About this game

The long way home is a space survival game about careful use of fuel. Your ship is gone, you are far from Earth and you have only a spacesuit and a limited supply of fuel and air. Each burn uses up fuel that may never be refilled, so thrust is precious and drifting is free; the fastest route is rarely a straight one. You can swing past a planet and let its gravity carry you onward for nothing. Along the way are abandoned supply stations, sealed containers and dangerous debris fields. You play with a mouse, keyboard or touch screen: drag to look around, press Engine or Space to burn the main thruster in short taps, and press Stop or X to flip and slow down. It is in landscape. Tip: plan your gravity assists.

If it clicks with you, Echolocation Shooter, Build a Rollercoaster: Simulator and DEAD FREQUENCY are close in spirit.

How to play

Everything is also an on-screen button, so it plays with a mouse, a keyboard or a touchscreen. DRAG anywhere to look around and aim. ENGINE or SPACE burns the main thruster — short taps, fuel is finite. STOP or X flips you around and burns retrograde; it is the only way to slow down out here. DRIFT or Z lays you flat along your heading, which streamlines you and lets you sidestep rock. ION DRIVE or V is a weak electric thrust that runs on battery instead of fuel. SCAN or F lights up nearby supplies and charts debris fields onto your map. REPAIR or T patches the suit. TAB, or a tap on the small map, opens the planning map — pick a destination there and your scanner becomes a compass. The AIM ONLY / HOLD = THRUST switch changes whether dragging also fires the engine.