The Longest Five Minutes Reviews
The Longest Five Minutes' intriguing premise and charming visual style is hampered by poor design elements.
The Longest Five Minutes presents its basic fantasy tale as a series of flashbacks experienced by its amnesiac main character during the game's final battle. It takes an otherwise generic retro turn-based RPG and turns it into something special—but it could have been so much more.
Unfortunately for all the minor smiles and well-orchestrated music that accompanies one's travels, The Longest Five Minutes feels mostly like a sterile assembly of classic JRPG's least-appealing necessities.
The Longest Five Minutes uses a truly gripping concept, throwing the classic RPG formula on its head by having you put the pieces of an already existing story together as you go. While the combat and general gameplay are almost too easy-going, the story, characters, and overall aesthetic had us always wanting more, never wanting to put the game down. The asking price is perhaps a little steep for the amount of content available, and the strange take on a usually well-understood genre may throw some players off, but there is an indescribable charm that is worth exploring here.
The Longest Five Minutes is an interesting RPG that has a non linear story with some interesting classic JRPG mechanics that also suffers due to some tedious design decision.
Many cons and few pros in this new work of NIS that arrives in Europe for that specific audience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Longest Five Minutes is almost the standard definition of an RPG, brought to life with one of the most exciting storytelling techniques for any Switch game. It's a good entry point for those looking to try out NIS America games or RPGs, and interesting enough to keep the attention of more hardcore fans. But without leaning too heavily into the novel flashback dynamic, The Longest Five Minutes doesn't bring much more to the RPG table.
The Longest Five Minutes does some things right, like the original starting premise, but soon all tends to be very simplistic in gameplay terms. At some points it seems as a visual novel with light game elements that were introduced in the last minute. Anyway, if you like the genre, the good stories and the 8 bit RPG era, you will enjoy it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Longest Five Minutes features a beautiful story, although its gameplay mechanics are too simple for a game of the RPG genre. Definitely worth a try if you own a Switch and love the RPG games that have good stories.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you've a hankering for a fun Japanese RPG, then The Longest Five Minutes is a decent option. Battles can be a little lopsided, but with an intriguing story and a unique structure, these are five minutes worth experiencing for fans of the genre.
An entire JRPG trimmed down to the length of a single afternoon, The Longest Five Minutes brings a Memento-esque experience that plays around with the plays with the concept of time and the fallibility of our own memories.
With its very well written plot and concept that will easily find echoes with the minds of the players, this is a game that encourages exploration and identification with oneself and even if the combats could be more compelling and the price seems high, The Longest Five Minutes is without a doubt a very positive contribution to the catalog of the Nintendo Switch.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Longest 5 Minutes sticks to its original promise : delivering a classic J-RPG adventure, starting by the final boss. Its unrestrained rhythm from start to finish and its soft writing may please you during the 10-hour run needed to conquer it, but we sure could have hoped for a more surprising structure in the end.
Review in French | Read full review
The Longest 5 Minutes sports an interesting presentation to a basic RPG plot, and despite some shortcomings is worth a look.
The Longest Five Minutes has an interesting story premise and very good art that is marred by its lackluster gameplay.
Calling The Longest Five Minutes a deconstruction of 8- and 16-bit RPG tropes is only half-true, as it turns around and reconstructs those same tropes by journey's end. Still, it's a brisk and amusing adventure that knows how to play to its strengths.
Don’t expect a rich and hearty RPG meal - this is more of a small platter of bite-sized appetizers.
The Longest 5 Minutes suffers from a lack of originality and from a lack of a sense of progression due to questionable choices made by the developers. For these reasons, the game is hardly recommendable even for die-hard fans of the genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you're the most casual of gamers, then you may find the difficulty level suitable, but anyone who's ever touched any kind of RPG before will undoubtedly find it too easy and not worth the ten or so hours of gameplay.
The Longest Five Minutes throws you back to your first RPG experience, and toys with what you remember. Pushing you through the same trials as its hero, you come to feel a great sense of empathy with its characters; and come to appreciate the joy memories bring.