The Longing (video game)

The Longing is an indie point-and-click adventure idle video game, released on March 5, 2020 by Studio Seufz. The game is notable in the in-game four hundred days pass in real-time, regardless of whether or not the player opens the game. It is based on the legend of Kyffhäuser. The game follows a creature called a Shade, who waits 400 days to awaken a sleeping king. During this wait, the Shade must find ways to pass the time. The Longing received positive reviews and was praised for its experimental nature.

The Longing
Cover art for The Longing, showing the Shade (the game's player character) and the countdown timer at 399:23:59:59.
Developer(s)Studio Seufz
Publisher(s)Application Systems Heidelberg
Director(s)Anselm Pyta
Producer(s)Stefan Michel
Programmer(s)
  • Thomas Krüger
  • Anselm Pyta
Artist(s)
  • Anselm Pyta
  • Laura Brosi
Composer(s)
  • Jan Roth
  • Jürgen Härtenstein
  • Anselm Pyta
EngineUnity[1]
Platform(s)
ReleaseMarch 5, 2020
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure, idle
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay and story
The decorations and pastimes within the Shade's home cause time to advance faster.

The gameplay of The Longing revolves around a real-time countdown of 400 days as the player character, called a Shade, waits to awaken his king. Interaction with the world is slow-paced by design,[2] with the Shade's movement speed being significantly slow.[3] The gameplay consists mostly of exploring caves, gathering resources to furnish the Shade's home, and other time-wasting activities such as reading[lower-alpha 1] and drawing.[5] Many aspects of the game are time-dependent, for instance, roadblocks which require the player to wait a certain amount of time before progressing.[2] The game is intended to, at least in part, be played idly,[2] enabled by features such as idle reading and a bookmark system,[6] by which the player can direct the Shade to automatically walk to a previously saved location, his home, or randomly wander around.[7][8]

The player's main goals are driven by a to-do list of things to improve the Shade's life,[9] however, no interaction with the game world is required to advance the timer, as it continues regardless of what actions are taken[lower-alpha 2] and increments independently of the game being open.[10] Time advances faster in the Shade's home depending on how well-furnished it is, as well as while performing certain actions such as drawing.[7] As a result of the timer's constant progression, it is possible to beat the game by opening it once, waiting 400 days, then opening it again, although this is not the intended way to play.[2] To prevent cheating, the game also has a dungeon system as a consequence for players who attempt to circumvent the time limit by changing their computer's system clock.[2] The game features several endings, and not all require the player to wait out the 400 day timer.[7][11]

Development and release

The Longing's story was largely inspired by the Kyffhäuser legend, particularly by a dwarven character within the poem "Kyffhäuser Mountains Barbarossa" by Friedrich Rückert, which was based upon the legend. The dwarf was tasked with checking every 100 years if its king was ready to awaken. Anselm Pyta, director of The Longing, found the character interesting, and focused in on it and its mental state.[2] As such, much of the game was built around the theme of loneliness.[1] The gameplay was inspired by idle games such as Clicker Heroes.[2] Prior to release, a demo of the game was showcased at AdventureX 2020.[10] The game released on March 5, 2020 to Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux.[12]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic76%[13]
Review scores
PublicationScore
4Players70%[8]
PC Gamer (Sweden)82%[14]
The Washington Post90/100[5]

The Longing was received positively by critics, aggregating 76% on Metacritic.[13] In particular it was praised for its experimental nature; PC Gamer's Joakim Kilman called it a "fascinating experiment",[14] and Christopher Byrd of The Washington Post spoke of how "[its] level of creativity reinvigorates my expectation of what games can be," drawing comparisons to The Witness and The Beginner's Guide, among others.[5] In part due to its release date, Rachel Weber of GamesRadar called it "the game that best sums up life in the 2020 pandemic".[15] Some reviewers criticized the game's lack of content; Feronato Emaneule of The Games Machine praised its story, but stated that it "[clashes] with the lack of puzzles and too many pauses"[16] and Athanasios Aravositas of Cubed3 stated "you won't exactly swim in content while playing it."[17]

Awards
Award Category Result Ref
2020 Deutscher Computerspielpreis Best Debut Won [18]
2020 Independent Games Festival Nuovo Award Nominated [19]
A MAZE 2019 Long Feature Award Won [20]
Animated Games Award Germany 2019 N/A Special Mention [21]
Ludicious Zürich Game Festival 2020 Innovation in Games Award Won [22]
gollark: Suuure.
gollark: TAKE MY UNSTAR!
gollark: <@341618941317349376> will be proud.
gollark: I may - in several years - HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!!!1
gollark: ++exec```haskellmain = putStr $ "HAHAHAH" ++ ['`','`','`'] ++ "Auto:b:otRo:b:ot"```

See also

Notes
  1. Mainly classical literature including Moby Dick and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, supplied through Project Gutenberg.[4]
  2. With the single major exception of the "Halls of Eternity", upon entering which time is stopped.[3][4]

References
  1. Couture, Joel (February 18, 2020). "Road to the IGF: Studio Seufz's THE LONGING". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on April 14, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  2. Jackson, Gita (December 18, 2020). "One Way To Beat This Upcoming Puzzle Game Is To Wait 400 Days". Kotaku. Archived from the original on March 6, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  3. Cunningham, James (March 6, 2020). "The Longing Completes its Yearning for Release". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  4. Valentine, Rebekah (February 27, 2020). "Designing the end of all Longing". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on March 24, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  5. Byrd, Christopher (March 5, 2020). "Review | 'The Longing': Patience (and lots of it) is required, but it's worth every minute". Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  6. Gregoire, Jesee (March 5, 2020). "The Longing Review - Jump Dash Roll". JumpDashRoll. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  7. MacLeod, Riley (March 9, 2020). "The Longing, Which Can Take Over A Year To Finish, Encourages You To Embrace Waiting". Kotaku. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  8. Verfondern, Maja. "The Longing - Test, Adventure". 4Players (in German). Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  9. Bell, Alice (March 12, 2020). "The deep darkness of caves and mushrooms in The Longing". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  10. Hadley, Jupiter (November 25, 2019). "'The Longing' Explores Gloomy Depths Over 400 Real-World Days". Indie Games Plus. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  11. Bell, Alice (April 2, 2020). "I have finished the sad tamogotchi game that is The Longing". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on May 19, 2020. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  12. "Pass 400 days underground in IGF-nominee The Longing, coming to Steam on March 5 (Win/Mac/Linux review copies available now)". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on January 14, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  13. ":THE LONGING:". Metacritic. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  14. Kilman, Joakim (March 5, 2020). "The Longing – Recension". Svenska PC Gamer (in Swedish). Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  15. Weber, Rachel (April 3, 2020). "The Longing is the indie game that sums up self-solation perfectly". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  16. Emanuele, Feronato (May 3, 2020). "The Longing – Recensione". The Games Machine (in Italian). Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  17. Aravositas, Athanasios (March 24, 2020). "THE LONGING (PC) Review". Cubed3. Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  18. "Nachwuchspreise: Bestes Debüt The Longing". Deutscher Computerspielpreis (in German). March 28, 2020. Archived from the original on April 27, 2020. Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  19. "Finalists and Winners". IGF. September 22, 2016. Archived from the original on April 1, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  20. A MAZE (April 12, 2019). "Long Feature Award goes to: @AnselmPyta with The Longing #Amaze2019 #AMazeAwardspic.twitter.com/eogPz0q4Ik". @AMazeFest. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  21. "THE LONGING Presskit". www.399d-23h-59m-59s.com. Archived from the original on March 10, 2020. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  22. "Ludicious Winners".

Further reading
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