The Longing
- $14.99
£13.49£10.11€14.99€11.24- Buy Now on eShop
- Buy Now on eShop
- Buy Now on eShop
- Add to Cart
- User Rating
- 6.6/10
- Release Date
- 14th Apr 2021
- No. of Players
- 1 (Single Player)
- Genre
- Adventure, Puzzle
- Publisher
- ASHGAMES
- Developer
- Application Systems Heidelberg
- Content Rating
- PEGI/12
- More Information
- Filters
- None
About
Play as a lonely Shade, the last servant of a king who once ruled an underground kingdom. The king's powers have faded and he falls asleep for 400 days to regain his might. It is your duty to stay in the earthen palace until he awakens.
As soon as you start, the game inevitably counts down the 400 days - even when you stop playing and exit the game.
It is now up to you to decide what to do with your solitary existence beneath the soil. Don't stress yourself, you have plenty of time.
CHOOSE YOUR PLAYING STYLE
Start the game and simply come back after 400 days to see how it ends. You actually don't have to play the game at all. But the Shade will be even more lonely without you.
Or explore the caves and collect items for your comfortable underground living room. Just send the Shade to take a stroll - the walking speed is slow, but luckily there is no need to hurry.
Read tons of classic literature from Nietzsche to Moby Dick right in the game - or at least have the shade read them. After all, time goes by faster if you learn to keep your mind occupied. (The little Shade in the game finds ONLY English books for now.)
Ignore the king's commands and advance to the outer regions the cave. It will be a long and dangerous journey into darkness...
FEATURES
• Slow exploration of a vast, hand-drawn cave.
• Atmospheric Dungeon Synth soundtrack.
• Lots of well hidden secrets.
• Time-based puzzles.
• A lonely but cute protagonist.
Winner: Long Feature Award (A MAZE Berlin 2019)
Nominee: IGF Nuovo Award (IGF, San Francisco 2020)
Special Mention: Animated Games Award (Germany 2019)
Ars Technica Best PC games of 2020
adventuregamers.com Silver Aggie, category "So 2020"
Winner: German Computer Games Award 2020
© 2021 Studio Seufz, Anselm Pyta © 2021 Application Systems Heidelberg Software GmbH All Rights Reserved.
Reviews 1
Nintendo Life said:
We can't lie — we hated The Longing. We hated every second of playing it for review. Is it a resounding success at presenting all of its themes? Is it thought-provoking in a way that few games manage? Is it an exhausting slog we wouldn't wish on our worst enemies? The answer to all these questions is yes. But, with all that said, you cannot help but respect the developer's audacity and unwavering commitment to their principles. What the game sets out to do it accomplishes with flying colours, and it's filled with clever ideas and meditations.
Ultimately, The Longing is one of those video games that defies traditional scoring metrics. What kind of score would you give a game that succeeds so triumphantly at being utterly, utterly tedious? A one? A ten? It feels inadequate and somewhat trite to split the difference, but here we are.
5/10
User Reviews 1
JJtheTexan said:
I truly appreciate what the developers were trying to accomplish with The Longing. It's a genuine attempt at a video game as art.
Unfortunately, the thing about video games is they are an interactive form of entertainment. There is so very little to do in The Longing, except wait.
Even as I used my phone's calendar to remind me to return to the game a year after I started, the result was that I felt like all I got for my $15 was a waste of time.
Not recommended.
4/10
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