I liked the original concept behind this game, and I even liked that it wants itself to be a game that you only play once. Unfortunately, the gameplay is extremely slow, and you do not actually get to do too much. In my playthrough I left my shade reading for a very long time and the timer expired 200 days earlier than it should have, quite the surprise. Soon after I got a very dry ending (but more endings are possible). Your mileage may vary.
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WARNING: This review is slightly spoilery when it comes to some aspects of the gameplay and some aspects of the story. No major story spoilers are included however. Still, if you already intent to play this game and made your purchasing decision I recommend that you don't read this review. Make sure that you've already read through the store-description. Thats basically every tangible selling point the game offers to you. So if you feel repulsed by the store description it is better if do not buy this game.
Another way to describe The Longing out of any other review is that it does way more with so little. The game is also a very calm, and soothing experience, contraire to its own darker themes such as dealing with loneliness, depression and nihilism. Regardless if you care about these things or not it becomes obvious that the developers really love what they're doing. All the places are hand drawn and oozing with atmosphere and the gameplay, for what it offers for this type of game, is pretty close to perfect. Another thing that I really like is that during certain parts of the game you can controll certain body parts of your character, like as closing your eyes, only during a certain point. Besides that, everything is animated very nicely and the artstyle, for what it is trying to convey, is simply immaculate.
Besides atmosphere being its main plus-point, the game offers so many themes if you intent to play it while "reading between the lines". For instance, the main character, and therefor youself, are always questioning your own motives on why you're waiting. Questions such as the morality of waiting and your own purpose comes up, and what about your own desires and dreams? The game does a tremendous job in signifying that more you play the more the character grows on you. At some point you, with your character, ultimately question your existence within the game and thus your own motives on why you even wait and play the game. The way The Longing starts to project character growth onto the player is simply genius and a great approach towards the subject of nihilism. So if you like games where it invites the player to figure out the world and the story then this is amongst the best games that I've ever seen so far.
Without spoiling too much, since the game does so much with so little, it is probably the most mature game that deals with these subjects and in the best way possible as well. However, you can choose to ignore any of this and just wait through the 400 days and then waking up the King but I feel you will miss a lot that this game offers besides the waiting.
So while the 400-days-in-real-time sale is mostly true, making yourself a cozy home by collecting and placing things makes time go significantly faster and so does reading books and making yourself comfortable and happy. This only happens while you're at your home so make sure to always go back to your living place before closing the game.
Anyway without ranting even more, there is one last thing I want to tell you. The game itself is way, way more than it is sold for and definitely a very welcoming suprise for many people. So if you ever looked for a game that will soothe your longing for something unique, this game is it.
For a game that only requires you to be idle for 400 days it sure did captivate me spending a lot of time with it. Exploring the kingdom underneath at Shade's pace was a jolly experience.
This game is different. This is something I've never played before. I am not into point and click adventures but what I've read about it... Just found it interesting...
400 days to wait... 400 days to spend underground to wake up the king... the king who needs to regain his power, to end all fear and longing...
Shade is an interesting character. A lonely one who you can relate. The game is extremely slow! But... I could accept that and since time passes even when the game is closed... you can just return to it later. But there are activities to do, to spend some time... The atmosphere is one of the game's strength. Exploring the cave system is nice. Finding new places is exciting. Finding dead ends too. You know, after a while, you can overcome the challenge. The world is changing, you just have to wait.
Decorating your little home is fun.
The game is somewhat depressing. At the same time, helping Shade in his mission to wait, makes me feel better. The game is about patience, appreciating small successes. It teaches you something. What's the end of the game? What happens after 400 days? I don't know and I don't want to know! I don't want to watch videos... I wanna experience it all my self.
The game is not for everyone. It's a special kind of game. Unique, strange, lonely, full of soul and charm. Nice hand drawn artwork, ambient music and sounds...
Interesting and captivating.
Bought it on Steam, sadly I just realized it's on GOG too... oh well... maybe I'll buy it here too... after a long 400 days...
This game hooked me in a lot more than I thought. What would you do to pass the time for 400 days??? Surprisingly, there's a lot of things you can do for such a simple concept of a game. It requires patience, but you'll eventually unlock a lot of areas one by one as you finish "environmental puzzles". What you do this the extra time is up to you. Not since spending hours looking at Sierra's Johnny Castaway live wallpaper have I enjoyed watching someone pick a cave wall for 20 minutes. There's a few glitches here and there, and I think once in a while it "hangs" to do an autosave (I'm assuming), but as far as I can tell the dev is aware of those little issues. And that's picking a straws to find anything wrong with this game. There are four endings that I know. Take your time, it's not about the destination. You'll have plenty of time to get everything done, and then some!
或者探索各个洞窟，收集各种各样的物品，放在惬意的地下客厅。出去悠闲地走一走，不用着急，也用不着匆忙。
阅读各类经典名著，例如尼采的著作，又如《白鲸》，或者让影子阅读。不论谁读，反正动脑子的时候，时间总会过得快一点。（小影子目前只能找到英文版的书）
无视国王的告诫，前往洞穴外面的地方。你将踏上危险而又漫长的旅程，等待你的将是无尽的黑暗……
