J.U.L.I.A. Among the Stars

Plot

In 2430, the expedition was sent to a distant star system. Rachel Manners, an astrobiologist who is part of the expedition, is awakened from cryogenic sleep by the ship's artificially intelligent computer J.U.L.I.A. when the ship is damaged by asteroids. It is revealed that all other members of the expedition were awakened 60 years ago and died due to unknown circumstances.

Rachel and J.U.L.I.A. start to investigate what happened. The exploration of planets is provided by MOBOT, an exploration lunar robot. They reveal that before all incidents that killed the crew happened, an incident during which the crew attacked an inhabited planet, Ambrosia, that suffers from a poisoned lake that kills their planet. The crew then decided to cover up the incident by destroying Ambrosians with advanced weapon. Rachel is shocked by this fact. They eventually find a temple where they meet a member of a race of stone-like beings that oversees balance in the universe. They are told about a race of Ancients that humiliated Ambrosians for their advanced culture and destroyed their home world before exiling them to Ambrosia. Ancients then poisoned the lake on Ambrosia, which kills the environment.

Rachel, MOBOT and J.U.L.I.A. are tasked with defeating Xir, a monster on planet Xenophon. The decide to use the weapon originally supposed to cover up the crew's failure. MOBOT eventually meets Xir and is attacked by him but MOBOT avoids Xir. Xir is destroyed in the end by the weapon and is revealed to be a weapon. Rachel then finds a new planet. It was a home world of Ancients before stone-like beings destroyed them. Rachel finds out that the crew was killed by J.U.L.I.A. who tried to protect Ambrosians. She is shocked but in the end she reconciles with this fact. They also find a way to help Ambrosians but they need to use resources necessary to get home.

If player decides to get back on Earth J.U.L.I.A. puts Rachel to cryogenic sleep and departs to Earth. If player decides to help the Ambrosians, the lake is purified and Rachel wants to live with Ambrosians but MOBOT and J.U.L.I.A. reveal that she would be slain by them. They depart for new adventures. The game ends with Rachel doing some job as a stone-like creature is shown to watch her. After the final credits, MOBOT is seen enjoying his time on a Planet Zenobia.

Development

The original game was released in 2012 by Lace Mamba. It gained mixed reviews from players and CBE Software got into trouble as the publisher didn't pay the amount prescribed by the contract. It got CBE Software into financial trouble that the company eventually handled by launching of Indiegogo campaign for the Enhanced Edition of J.U.L.I.A.. The required amount was $5,000 but developers raised $14,200 and the game was also Greenlighted for Steam release. The project eventually transformed into a full-fledged remake and was released in October 2014.

Reception

The game has been well received by critics. The average score is 77.65% while median is 80%. It also holds 70% on Metacritic (based on 8 reviews).

The game has received a Silver Aggie Award for the Best Update/Remake.