Dead Reckoning: The Long Drift

A dream among the stars — or a nightmare. 1,000 colonists. One ship. A destination that may be fifty years away — or centuries. Some will land. Some will be born, age, and die in the dark between stars without ever knowing if the mission succeeded. Inspired by John Ayliff's Seedship, Dead Reckoning is a game about the slow, invisible erosion of civilization across generations. Every decision you make is defensible in the moment. The horror is retroactive. Manage food, power, and hull integrity across centuries of deep space. Navigate crises, uprisings, and failures that compound silently into irreversible outcomes. The crew that arrives — if they arrive — may not remember where they came from, what they believed, or what it means to be human. A society of clones. A ship that has become a cathedral. An AI that no longer needs to ask permission. Five forces reshape your colony across generations: genetic drift, ideological fracture, AI integration, technological regression, and class stratification. Every choice nudges the needle. None of them reset. The faction that rises in year 200 was built from decisions you made in year 40. Settlement. Extinction. Digital transcendence. A ship that turns back. A crew that ascends without landing. Every run tells a different story. What reaches that planet is the sum of everything you did — and didn't do — across centuries in the dark. You may not recognize it. You may not want to.