The Long Reach Reviews
Good debut of Painted Black Games with a personal and intimate work.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
While the gameplay and story of The Long Reach are lacking in a lot of ways, its look, sounds, and feel encapsulate the best of the horror genre. Therefore, I think it's a good game you shouldn't miss, despite the problems it has.
What The Long Reach may occasionally lack in originality, it more than makes up for in inventiveness, personality, and bubbling slow-burn horror chills. This is a well-written, atmospheric horror adventure, and it deserves your attention.
The Long Reach is a well-written game that suffers from backtracking, pixel hunting and not always logical puzzles. We hope that the next game from Paint Black Games will take into account the shortcomings of this one, and it will be much more fun and addictive.
Review in Russian | Read full review
At the end of the day The Long Reach is worth the short time it takes to play, I'm just not sure at full price. Had the ending really stuck the landing on everything the gameplay was delivering I'd say it's a must, but unfortunately the story is just alright. On sale I think any adventure fan will find enjoyment in The Long Reach.
For $14.99, I think The Long Reach is a solid game that should be looked at by anyone interested in adventure games or short, bite-sized indie titles. While it doesn't do anything that's new gameplay-wise, I found the narrative to be intriguing throughout and worth sitting through to the end. I'd say the game is best experienced on a big screen, with speakers or a headset that'll make each scenario feel all the tenser. I can't imagine the experience would be nearly as compelling on-the-go with the Switch version. While it's by no means the best the genre has to offer, this adventure is definitely one that's worth checking out.
A quirky 2D adventure with hints of psychological horror and some classic puzzles. Though its gameplay is riddled with glitches and its narrative full of flaws, The Long Reach keeps tempting you to peer around the next murky corner.
The Long Reach has a good potential and some clever puzzles, but eventually never manages to fulfill its promises in terms of atmosphere and scenario.
Review in French | Read full review
Overall, The Long Reach was an interesting experience encompassed with an array of psychological horrors. The happenings in Baervox are a bit of a headscratcher, but that's the point - you're not supposed to fully comprehend what's going on.
The Long Reach offers a slice of horror to the adventurous and puzzling among us, presenting a well-told and gripping story through its range of dialogue and optional interactions. Despite minor glitches and perhaps not offering much in the way of new content to the genre, it finds itself as a well-made and engaging first release for developers Painted Black Games, and I look forward to seeing their future work.
All told, The Long Reach could have used some more time in the oven. It presents issues that seem readily solvable—lighting, object highlighting, proof reading—but in its current form, the game is frustrating and not particularly enjoyable. Maybe some of the problems can be patched out, but until that happens, I can't recommend The Long Reach despite its intriguing storyline.
The Long Reach just barely misses the mark thanks to a painfully tone deaf script full of juvenile dialogue and puzzles that rely on process of elimination as much as actual thought-work. The general aesthetic of the world is appealing, with just well-crafted sprites, and the atmosphere is appropriately oppressive, but the overall story feels bound together by a script that can't decide between humour and tension. When every character speaks the same way, alternating between sarcastic quips and actually moving the plot along, it makes for an exhausting experience. Along with repetitive dialogue trees, it's hard to immerse oneself into the narrative. The game is short enough and might be worth buying on sale, but it certainly shouldn't be purchased for full price.
I left the game feeling frustrated more than anything else. With arbitrary, esoteric puzzles and a wildly inconsistent tone exacerbated by technical issues, I found it hard to get sucked into the game's atmosphere.
Considering that The Long Reach is the first title developed by Painted Black Games, I feel comfortable saying it's going to be a great success. The story is intriguing and the puzzles are a lot of fun to solve, and I look forward to seeing what the studio does next!
There's some potential in the game, but you can't shake off the feeling that developers could do more with it.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
The Long Reach is around 5-6 hours long, and it will depend on if you have some experience with the point and click adventure genre so that you can solve some of the more obscure puzzles in the game. I feel that the game is the perfect length since it tells its story, keeps you engage from start to finish, and it does not overstay its welcome. Be sure to check it out on Nintendo Switch!
A deeply layered story with the scares to match, The Long Reach brings back the basics of psychological-horror by keeping players both intrigued and nervous until the very end.
The Long Reach presents a unique horror premise, while also providing some familiarity to the faint of heart.
More of a Psychological experience for the mature gamer who wants a change of pace while still taxing the grey matter. At £11.99, it's worth every penny.
The Long Reach offers an enjoyable and intriguing horror adventure, with its puzzling and narrative both standing out as high points throughout. There are some genuinely clever puzzles on show that force you to think outside the box, whilst the world design itself is incredibly atmospheric and certainly unnerving as you explore each dark corridor. There are a few issues with the game though, with some puzzles feeling overly obtuse and the over-dependence on exploration to solve them feeling a little boring. There are a few little gameplay bugs too, though they’re more of an irritant rather than game-breaking issues. The pros outweigh the cons though, and those flaws don’t stop The Long Reach being an enjoyable adventure that fans of horror and point-and-click style adventures will definitely want to check it out.