fyi: there is a demo available.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1893820/Jumplight_Odyssey/
Definitely gives off Starblazers vibes. Looks good.
Downloaded. Will give impressions. But yeah Starblazers, or Captain Harlock? Yep.
Okay impressions - Graphically it is impressive. The ship has multiple decks so this isn't FTL with that one deck you had to contend with. ( I only played the demo but still)
1. There's a few bugs mostly with text spacing, sometimes the instructions aren't that clear but it's okay.
2. UI is pretty easy to grasp. (Could use some tool tips but they do a pretty decent job to say what they do)
3. Controls are VERY easy. WASD to move the camera up and down, arrows to move between decks. That's it. Tutorial is very good at explaining how things are done.
4. The game is pause-able. So you can issue an order while paused, speed up time to execute it etc.
5. I didn't have any combat as I felt this kind of was like the BSG (reboot) season 1 episode "33" where you have to get your ship and what you do have, the hell out of there as the bad guys outnumber you in every way. You are one cruiser with just a few fighters and a few shuttles. So let's not kid ourselves, you ain't The Galactica. BUT there are things to do.
You can build greenhouses in the ship for bio material needed for your Med Bay, as well as food supply. You do have a cargo hold to store materials, and yes things you need and build will require materials.
Those can be found by Away missions. Where you pick a crew of three in a shuttle to do missions such as 1) Search and Rescue Survivors, 2) Intelligence gathering 3) Resource Extraction - to get those materials you need, biomaterial, food etc.
You can launch CAP (Combat Air Patrol) missions to get a heads up on the enemy threat.
To jump you pick a location and given the amount of time you have for your FTL computer to make the calculations to gather jumplight for the engines. This is where it gets tough. Sometimes you could have a shuttle on an away mission, do you risk waiting for it while the enemy gets closer or do you jump to the next system abandoning them?
Overall I think this might be a good one.
Very encouraging feedback CJ. Thanks for the report.