League of Geeks has announced Jumplight Odyssey, a rogue-lite colony sim inspired by classic 1970s anime like Star Blazers.
In Jumplight Odyssey, players take the role of Princess Euphora, the last regent of a people whose homeworld has been destroyed by the warmongering Admiral Voltan and his Zutopans. She now leads her subjects to the fabled Forever Star, searching for salvation and safety from their pursuers.
Jumplight Odyssey is the latest in a recent trend of genre mashups, combining colony sim gameplay with rogue-lite progression systems. Melbourne-based developer League of Geeks describes the game as “something between Two Point Hospital and FTL.”
We sat down with studio co-founder and director Trent Kusters to see Jumplight Odyssey in action on its latest build. In Jumplight, the player manages an entire spaceship, complete with multiple decks and a sizeable crew. As the genre suggests, you’ll have to manage the basic needs of these crew members while efficiently mapping out your spaceship to ensure you’re prepared for any situation that arises.
As the beautifully animated trailer outlines, the goal of Jumplight is to reach the Forever Star. This is where the rogue-lite aspect factors in. The Forever Star is accessed through a series of jumps and each jump brings the player to a new star. These stars will be different every playthrough, and you’ll know in advance what to expect in terms of resources and environment before you jump there. This means the optimal build for your spaceship will depend on which stars you draw, ensuring every run is different, a core aspect of rogue-lites. As you jump through the galaxy, you’ll be chased by Zutopans who are looking to exterminate the last remnant of your people.
After the conclusion of a run, you’ll unlock modifiers that can be enabled to change your next run. These can be both positive and negative modifiers, making the run harder or easier as desired. I have inside information that there’ll be a modifier available that lets you start the run with the cute pig rather than finding it along the way.
The crewmates are one of the big draws of Jumplight Odyssey. Each member aboard the ship has unique needs according to their quirks. These quirks will stick with crew members as they are promoted through the hierarchy, meaning they manage subordinates differently depending on their personalities. You’ll start with the original crew of the spaceship and you can pick up survivors at various places along the way.
Construction, equally, is hugely important. Everything happens in real time in Jumplight. If something is being constructed then you’ll be able to observe the builders move back and forth between where the building supplies are stored and the construction site. Another synergy is having a room where food is grown right beside the kitchen which is right beside the mess hall. The logical mapping out of rooms on the ship will help increase efficiency.
As with all spacefaring games, there are various incidents that may crop up. These include alien encounters, electrical storms, evading pirates and of course, confrontations with the pursuing Zutopans. League of Geeks is a big believer in the “one more turn” philosophy. With Jumplight Odyssey, Kusters wants the outside world to melt away as you become engrossed in managing the ship and chasing the Forever Star.
Jumplight Odyssey is planning to enter early access on PC in 2023, with PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in the pipeline following early access.
