but,” “bicycle,” “Britain”
  • Line 8: “boy”
  • Line 17: “capital,” “country”
  • Line 19: “road runs”
  • Line 23: “witches,” “wizards”
  • Line 26: “blood”
  • Line 27: “bones”
  • Line 1: “rivers”
  • Line 2: “endless rivers of endless woes”
  • Line 3: “pick and shovel sjambok and jail”
  • Line 4: “long long”
  • Line 12: “long travail”
  • Line 13: “long journey”
  • Line 22: “wind and rain and cold”
  • Line 24: “long long road”

Extended Metaphor

  • Line 4: “O such a long long journey”
  • Line 13: “a long journey from bush to concrete”
  • Lines 19-22: “but my road runs and turns into dusty gravel / into over-beaten foot tracks that lead / to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling / threatened by wind and rain and cold”
  • Lines 28-30: “We moved into the lights / but from the dark periphery behind / an almighty hand reaches for our shirts.”
  • Line 3: “through pick and shovel sjambok and jail”
  • Line 6: “the sledge and the ox-cart began to die”
  • Line 15: “eighteen ninety”
  • Lines 16-17: “new-found luxury / in this the capital city of my mother country”
  • Lines 19-22: “dusty gravel / into over-beaten foot tracks that lead / to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling / threatened by wind and rain and cold”
  • Line 23: “witches and wizards”
  • Lines 26-27: “I hear the cry from human blood / and wicked bones rattling around me”

“A Long Journey” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Eighteen ninety
  • Over-beaten foot tracks
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “through pick and shovel sjambok and jail”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Long Journey”

Rhyme scheme, “a long journey” speaker, “a long journey” setting, literary and historical context of “a long journey”, more “a long journey” resources, external resources.

Zimbabwe's History — Read a brief history of Zimbabwe via the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Zimunya Sings — Watch a video of Zimunya performing.

A Brief Biography — Learn more about Zimunya's life and work.

Everything you need for every book you read.

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  • Featured Content / Reviews

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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.

rakesh's a long journey home

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

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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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A long journey home.

2022 ‘Wu Kou Zhi Jia’ Directed by Wenqian Zhang

Back in her family home, Wenqian Zhang settles in with her camera. A Long Journey Home tells the story of this cohabitation via a relational and temporal journey that stirs up emotions while challenging contemporary China’s “making a family” from the inside. This is a brilliant quest for emancipation seeking a place among one’s own people.

Director Director

Wenqian Zhang

Documentary

Releases by Date

15 apr 2022, releases by country, switzerland.

123 mins   More at TMDb Report this page

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A Long Journey Home

Bryn_delgado.

After defeating Azog's army, life in the Erebor slowly begins to improve. The royals are healing from their wounds, the councilors are already beginning to drive the King and the young princes mad and recovery work is underway in the Mountain. For the first time in many years, an Alliance has been established between humans, elves and dwarrow. So why is the rightful heir to the throne, Prince Fili, so unhappy? Maybe he is bothered by an old injury? He was seen countless times rubbing his wrist with a thoughtful expression on his face. And who is the mysterious burglar that the King's Company talks so much and yet so little about? --- Iribella Baggins returned to Shire in the middle of winter with several companions. They stayed indoors for almost two weeks, and when the doors finally opened, it was only so that one of Iribella’s strange friends could go shopping. The lass herself was not seen. Is she even here? And what is that strange glow that comes out of Bag End at night? Why all those dwarves and Man, singly and in groups, began to enter the Shire and asking about the traveling hobbit? What kind of adventure did Iribella get involved in this time? In hiatus.
So this is the second part of the Champion's live. You know me, I post irregularly about as often as the cheesecake fairy scratches a magic tooth-crushing teacup. But we got carried away. A new chapter will be posted every two weeks, most likely on Thursdays. If I'm late, it means the fairy couldn't stand the dreadful singing any longer and broke the cup and I have to glue it back together. Anyway, enjoy the story)

Chapter 1 : Chapter one: In which Dis meets her future daughter in-law

(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Chapter Text

          Dis regarded the street her group was passing with interest and a hint of curiosity. Dwarrow were not frequent visitors to Hobbiton and very few of them would be bothered to share a description of this unusual town.

          The town could be reached by an elegant stone bridge. Dis couldn’t help but note the skill with which it was made. Narrow cobbled streets had branched into well-trodden paths that intertwined with each other. She could see a lot of vast green fields with many green plants that Dis couldn’t tell the name of. Hobbits seemed to love nature just as much as Elves did. If not more, judging by the sheer number of well-tended gardens near their homes.

          And the buildings themselves were amazing. So far, Dis noticed only a few houses that were made in some resemblance of Man’s. The others were a little confusing. It was as if they were all grown inside the hills. All that was visible was the front wall, with a round door painted in some bright color – usually yellow or green – and a couple of windows here and there. Everything else was hidden under a layer of grass.

          The Hobbits themselves met the Dwarrow quite amiably. Everyone passing by greeted them with a friendly smile. A few little Hobbitlings even came closer to ask about their weapons. Young Gimli was fast to start explaining the pros and cons of wielding an axe, to no one’s surprise. Dis only chuckled at his enthusiasm. Of course, some Hobbits were whispering behind the Dwarrow’s backs but Dis had long since stopped caring about this small aspect of their lifes.

          But for all their friendliness, none of the Hobbits seemed to be able to answer their questions properly. They listened, smiled and then pointed their hands in some direction, giving the Dwarrow a bunch of completely unhelpful instructions on how to reach their destination. One said they should go to the end of the street, turn left at old Lilly’s house, then go up along drinker Rondo street and then just go ahead, Bag End would be on the right. But the next Hobbit they have asked when they came up, shook their head and exclaimed that they were in the wrong place. “This is baker Torry street,” they explained, “you need the next one. Follow this path and then go down. It is impossible to get lost from there.” They said with a laugh. “Good evening.” They bowed and were off in a moment. The Dwarrow shared a look. Dis sighed and turned her pony around.

          “Blasted Hobbits.” Gimli muttered under his breath. “Who builds towns in a spiral? And in an uneven spiral with a bunch of small spirals extending from it. How do they not get lost here themselves?” He groused, glaring at the small hill they had passed at least three times in the last hour.

          His mother, Thâris, merely shook her head, her beads flailing in the wind. “Do not be so dour, inùdoy . Remember, Hobbits are different. I am sure it will be just as hard for them to find their way in the Mountain as it is for us right now.” She said placatingly, looking around in search of a green door with a magical rune on it. Gimli scowled.

           “I still think they should have at least made some pointers.” He grumbled and earned himself a slap on the back of his head from his mother. The rest of the Dwarrow laughed at his mortified ‘Ma!’

          Dis briefly looked over her group, checking, in case someone had gotten separated. But all Dwarrow were accounted for. Her adviser Lofar was riding next to her. Two guards – Oínur and Regi – were quietly whispering, surveying the street with suspicion, as if waiting for someone to jump out of the nearby bush. Dis scowled a bit at their paranoia. It was clear that these parts had never seen violence, save for an occasional dranken brawl.

          Gimli, son of Gloin, was arguing with his mother. At first, Dis was not sure if she should have let him accompany them. But the young Dwarf defended his position so fiercely, that she gave in. Besides, this way he would be constantly in sight, which, hopefully, would prevent him from getting into trouble. If not, well, Dis had taken Thâris along for a reason.

          So lost in her musings, Dis did not notice a Hobbit, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere, until they called. “Excuse me?” Dis stopped her pony and looked down at the Hobbit.

          He - Dis assumed it was a male, as Hobbits were very similar to each other and did not have beards or braids or anything else that might help to tell them apart - looked like any other Hobbit they have seen through the day. His short, dark curly hair was covered by a small hat. He was dressed light, despite it being only early spring. Although, it was rather warm in these parts. He wore a light-yellow shirt with elbow-length sleeves, brown vest and trousers which ended just below his knees. He had large hairy feet and was not wearing any kind of boots. He had a suck slung over his right shoulder and he watched the Dwarrow with openness and a bit of cation.

          Seeing that he had attracted their attention, the Hobbit smiled and bowed slightly. “Good evening, Master Dwarf.” He greeted. Dis tilted her head. For the first time today, a Hobbit addressed them correctly. Meanwhile, the Hobbit continued. “I could not help but notice that you seem to be a little lost. The Shire can be confusing, especially for a first-time traveler. My, even Gandalf the Gray got lost here twice or thrice.” The Hobbit chuckled to himself. He looked from Lofar to Regi. “I was wondering if you need any help. I can guide you to your destination.” He offered, still smiling. Dis glanced subtly at Lofar and then nodded.

          “We will be very grateful if you help us, Master...?” Lofar said, walking his pony a bit forward.

          Suddenly, the Hobbit slapped his forehead. “Oh, there are my manners? My ma would have boxed my ears for that. Please, forgive me this slight.” He took off his hat and bowed again. “Hamfast Gamgee, at your service, Master Dwarf.” He straightened up, put his hat back and looked at the group again. “What are you looking for?”

          Dis kicked her pony, coming closer to the Hobbit. “We are looking for the Bag End.” She said and watched with a frown how the Hobbit’s eyes narrowed as he took her in.

          “The Bag End you say… I would have though your sibling told you the way.” He replied, his tone changing from friendly to wary. Oínur and Regi subtly placed their hands on the hilts of their weapons. Lofar stiffened on top of his pony.

          Dis’ expression stayed perfectly calm. She raised an eyebrow at the Hobbit. “My sibling?”

          Hamfast nodded once. “Forgive me if I am mistaken. But you see, there was a Dwarf who passed by a year ago and he bore a strong resemblance to you.” He squinted at Dis. “Although, I believe he was quite a bit taller.” The Hobbit murmured, rubbing his bare chin.

          Inching her head, Dis raised an eyebrow. “Did the Dwarf you are talking about happen to wear a long fur coat?” She questioned. Hamfast nodded. “Then it was indeed my brother you’ve seen.” Her words seemed to calm the Hobbit down.

          “And you are here because?” He asked and Gimli exploded.

          “The matters of Dwarrow is no business of yours.” He told the Hobbit hotly. Hamfast narrowed his eyes and raised his chin.

          “I assure you, Master Dwarf, anything that concerns Mistress Iribella’s safety is my business.” The Hobbit replied flatly. Dis cut in before Gimli could say something to insult their newfound source of information.

          “I can swear to you, Master Hamfast that we have no intention to hurt Mistress Iribella in any way. We just want to talk to her.” Dis assured him. The Hobbit eyed her, clearly considering her words. He sighed, rubbing his forehead.

          “I apologize for my outburst.” He said finally. “A lot of people have been wanting to see Mistress Iribella lately.” These words made the Dwarrow tense up. Hamfast gave them a look. “The Rangers had to take a company of Dwarrow, who came last, out on a cart.” Lofar frowned.

          “On a cart? Why?” He questioned. Hamfast huffed, righting the slipping sack on his shoulder.

          “They did not have good intentions and would not take ‘no’ for an answer. Thus, Master Jor was forced to deal with them.” He shared with a group. Gimli frowned.

          “But why did they even come here?” He wondered. Hamfast shook his head.

          “I cannot tell you. Now, if you truly mean no ill for Miss Bell, please, follow me.” He turned around and started walking down the street. Dis shared a glance with Lofar and they kicked their ponies, proceeding after the Hobbit.

          Ten minutes later they stopped on a narrow path in front of a lovely looking garden. Hamfast confidently walked to the fence, opened the gate, went up to the porch, and knocked on the door. Dis dismounted, coming closer just in time to see the door open. But it was not a Hobbit lass who answered the knocking. It was a Dwarf. And a very familiar looking Dwarf it was. Dis glanced at Gimli, whose mouth fell open as his eyes roamed over the Dwarf and Dis smirked. This meeting was going to be fun.

          Without paying much attention to the Dwarrow he had brought, Hamfast greeted the new Dwarf. “Master Jor! Apologies for the late visit, but I came across this company and they expressed a wish to see Mistress Iribella, so I guided them here.” He explained with an easy smile. Jórundur looked over his shoulder, quickly examining them. His gaze fell on Dis and he sighed.

          “I knew one of you Durins will come sooner or later.” He said to no one in particular. And then glared at Dis. “Was a message too much to ask for?” Jórundur complained, dropping his hands on his hips.

          “We were not sure where to send it.” Dis admitted with a tilt of her head. “And we did not know if our letter would find anyone.” Jórundur rolled his eyes, snorting.

         “Excuses and evasions, that’s what I hear.” He grumbled, turning around and stepping back into the house. He looked at them over his shoulder. “Well? You lot are coming or do you prefer sleeping on the grass?”

          Hamfast had already disappeared into the house. Dis could hear his voice as he talked to someone, hopefully it would be the wayward lass.

          Jórundur let Lofar, Oínur and Regi pass and stopped Dis with a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve grown into such a beauty, iraknana’dith . There was not a day I have not missed you.” He murmured gently, smiling tenderly at her. Dis felt her own features soften.

           “I’ve missed you too, iraknadad .” She whispered and rested her forehead on his.

           Jórundur leaned back a bit and turned his attention to Gimli and Thâris. “Blimey, you must be Gimli, son of Gloin.” He exclaimed, thumping the young Dwarf on his back with a loud laugh. “Yer da told me all about you. And about you, the incomparable Thâris.” Jórundur said with a wink, bowed and placed a kiss on Thâris’ hand. “There are no words in any language that could convey your beauty.” Thâris gave him a charming smile, while Gimli groaned.

          “Please, do not flirt with my mother.” He moaned, hands hiding his face. Jórundur rolled his eyes and threw his arm over Gimli’s shoulders.

          “Remember, a compliment is not a flirtation. And a beauty like your mother deserves not just compliments, but whole ballads written in her honor.” Jórundur lectured, steering Gimli into the house. Dis and Thâris shared a glance, amused by Jórundur’s teasing and moved after him.

          Dis studied the hallway they were in. There were coat hooks on the wall to the right. To the left was a chest, and next to it a weapon stand on which hung two bows with quivers, one much smaller than the other, a hammer, an axe, a sword and a strange dagger. Under Jórundur’s hard stare, Lofar, Oínur and Regi stripped their weapons and placed them down on the stand, grumbling under their breath. Gimli, Thâris and Dis followed suit. Jórundur also made them take off their boots, claiming that - “Bell will skin me alive if I let you lot drag mud all over her floors.” Then he led them into the house, giving them an impromptu tour along the way naming the rooms they passed. “Oak hall, spare room, smoking room, parlour, atrium, dining room and kitchen. Bathroom is that way and that’s all yer lot need to know for now.” He said absently and stepped into the kitchen.

          There were two people sitting at the table. Even though it was a little low for them, they looked quite comfortable. A Woman dressed in a tunic and leggings sat in a chair to the left. Her chestnut hair was braided and slung over her left shoulder. There was a deep curved scar on her left cheek. And a person sitting across from her... Dis blinked, but the spell did not go away. At the table sat an Elf and he was laughing at something that his companion had said. Hamfast fussed at the stove, chatting about tomatoes. The scene seemed a little unreal.

          It became weirder when Jórundur strolled casually toward the Elf, sat down on the chair next to him and wrapped his arm around his waist. The Elf smiled briefly down at him and tilted his head to watch the newcomers.

          “Greetings, honorable Dwarrow of Erebor. My name is Hgrodrom,” the Elf started, “this is Lyramein,” he gestured at the Woman who nodded and folded her arms but said nothing. The Elf continued. “Would you like to dine with us?” He inched his head, gaze dancing from one Dwarf to another.

          Dis bowed her head a little. “Well met, Hgrodrom, Lady Lyramein.” She said slowly. These people were in Thorin’s burglar house and neither Jórundur nor Hamfast seemed concerned. And Thorin had mentioned something about Jórundur’s companions and his One. Was it this Woman? Anyway, all that meant Dis could trust them. At least until proven overwise. “My name is Dis, daughter of Frís. My companions – Gimli, son of Gloin; Thâris, daughter of Sonis; Lofar, son of Warto; Oínur, daughter of Jiira and Regi, son of Borgi.” Every dwarf bowed when their name was called. Dis looked straight at Jor. “We are here on behalf of my brother – Thorin Oakenshield. He had taske-”

          “Dis, haban , can you please drop all these formalities?” Jórundur interrupted her, groaning. “We are among friends here.” He grumbled. “And anyway, Bell’s not here yet. By the way,” he said abruptly, glancing up at Hgrodrom with a scowl, “why the hell did ya let her outta the dratted house?”

          The Elf shrugged. Dis absently noticed the way Gimli’s eyes budged out. “You know how she gets when she is coped in one place for too long.” Hgrodrom replied easily, taking a sip from his cup. “Besides,” he added - and did Dis’ eyes got a worse turn or did the elf just smirk? - “Dai keeps an eye on her.” Jórundur bristled.

          “Dai- oh, this knowledge will surely make me sleep easier.” He snapped sarcastically, huffing up at the Elf. “Have you forgotten the last time already?” He asked incredulously.

          Hgrodrom rolled - rolled! Something in Dis’ worldview shattered - his eyes and placed the cup on the table with an audible clink. “You seem to forget that our Hobbit is an adult now. Also,” he paused, pretending to think, “I am sure I heard something about this little fact that she can take out a Warg pack without breaking a sweat.” Jórundur scowled at Hgrodrom’s word and crossed his arms.

          “Not in her current condition.” He uttered stubbornly. Hgrodrom sighed.

          He was about to say something, when Lyramein loudly put her cup on the table. The pair synchronically turned their heads in her direction. Lyramein raised an eyebrow, the rest of her face stayed perfectly still. She nodded at Dis and seemed to sent some kind of message with her eyes only. Hgrodrom sighed. He smiled apologetically at the Dwarrow. “Please, forgive us, we got a little carried away. Let’s move to the dining room.” He lowered his voice and a hint of mirth flashed in those piercing gray eyes. “I do not know if you are aware, but Hobbits are excellent cooks.” He shared with a smile and stood up, leading the way.

          After a hearty meal that Dis would rather call a feast - seriously, how much did Hobbits eat? - they moved into the smoking room. Hgrodrom said that he had no idea when Iribella would come back, so there was not much to do but wait. He and Lyramein stayed to take care of the dishes, declining the offered help. “Please, do not worry about it. You are the guests here.” Hgrodrom assured. Then he scrunched his nose. “Besides, I cannot stand the smell.” He admitted almost sheepishly and ushered the Dwarrow and Hamfast out of the room.

          Now, sitting in a very comfortable armchair, Dis was watching Jórundur. She had only vague memories about him and now she was comparing them with the image in front her eyes. He was older, steadier and more confident in himself. He was sitting calmly in the chair, seemingly relaxed, but Dis could see the way he watched the room, aware of every move. He was a seasoned warrior, not to be joked with.

          “What’s it?” He asked gruffly, puffing a smoke ring. Arching an eyebrow at Dis’ confusion, Jórundur chucked. “I’ve known you all yer life, iraknana’dith. You always wrinkle yer nose a bit when you have something on yer mind.” Dis shook her head, a small smile quirked up her lips.

          “I was wondering about you actually.” She admitted, lighting up her own pipe. Narrowing her eyes, Dis inched her head. “I have not seen you since before Azanulbizar. And even then, you spent more time with Dwalin and Thorin than me.” The Dwarrowdam accused lightly. Jórundur huffed.

          “That I did.” He murmured. His gaze become distant and he leaned back into the chair. “What do you want to know?” He asked finally. Dis tilted her body forward.

          “Iribella Baggins.” She started in a mild tone. Jórundur did not react visibly but Dis could feel him tense up slightly. “Both my brother and my son claim her to be Fili’s One.” Jórundur inched his head, still silent. Dis pressed forward. “They seem to believe it. But I have not heard about any Dwarf whose One belonged to a different race.” With each her word Jórundur’s calmness slowly ebbed away, leaving only careful blankness in its wake. He slowly lowered his pipe, putting it off.

          “What are you saying?” He asked evenly. But his voice had a dangerous edge. Although, it did not scare Dis.

          She looked Jórundur straight in the eyes. “I do not wish to offend anyone, much less one of Thorin’s Company.” A loud yell cut her off. The pair of Dwarrow watched Gimli and Regi jump from their chairs, ready to start fighting right here and now. But thankfully, Thâris was having none of it. She snatched them by their ears and dragged them out of the room, cursng their stupidity. Dis shook her head and returned her attention to Jórundur. “Where were we?” She wondered out loud. “Oh, right.” Dis absently tapped her nails on the arm of the chair. “In his letter, Thorin mentioned that you are her friend.” She recalled. “I would like to hear about her. What is she like? Why did she choose to join my brother’s mad quest? From what I have heard and seen, halflings are not very keen of travels and journeys.” Dis tilted her head in curiosity.

          Jórundur was quiet for a long moment. He was watching the dancing fire in the fireplace. “First of all,” he spoke lowly, “never call them ‘halflings’.” Dis blinked dazedly at him. Jórundur chuckled. “They won’t tell ya, too polite the lot of them, well,” He paused, winking at Dis, “if ya don’t count Bell, of course, but it’s considered rather rude. Pretty much like calling us naugrims.” Dis frowned and made a mental note to made sure all Dwarrow in her company knew it. Jórundur nodded to himself, taking a deep inhale from his pipe. “As for Bell… the lass is like a little sister to me. I watched her grow up and participated in the process, as much as I could. She’s a feisty little thing, with sharp knives and even sharper wit. She is always ready to defend those in need. Despite all the horrors she had lived through, she is amazingly kind. She can even pity her enemy.” He laughed at the look of mild surprise on Dis’ face. “I will never forget the fright I felt when she brought a wounded Warg pup to the camp. The damn animal followed us for the next ten years until it finally died.” Jórundur shook his beard in soundless laughter. “But she’s absolutely ruthless in battle…” The dwarf trailed off.

          Dis hummed. “You almost sound like Gloin.” She teased lightly, smirking when Jórundur rolled his eyes and huffed. “Really, should I be worried about you getting a couple of little ones of your own sometime soon?” Dis laughed but unexpectedly, the mirth dimmed in Jórundur’s eyes.

          He slowly shook his head. “Nah… no little ones for us. I doubt there will be someone willing to be adopted by such a strange pair.” Dis frowned.

          “What do you mean?” In all their brief stay here, Jórundur had given no indication that any of his companions were his One. Maybe they were not here right now? Rumor has it there were four Sentinels. Dis knew for sure that Jórundur was a Sentinel, Thorin wrote as much. She was not sure about other members but could made an educated guess that Lyramein and Hgrodrom were Sentinels too. But who was the last? Could they be Jórundur’s One? Hgrodrom had mentioned someone named Dai…

          A snort had torn Dis from her musings. “Thorin did not tell ya? Figures.” Jórundur rubbed his forehead and grinned like a Dwarf twice younger his age. “You see, most consider a friendship between an Elf and a Dwarf to be tales of old wives. But to hear about a courting pair…” Jórundur grinned and turned his head to Dis. A thick braid with a single wooden bead was tucked behind his left ear. Dis stared dumbly at it.

          “That’s… not that I expected.” Dis said carefully, keeping her surprise from showing. “But I believe congratulations are in order. Hgrodrom seems to be quite a nice fellow.” She finished with a sincere smile. “Easy on the eyes too.” Dis added with a wink and Jórundur barked out a sharp laugh, slapping his knee.

          “Yer still a menace. And the boys are wondering where they’ve got their prankster streak.” Jórundur mock scolded. He reached out for Dis’ hand and startled then the front door opened with a loud bang.

          “Mista Jow, Mista Jow!” A ringing young voice called out, anxious. Jórundur sprang to his feet and in a moment was kneeling before a tiny Hobbitling in the hall. Dis scanned the hall for danger, found nothing suspicious and focused on the little boy. He looked no older than ten years old, dressed in a brown plaid knee-length pants, a gray long-sleeve shirt, a dark vest, and a gold neckerchief. The Hobbitling was breathing heavily, as if he had been running for a long time and now could not even out his breath.

          “What’s it, Saradoc?” Jórundur questioned the kid after he stopped wheezing. Saradoc gestured wildly at the street, huge brown eyes zeroed in on the Dwarf in front of him.

          “Missus Bell! She’s in twouble!” The Hobbitling cried out. Dis furrowed her brow. It has been a long time since she had spoken to a little one so young. It was difficult to understand him. But it seemed Jórundur did not have the same problem. His gaze hardened instantly and he threw a worried look over his shoulder at Hgrodrom. “Pwease, help!” The Hobbitling exclaimed, his eyes watering. Jórundur put his huge hands on his little shoulders. They made a comical sight.

          “Peace, lad. Take a deep breath, yeah, that’s right.” He soothed the tiny Hobbit. “Now, who and where?”

          Saradoc sniffled, wiped his nose with his sleeve and said. “Missus ‘Belia. Mawcet- Mewcet-” The Hobitling struggled to get the word out, huffing in frustration.

          “The Marketplace?” Hgrodrom prompted gently. The little one beamed at him and nodded eagerly. He grabbed Jórundur’s hand and tugged him in the door’s direction.

          “Come on! Let’s go!” He urged, scowling at the adults. Jórundur swiftly put on his boots and ran out of the house, Saradoc safely perched on his shoulders. Hgrodrom and Lyramein opted to stay back, stating that their presence would only make Hobbits worried. Reluctantly, Regi, Thâris and Lofar agreed with that logic and decided to stay too. Gimli outright refused to be left behind. He crossed his arms and scowled at Dis. And a glare Oínur gave Dis was telling for itself. Dis sighed inwardly but nodded. The three Dwarrow soon followed Jórundur’s quickly disappearing figure.

          Ten minutes later they were there. The Marketplace was crowded. The Hobbits did not stand still, pretending that they were in the market on business and not to eavesdrop, but failed completely. They easily parted to let the Dwarrow pass, sneaking glances at them. Finally, when she got to the front of the line, Dis was able to see what was happening.

          Two Hobbit women were standing near one of the stands. The one closest to Dis wore a dress that ended just below her knees, it was in a bright lemon color with lots of ruffles on the skirt and bodice. She had a huge hat on her head that looked vaguely like a flower bud. She wore a pastel yellow shawl over her corduroy green coat. An umbrella was clutched tightly in her hand. A look of mild annoyance was directed to the second woman who stood across her.

          Dis glanced at her and instantly recognized her as the lass from the drawing that Kili had sent. Although, right now she looked quite different. Dis frowned as she took in Iribella’s appearance. Her blond, almost golden hair was tied up in a bun on top of her head, a few strands falling on her face. Several braids were skillfully woven into her hair, only slightly peeking out, almost completely hidden from the sight. Unlike the first hobbit, she wore jewelry. Small earrings were glinting on the sun, their small size and distance made it impossible for Dis to get a better look at them. A bracelet with wooden beads was on her left hand. Dis continued her observation.

          Compared to the first hobbit, Iribella was dressed rather simple: a long-sleeved dark green tunic and short grey pants. Despite the fact that her clothes were quite loose Dis experienced eyes noticed that the lass was much thinner than she was supposed to be. She was leaning casually on a wooden cane. Dis quickly discovered the cause – a huge red burn encircling the lass’ ankle. It looked healed but Dis wasn’t a healer, so she would not be able to tell for sure. Finally, Dis squinted at Iribella’s face. Her cheeks were hollow, features sharp. In contrast to her unhealthily pale skin, the bags under her eyes looked almost black. Despite all this, her gaze was steady and calm as she listened to the hobbit with umbrella.

          The first hobbit – ‘Missus ‘Belia’, Dis concluded – was saying something with an accentuated disgust on her face. Dis listened to her words:

          “- look like a beggar. I understand that after spending so much time in the company of uncouth dwarves, you have forgotten your manners, but you are still the Master of Bag End - you must behave accordingly.” The woman’s tone was mild but her words were biting. Dis heard Gimli growl behind her.

          Iribella did not look concerned. She tilted her head like a curious little bird and smiled. “Why, Lobelia, what are you saying? I behave in the best traditions of the house of Durin.” With these words, she plunged a delicate dagger that appeared out of nowhere in her hand into an apple lying on the counter. With a smooth move, she brought the fruit to her lips and took a bite without removing it from the knife. Then she grinned at the stunned hobbit in a very familiar way. Dis had seen this smirk far too many times. On her younger son’s face.

          Meanwhile, Iribella continued talking, gesturing absently with her knife. “As for my looks, well, what could be more suitable than a pair of pants for a shopping trip?” She asked with an easy smile.

          Lobelia pursed her chin. “Iribella, you’re the lady from the Baggins’ family. You are disgracing our good name with such antics. And as that is not enough, you’re putting the whole Shire in danger with your lifestyle!” She accused, pointing her umbrella at Iribella. Dis took a small step forward, trying to get closer. “Since you came back here fifteen years ago our habitual life was over!” Lobelia exclaimed loudly and started listing: “Obscure characters scurry back and forth in the night, strange gatherings in the woods, sudden departures in the middle of the day. Never before have dwarves visited Hobbiton, but now they go here as if to their home, disturbing the peace and threatening decent hobbits!” Lobelia said, outraged. Several voices from the crowd expressed their agreement.

          Iribella shook her head. “Lobelia, how and in whose company I spend my free time is absolutely none of the Shire’s business.” She held up her hand to stop Lobelia from speaking up. “Yes, I admit that several recent incidents have been linked to me, but for all that, there is no danger - direct or indirect - to the Shire.” She leveled a look at Lobelia and turned slightly so the crowd could hear better: “The dwarrow who were taken by the Rangers were just looking for one of their kin. They assumed that I could help them in this matter and were very upset to learn the opposite.” Lobelia scoffed.

          “So upset that they decided to attack?” She asked venomously. Iribella nodded with a charming smile.

          “Some dwarrow can be very emotional.” The lass told her with a serious look. “And the best way to let these emotions out is to spar.” She sounded so convincing, Dis almost believed her. “And Jor had generously offered them his services.”

          “What about this burn?” Lobelia questioned suddenly. Iribella looked at her, a little bewildered.

          “What about it?” She countered, pretending not to understand the question at all. Lobelia’s eye twitched for a moment before she visibly calmed herself down.

          “This burn, your pallor, your constantly tired look – you are clearly not taking good care of yourself. I told you a year and a half ago that you could easily die on one of your outings. And not a month and a half ago you returned injured and did not improve since.” Dis didn’t like the sound of concern in Lobelia’s voice. It didn’t match her cold, calculating gaze. Iribella seemed to know that something was up, her stance shifted a bit to take weight off her burned leg. Lobelia gave a false smile. “Isn’t it hard for you to handle Bag End alone? Such a large smial requires constant maintenance, not to mention other responsibilities. And the taxes, oh, absolutely terrible. Especially now, when Dudo doesn’t do them.” Lobelia sighed in feigned sadness.

          Iribella shook her head with a small laugh. “My, Lobelia, you needn’t worry so! I have quite a lot of helping hands these days. I’m sure I’ll survive until Dudo comes back.” She assured Lobelia with a slight smile on her lips.

          Lobelia gritted her teeth. “Helping hands? Elves and dwarves, you mean! Who have no idea how to deal with hobbits’ affairs! No proper hobbit will ever allow something like that. Unless…” She stepped closer to Iribella, hands falling on her hips. Lobelia looked closely at Iribella’s face and narrowed her eyes. “Unless you are not a hobbit at all.” Iribella’s eyebrows flew up in surprise.

          “And what I am in this case, may I ask?” She wondered, a hint of amusement creeping into her voice.

          Lobelia scoffed. “An imposter or a changeling I do not care which.” She replied, scrunching her nose as if such small things were unworthy even of her thoughts. Iribella’s eyes immediately hardened. The hobbits dropped all pretense and were watching the scene unfold openly. Lobelia was elated. “And if you are really Iribella Baggins, then it will not be difficult to prove your identity. Just show us your treoir chroí .” Iribella did not react at the words but Dis heard Jórundur swear colorfully in Khudzul somewhere in the crowd. One look at him confirmed her suspicious – this whole situation was going to deteriorate pretty fast.

          “I’m afraid it’s impossible.” Iribella replied, tone carefully polite. Lobelia’s eyes flashed with triumph.

          “Of course it is! Because you are not a hobbit! I demand you to vacate the Bag End by the end of the day.” A ripple of murmurs passed through the crowd. Hobbits were whispering, comparing information and arguing among themselves. Jórundur was quiet, seemingly at ease, but his right hand was curled over the hilt of a hidden dagger.

          Iribella mutely shook her head. “I cannot show my treoir chroí because I gave it to my soulmate.” A deafening silence fell over the Marketplace. Lobelia’s jaw dropped. She opened and closed her mouth soundlessly a few times and finally squeaked:

          “You- Wha- How-” She stuttered. Somehow regaining her composure in a few moments, Lobelia huffed. “So where’s your soulmate? Who are they? None of the hobbits mentioned to be your match.” The declaration gained attention of the gossiping hobbits. Iribella smiled, this time genuine.

         “It’s not a surprise. My soulmate is not a hobbit. He is a dwarf.” There were loud exclamations from the crowd, some surprised, some annoyed, and some cheerful. Looking around, Dis noticed a rather elderly-looking hobbit, who was accepting money from other hobbits with a satisfied smile. He winked at Dis, catching her eye and returned to his task.

          Lobelia’s gasp drew her attention back. “A dwarf?!” She said in such a squeamish tone, as if she was asking who had left so much mud on her doorstep. Lobelia scowled. “That I can believe. Only someone like Iribella could have managed to end up with some dirty ill-mannered dwarf for a soulmate.” She hasn’t finished talking but she had to jump back with an undignified yelp when Iribella was suddenly too close - mere inches from her.

          “Now listen here,” Iribella’s voice was calm and serene but cold as ice, matching the look she was giving Lobelia, “you can tell whatever you want about me, frankly, I do not care,” Lobelia was ready to protest but Iribella did not give her a chance to do so, “but don’t you dare insult the dwarrow. You know nothing about them or they way of living. And your ‘biting remarks’ only show your ignorance, not your wit.” Iribella reprimanded harshly. She eased back, straightening up. “And just so you know, I would prefer the company of these dirty, ill-mannered dwarrow to yours without a second thought.”

          Lobelia huffed. “Not surprising, considering your upbringing. Nonetheless, if you cannot confirm your identity, you have to go.” She demanded with a scowl. Iribella crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.

          “Lobelia, dear Lobelia, I think you are forgetting something.” The lass sang teasingly. Lobelia narrowed her eyes.

          “And what is it?” She bit out. Iribella smiled winningly.

          “You have no power here. Or anywhere else, at least legally. Only Thain can decide what to do with me, my smial and the rest of my property.” Lobelia turned red from anger.

          “What difference does it make? I’ll go to Thain, he’ll arrange a trial where your identity will not be confirmed either, so let’s save time, Thain is a busy hobbit, after all. Unlike you.” Lobelia jabbed. Iribella rolled her eyes.

          “Well, let’s say we went to trial, my identity wasn’t confirmed, and I turned out to be an evil changeling.” She uttered the last two words using a silly tone in which children’s horror stories were usually told, much to the delight of the present children. “What do you think will happen next? Thain, in a sudden burst of generosity, will give you the Bag End and the title of Master?” Iribella rolled her eyes and leaned on the counter. “No, my dear, it will go to Drogo, per my instructions. He will be of age next week, so he will not even need a guardian.” She winked at someone in the crowd. Dis caught a glimpse of a young blushing hobbit with dark curly hair before he was swarmed by other hobbits.

          “Your instructions can be challenged. How can we know for sure when exactly the real Iribella disappeared?” Lobelia argued. She looked around at the crowd for support. The hobbits glanced at each other uncertainly, not wanting to be dragged into this conversation. A sudden clap startled them.

          Iribella had her hands clasped in front of her and a wicked smirk slowly edged its way on her face. “And we come to the most interesting part. If my will is challenged, then the fate of the Bag End will be decided according to my father’s will.” She looked at Lobelia with a sweet smile. “And you and I know very well that he left Bag End to his children.”

          “So what? You will not count as Bungo’s child, it will not matter.” Iribella’s grin only grew at Lobelia’s statement. She put one hand theatrically over her heart and wiped away a nonexistent tear with the other.

          “Indeed, it would not... But I was not talking about myself.” She paused for dramatic effect and pointed her head in the direction of the baker’s stall.

          There stood a lone hobbit. He had short dark curly hair and was dressed much like the rest of the hobbits. He did not stand out, except for a striking resemblance to Iribella. He sheepishly waved to the crowd.

          “Ugm, hello? I’m back?” He greeted uncertainly, trying to smile but was too nervous to actually do so.

          For a few heartbeats nothing happened. Then, half of the hobbits promptly fainted.

          “And you said I was a drama queen.” Iribella said.

          In the silence that followed, her brother’s hysterical chuckle seemed incredibly loud.

I couldn't help myself, Lobelia just pushed her way into this chapter! So I decided to let her spit venom all around and see what happens) Saradoc is Merry's father and currently he is only two, which is close to seven or eight for a dwarf. Thranslations: Khudzul Iraknana’dith - Little cousin (female) Iraknadad - Cousin (male) Haban - Gem Hobbitish Treoir chroí - Heart guide
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The Long Journey Home

The Long Journey Home (1987)

A woman who believes that her husband was killed in Vietnam is about to remarry when her husband returns. And it appears that he has been a mercenary or working for the intelligence communit... Read all A woman who believes that her husband was killed in Vietnam is about to remarry when her husband returns. And it appears that he has been a mercenary or working for the intelligence community and someone whom he crossed wants him dead. So, he and his wife are making preparations ... Read all A woman who believes that her husband was killed in Vietnam is about to remarry when her husband returns. And it appears that he has been a mercenary or working for the intelligence community and someone whom he crossed wants him dead. So, he and his wife are making preparations to leave, but it also appears that he is hiding something else from her.

  • Rod Holcomb
  • Karen Clark
  • Meredith Baxter
  • David Birney
  • 1 User review

The Long Journey Home (1987)

  • Maura Wells
  • (as Meredith Baxter Birney)

David Birney

  • Carter Wells

Ray Baker

  • Grey Harrison

James Sutorius

  • Mike Cadell

Daphne Reid

  • Joan Haines

Kevin McCarthy

  • Harland Everett

Michael Preston

  • Katherine Bolton
  • (as Margaret Gibson)

Peggy Walton-Walker

  • Ray Sullivan
  • MIA Wife #1
  • MIA Wife #2
  • Bank Exective
  • (as Steve Dart)
  • Policewoman

George Cheung

  • (uncredited)
  • All cast & crew
  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Bump in the Night

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  • searchanddestroy-1
  • Jul 21, 2019
  • November 29, 1987 (United States)
  • United States
  • Bloody Home
  • Andrea Baynes Productions
  • Grail Productions
  • Lorimar Telepictures
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro

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  • Runtime 1 hour 36 minutes

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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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  1. A Long Journey Home Chapter 1: Ever Forward, a harry potter fanfic

    The great pyramids, constructed by and for muggles, were meant to draw the attention of thieves and looters, filled with decoy mummies and a tiny helping of treasure. The three others had rode up alongside him and were looking down at the object of their journey. He turned in the saddle to look at them.

  2. A Long Journey Home (Fanfic)

    A Long Journey Home by Rakeesh is a Gender Flip Time Travelling Harry Potter Fanfic.Its first chapter was published the 20/11/2013. Jasmine Potter is sent to the Amrathian Period, and, being The Ageless, goes back the long way.. The story alternates between snippets of the life of Jasmine in time long past, and her awkward reunion with her friends.

  3. Discover Rakesh's Luxurious Home: A Stylish Interior Tour

    Designed by - Ar. Sandeep | Seven square design studioJoin us on a brief but captivating journey through Rakesh's sophisticated residence. Explore the blend ...

  4. A Long Journey Home (2022)

    A LONG JOURNEY HOME tells the story of this cohabitation via a relational, temporal and cinematographic journey that stirs up emotions while challenging the evolution of China's intergenerational family models from the inside. By leaving her camera rolling in a static shot, the director takes part in the film and finds the time she needs for ...

  5. 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.

  6. The Long Journey Home review

    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

  7. The Long Journey Home Review

    Unfortunately, those interactions turn out to be a fairly small part of The Long Journey Home. The vast majority of a playthrough involves either easing the ship into a planet's orbit or sending ...

  8. 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...

  9. Enmanuel Reyes Pla: the 'Prophet' of Spanish boxing's long and

    Enmanuel Reyes Pla's long journey to Spain. After leaving Cuba, Pla's first destination was Moscow. From there, he travelled to Belarus where, as he explained to El Confidencial, he and his uncle looked for a way to enter the European Union.After a month without success, he returned to Moscow, where he spent four months locked in an apartment out of fear of being detained.

  10. 3 thoughts: No. 20 SDSU 72, San Jose State 64 ... an absolutely bonkers

    The wildest night in the Mountain West's 25-year history, making lemonade out of lemons and Trey Anderson's long journey brings him back home. By Mark Zeigler. Feb. 28, 2024 5:42 PM PT .

  11. Réka Juhász on Industrial Policy and the Inflation Reduction ...

    On today's show, Réka takes us on a fun, nerdy journey to explain the theory behind industrial policy, why it's so controversial, and where President Biden's big experiment might be headed.Help ...

  12. U.S. Moon Landing: How to Watch and What to Know

    If all goes as planned, Odysseus, a private spacecraft, will touch down on the lunar surface on Thursday. It will be the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years. By Kenneth Chang Visit The ...

  13. After fleeing home, Ukrainians face uncertain future across Europe

    Ukrainians more likely to end up homeless in Britain: Red Cross After two years of war, rising refugee costs in Europe Cuts to housing programmes in UK, Ireland, east Europe Britain extends visas ...

  14. Use These 5 Home Buying Rules To Navigate The 2024 Real Estate ...

    If you're itching to buy real estate in 2024, consider these 5 rules first. getty. While the housing market has gone from bad to terrible for many aspiring home buyers, 2024 may be the year you ...

  15. A Long Journey Home. 2022. Directed by Wenqian Zhang

    A Long Journey Home. 2022. China. Directed by Wenqian Zhang. North American premiere. In Mandarin, Taizhou dialect; English subtitles. 123 min. In this powerful feature debut, Wenqian Zhang offers a strikingly candid group portrait sparked by the return to her family home in mainland China after completing her studies abroad. Taking her place in a multigenerational household, Zhang experiences ...

  16. Long Journey Home (Anthem) (from Long Journey Home)

    Provided to YouTube by RCA VictorLong Journey Home (Anthem) (from Long Journey Home) · Elvis CostelloThe Wide World Over: A 40 Year Celebration℗ 1998 Wicklow...

  17. The Long Journey Home review

    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 ...

  18. Long Journey Home: A Guide to Your Search for the Meaning of Life

    Long Journey Home is a seeker's road map to the quest for meaning. Rich in stories and profoundly personal as well as practical, it explores the great philosophies of life and charts the road toward meaning taken by countless thoughtful seekers over the centuries. Written for those who care and those who are open, "it assumes no faith in ...

  19. A Long Journey Home (2022)

    N/A. Zhang Wen Qian returns home from her studies abroad and straight into a long-brewing conflict. Quietly armed with a camera, Zhang carefully illuminates the continued fracturing of her family. Threadbare civility takes a sharply violent turn to combative clashes over topics on money, homeownership and other relational aspects of a family unit.

  20. The Long Journey Home Review (Switch eShop)

    review by Dom Reseigh-Lincoln. The randomised yet finely-crafted adventures found within The Long Journey Home are filled with wonder. Manoeuvring your ship through vast and numerous solar systems ...

  21. A Long Journey Poem Summary and Analysis

    "A Long Journey" is a free verse poem by the Zimbabwean poet Musaemura Zimunya. Zimunya included "A Long Journey" in his book Country Dawns and City Lights, published in 1985—just five years after Zimbabwe attained independence from Britain.In "A Long Journey," a Zimbabwean speaker describes the effects of industrialization and the complex changes that their village undergoes during ...

  22. 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 ...

  23. A Long Journey Home

    Back in her family home, Wenqian Zhang settles in with her camera. A Long Journey Home tells the story of this cohabitation via a relational and temporal journey that stirs up emotions while challenging contemporary China's "making a family" from the inside. This is a brilliant quest for emancipation seeking a place among one's own people.

  24. A Long Journey Home

    Summary: After defeating Azog's army, life in the Erebor slowly begins to improve. The royals are healing from their wounds, the councilors are already beginning to drive the King and the young princes mad and recovery work is underway in the Mountain. For the first time in many years, an Alliance has been established between humans, elves and ...

  25. The Long Journey Home (1987)

    Starring: Meredith Baxter, David Birney, Ray Baker, James Sutorius, Michael PrestonA man who was believed killed during the Vietnam War, reappears many years...

  26. The Long Journey Home (TV Movie 1987)

    The Long Journey Home: Directed by Rod Holcomb. With Meredith Baxter, David Birney, Ray Baker, James Sutorius. A woman who believes that her husband was killed in Vietnam is about to remarry when her husband returns. And it appears that he has been a mercenary or working for the intelligence community and someone whom he crossed wants him dead.

  27. Miko Marks & The Resurrectors

    Long Journey Home Lyrics. [Verse 1] Black smoke a-risin' and it surely is a train. Surely is a train, Lord, surely is a train. Black smoke a-risin' and it surely is a train. And I'm on my long ...

  28. The Long Journey Home on Steam

    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.

  29. Let's Play The Long Journey Home: Episode 1

    In this video series, Arthenex plays The Long Journey Home, an exploration roguelike about a spaceship and crew stranded in a remote corner of the galaxy. Sh...