Long Gone Days

Long Gone Days is a dystopian role-playing video game for Windows, OSX and Linux, being developed by BURA. The original demo was written, developed, and illustrated by Camila Gormaz. It features the first hour of the story, and was released for Windows and OSX on May 13, 2016.[1] The game was released on March 28, 2018.[2]

Long Gone Days
Developer(s)BURA
Publisher(s)BURA 
Designer(s)Pablo Videla
Programmer(s)Camilo Sáez, Jesús Morillo
Artist(s)Camila Gormaz
Writer(s)Pablo Videla, Camila Gormaz
Composer(s)Sebastian Marín
EngineUnity
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
OS X
Linux
Release
  • WW: March 28, 2018
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

In Long Gone Days, the player controls Rourke, a soldier from an underground unrecognized country named "The Core", after he's deployed to a mission in Kaliningrad, Russia. After discovering the truth about the operation he was part of, he decides to desert and find a way to prevent the upcoming war his homeland wants to provoke.

The demo received mostly positive reviews,[3][4] praising its writing and art. Reviewers especially enjoyed the use of a Morale system to motivate other party members, and the topical issues covered by the plot.

Plot

Long Gone Days takes place on the Earth during the present time, in an unofficial country named The Core, whose exact location is unknown. In this place, every individual is trained from birth for their job, so they can become experts by the time they become adults. The main character of the story, Rourke, is a military sniper who has never visited the surface. He's chosen as a last-minute replacement for an operation to aid the Polish forces in Kaliningrad, without much time to review the briefing.

During this mission, after the player eliminates the targets they were assigned to shoot, Rourke finds out all of them were civilians, and he's told by the squad's combat medic, Adair, that it is in fact a false flag operation. Rourke is shocked by the revelation, and by the fact nobody in his squad seems to mind the war crimes they are committing, and without much thought, he finally takes the decision to desert. Intrigued by the outcome, Adair makes up his mind to follow Rourke along.

Taking advantage of his specialty, Adair reports a false illness that requires transferring Rourke to the nearest field hospital, using this as an excuse to escape. Even though they are walking in the opposite direction of their two bases in Kaliningrad, their plan is quickly discovered as they get seen by drones and fellow soldiers from a nearby base they weren't told about, thus realizing the operation is much bigger than they were informed of.

The demo ends with Rourke and Adair being chased by their own allies, as they have become deserters and enemies of The Core, while they try to process what are they going to do with their lives from now on.

Gameplay

Long Gone Days is a role-playing game with visual novel elements that uses a top-down perspective. It features a traditional turn-based RPG combat, which allows the player to select which body-part of the enemy to aim. Since the story doesn't have fantasy or supernatural elements, instead of magic, the characters rely on morale. This stat can be raised or lowered by the choices the player may choose during dialogues in and outside battles, and it affects how each party member will perform in battle.[5] If their Morale reaches zero, the character loses their will to fight.

Besides the turn-based combats, the game also features a first-person sniper mode, which consists of seek and find mechanics.

Since the story is set in the real world, the NPCs will speak in their native language depending on the country the characters are in. The player can recruit interpreters in order to buy at shops and complete quests.

Development

Long Gone Days was originally conceived in 2003[6] by Gormaz as an RPG Maker 2000 project, but it wasn't until 2015 that the development of the demo began. The game was announced for the first time on the RPG Maker forums and TIG Source on January 17, 2016.[7][8] On May 13,[9] the Windows version of the demo was released, and an OSX port was released on July 14.[10]

On July 11, 2016, Gormaz launched a crowdfunding campaign on the website Indiegogo. The campaign reached its goal on August 11, 2016, ending with US$21,300 raised by 567 people.[11] According to the developer, the game will be around 4 to 5 hours long, and it will have two different endings.[11]

Reception

The demo of Long Gone Days received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, mostly appreciating the art style and the story. It received a score of 4.7/5 on Game Jolt,[3] based on 480 ratings, and 5/5 on Itch.io.[1]

Reviewers praised the game's focus on the use of interpreters, with Maddi Chilton of Kill Screen commenting "Not only do they add realism to a game that deals with international military, but they bring into the spotlight something that people often forget: it's not only the soldiers shooting guns that are crucial to a war".[12]

gollark: You still say "triangular" instead of "bees"?
gollark: Have you tried P A R A L L E L I S M? Just in general.
gollark: Well, as I often say, lyric bad?
gollark: To warn people of the warning signs.
gollark: https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/484150492520382484/755811555828039790/1600266248798.jpg

References
  1. "Long Gone Days by Camila Gormaz". itch.io. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
  2. "Long Gone Days on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  3. "Game Jolt - Indie Games for the Love of It". Game Jolt. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
  4. "Steam Greenlight :: Long Gone Days". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  5. Couture, Joel. "Long Gone Days : RPG explores war's emotional impact on soldiers". Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  6. "Long Gone Days, An RPG With A Story 12 Years In The Making". Siliconera. 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  7. "Long Gone Days (DEMO) [NOW on Indiegogo]". RPG Maker Forums. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  8. "Long Gone Days - Modern-Day Character-Driven RPG (INDIEGOGO/Demo)". forums.tigsource.com. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  9. Days, Long Gone. "Long Gone Days | Devlog". Long Gone Days | Devlog. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  10. Days, Long Gone. "Long Gone Days | Devlog". Long Gone Days | Devlog. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  11. "Long Gone Days - A 2D Modern-Day Military RPG". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  12. "Long Gone Days imagines the world of war that's coming for us - Kill Screen". 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
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