Rats cut my first stellar trip short. On nautical voyages, they used to spread disease and eat supplies that were needed for the long, long journey. Up here, in space, they are a pain in the arse for very different, but even more troublesome, reasons. The rats have forged an empire, you see; an empire built on strict hierarchies, xenophobia and robbing travellers. They also blew up my beautiful ship.

Like FTL and Out There, Shortest Trip to Earth is a cosmic roguelike that tasks captains with flying through hostile space, system by system, until the crew reaches safety, in this case, Earth. In between, chaos reigns, with random ship encounters, malfunctions and worlds throwing their entire nuclear arsenal at you. When you send some crew down to a planet on an expedition, you never know what they’re going to uncover; maybe it’s just resources, but it might also be a colony of worm monsters with ravenous appetites.

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