Voyage features two unique dexterity minigames. Using a low-gravity setting, the first minigame requires the player to collect floating bubbles in a can, and the second requires the player to execute large jumps across the surface of the Moon. These two minigames form only a minor part of the game. The game also has several timed sequences requiring the player to complete puzzles under a time limit. The consequence of failing a puzzle of this sort is death, after which the player is able to return and replay the puzzle. Players can also be killed as the result of taking incorrect actions related to the game's story.
A critical aspect of gameplay in Voyage is the inventory system, which allows the player to pick up and keep dozens of different items. However, the maximum quantity of a given item that the player may keep in his inventory at any one time is three. One of the main uses of the inventory is to combine items together to make new items. This process of breaking and reforming items in the inventory comprises a large portion of the puzzle aspect of the game. The inventory can also be used to create meals which the player can consume; this ability plays a major role in several puzzles. Another use of the inventory is to create hybrid lunar plants, which play a critical role in the earlier puzzles of the game.
Synopsis
Setting
Voyage is set in 1865. President Barbicane of the 'Gun Club' decides to build an enormous cannon in Baltimore to shoot a shell, capable of supporting human life, towards the Moon in the hopes of a successful landing. Voyage's protagonist, Michel Ardan, volunteers to travel in the aluminium shell. After the game's brief introduction in the shell, Ardan lands on the Moon and discovers the Selenites, as well as a complex ecosystem of lunar plants. The main accessible areas in the game are the Moon's surface, and the underground Selenite civilization.
The 'Selenites' are the subterranean inhabitants of the Moon, and are a highly intelligent society maintained by hierarchy and secret. They possess blue skin, large black eyes and transparent cerebral lobes on the sides of their heads. This is in fact a reference to H.G. Wells' book The First Men in the Moon, as the adventurers never actually land on the moon in Verne's original story.
They are divided into castes. The Selenites live in a large complex under the surface of the Moon from which they rarely venture, with the exception of the 'exiles'. The Selenites "banish these dregs of their society, the criminals and psychotics," to the surface of the Moon. There are three Selenite exiles with whom the player can interact; they live on the surface and sleep in their isolated underground stables at night. Each exile has two different plants on either shoulder with which they share a special bond.
Characters
The player character is Michel Ardan, an eccentric and intrepid French scientist who is enthusiastic, daring and cheerful. President Barbicane, the President of the Gun Club, and Captain Nicholl, an engineer, are both found dead at the start of the game, not having survived the flight to the Moon. A woman called Diana features in the game's backstory, as a woman whose ancestors made contact with the Selenites. Apart from these human characters, there are also several Selenite characters such as the Supreme Moon Ruler, the High Dignitary, Scurvy, Scruple, and the three exiles.
Plot
Voyage begins as Ardan awakes in the shell and discovers his two dead companions: Barbicane and Nicholl. The first part of the game consists of Ardan investigating the shell, trying to regain his memory of what happened, and how Barbicane and Nicholl died, he will also encounter other problems, most notably when his oxygen supply is low and needs to be remedied. Eventually Ardan's journey will carry him into orbit around the Moon in which he must prepare himself for a lunar landing.
Once Ardan successfully lands the shell on the Moon, he must solve a series of puzzles on the surface in order to gain access to the hidden civilization below. There he encounters the Selenite race. Following this, Ardan focusses on finding a way to leave the Moon and report his findings to Earth. After acquiring what he needs, Ardan travels back to Earth in the shell. He lands in the ocean and manages to swim to a nearby island, where he meets another famous Jules Verne character, Captain Nemo.
