[1] In an interview, designer Luka Rejec said characters have a chance to meet "strange ghosts of forgotten pasts, mind-controlling cats, multi-bodied post-humans trying to live forever, animated environmental suits swapping their minds with crystals, sentient (and carnivorous) plants, vast empty spaces, forgotten demigods, abandoned cities.

As part of the Old School Renaissance, UVG takes inspiration from the earliest role-playing games, using a rules-light system called SEACAT (Strength, Endurance, Agility, Charisma, Aura, Thought).

[6] A revised softcover version was released in 2020, as well as supplements Zoa of the Vastlands, Voyages of the Black Obelisk, Rrypo: Get Ahead, and Mushroom Kingdom of Umber.

[7][8] Writing for Forbes, Rob Wieland commented, "There are moments of action and rounds of combat, but this game focuses on feeling less like Dungeons & Dragons and more like a psychedelic Oregon Trail."

"[3] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted that the setting had "settlements, environments, and mysterious locations ...

Horvath concluded, "The journey is the destination, the forward motion is the thing, and the soundtrack—the discover of mind-altering vistas deserves a sick mix rumbling in the background.