The Longing Reviews
There’s not much that’s engaging about The Longing which makes it a hard one to recommend.
The Longing’s strongest aspect is how it encourages exploration while encouraging meditation and introspection. Most players will undoubtedly turn the game into a habitual pick-up, while playing other games. However, once they truly immerse themselves into this fantastically sombre world of the shade, the reflection will come naturally, almost willingly. It is very rare for a game to test the waters of what is considered modern-day video gaming, and even more rare for it to succeed. The Longing is exemplary in this regard; masterfully immersing players into the shade’s world as it spends 400 days in solitude. It is, without a doubt, an exceptional experience.
Needless to say, I haven’t finished The Longing in the two weeks I’ve had with the game, how could I when it is 400 days long! We explored the hand-drawn, large kingdom, and listened to the atmospheric soundtrack that accompanies Shade on his slow shuffle. It began as a strange game that, after I spent 20 minutes with it waiting for Shade to climb the stairs, I was ready to pack it in and never look at again. Shade and I have bonded, now I check in with him and go for a slow saunter along an undiscovered corridor, and make sure he is sitting comfortably in his chair when I leave the game. He sits in his chair reading a book, with me pressing A to turn his pages while I myself play a video game on my PC. Nothing says comfortable bonding then sitting like this side by side, no words needed. Who knows what the next few hundred days have in store for Shade and me but I think I’ll be sticking around to find out….eventually!