Photo: Artem Podrez

What game takes 400 days to beat?

The Longing The Longing is a 2020 point-and-click adventure game created by the indie developer Studio Seufz. Set in an underground kingdom, it follows the Shade, a creature tasked with watching over a sleeping king for 400 days. The player explores caves, draws pictures, and reads books as they wait out the 400 days in real time.

en.wikipedia.org - The Longing - Wikipedia

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2020 video game

The Longing is a 2020 point-and-click adventure game created by the indie developer Studio Seufz. Set in an underground kingdom, it follows the Shade, a creature tasked with watching over a sleeping king for 400 days. The player explores caves, draws pictures, and reads books as they wait out the 400 days in real time. The in-game timer continues regardless of the player's actions, but moves faster if the Shade performs certain actions inside its home, such as decorating or lighting a fire. Director Anselm Pyta conceived The Longing after hearing a legend about a king sleeping inside the Barbarossa Cave. Pyta sought to explore emotional themes in a narrative-driven story, while using time as a game mechanic. The developer used dungeon synth music and his experience of residing in a cellar to define the theme of loneliness and the subterranean atmosphere. Pyta acted as the sole developer for most of the game's six year production, using Photoshop for the backgrounds in Adobe Flash for the character designs. The final product was coded in Unity, and released for Windows, macOS, and Linux on March 5, 2020, and for Nintendo Switch on April 14, 2021. The Longing received praise for its soundtrack, visuals, and experimental nature, while the pacing had a mixed reception. Many commentators drew comparisons between the game and the COVID-19 pandemic, relating gameplay elements to life under quarantine. The Longing was nominated for the Nuovo Award at the 2020 Independent Games Festival and won the "Best Debut" award at the 2020 Deutscher Computerspielpreis.

Gameplay [ edit ]

The decorations and pastimes within the Shade's home cause the timer to advance faster. The Longing is a point-and-click adventure game. Taking place in an underground kingdom, the player controls the Shade, a lonely creature serving an old king. After being informed that the king will slumber to regain his diminished powers, the Shade is tasked with awakening its master after 400 days in real time.[1][2][3] The player receives no instructions after the king begins his slumber, and may spend their time underground doing whatever they wish.[3] The Shade can explore caves, gather resources to furnish its home, or perform other recreational activities such as reading[a] and drawing.[2] Interaction with the world is slow-paced,[6] with the Shade's walking speed being particularly slow.[7] Many aspects of gameplay depend upon the passage of time, including puzzles which require the player to wait for a certain period to progress.[6] Other mechanics are reminiscent of idle games,[6] such an idle reading feature and a "bookmark system", through which the player can instruct the Shade to automatically walk to a saved location, return to its home, or randomly wander around.[8][9] Performing certain actions inside the Shade's home causes time to progress. For example, decorating the walls with drawings results in the timer advancing a few seconds faster. Other pastimes, such as reading or lighting a fire, can be done to move the clock further.[3][8] The player is provided a to-do list of things to improve the Shade's life,[10] but no interaction is required to advance the timer, and it continues even if the game is not open.[11] Resultingly, it is possible to finish The Longing by ignoring the Shade entirely.[4] To prevent cheating, players are sent to a dungeon if they attempt to circumvent the time limit by changing their computer's system clock.[6] The Longing features several endings, and not all require the player to wait out the 400 days.[3][8]

Development [ edit ]

Background [ edit ]

The Longing after exploring the Game director Anselm Pyta was inspired to createafter exploring the Barbarossa Cave (pictured). Development of The Longing began in 2014 and lasted six years.[4][12] Director Anselm Pyta originally created flash animations that were released on Newgrounds, until he co-founded Studio Seufz in 2017.[4] Pyta gained the idea for The Longing in 2012, while he was hiking in the Barbarossa Cave. He heard both a legend and poem of an old king sleeping inside the cave for hundreds of years, with a dwarf checking on the king once per century to see if he would awaken. Perplexed about how the dwarf lived its life with so much waiting, the character stuck with Pyta.[13] The developer created most of the The Longing on his own, but received some help with the coding. He used Photoshop to draw the backgrounds and Adobe Flash to animate the characters; both elements were coded and merged in Unity.[13]

Design [ edit ]

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The Longing was influenced by idle games such as Clicker Heroes. Although he was impressed with them at first, Pyta disliked their repetitive gameplay and lack of an ending, only to quit playing due to the absence of a profound conclusion. He decided to create a story-focused idle game containing adventure-based elements,[13] choosing to include stakes that provoked a emotional response from his audience.[4] Pyta was interested in exploring time-based and waiting mechanics, believing that video games were the only widely-used medium through which time could be especially used in storytelling.[13] The developer surmised that waiting could be paired with the correct premise to create an emotional feel, but felt challenged in avoiding redundancy with his designs.[4] Pyta defined The Longing's core elements while he was studying. He began listening to dungeon synth music and residing in a cellar, which helped him imagine the theme of loneliness, and describe the subterranean atmosphere, respectively.[13] Gameplay was primarily envisioned along three possible "routes" that the player would take; they would do nothing but wait for the timer to advance, try to make the Shade's life comfortable while waiting, or abandon the king and leave the caves. Pyta found the first route useful, because it did not cause stress. On the contrary, the third route was visualized as the most audacious way to play, forcing the player to solve numerous puzzles while they travelled through increasingly dangerous caves on the way out.[13] The Shade was designed so that the player could compare their own feelings of loneliness to the character's. Pyta deliberately made the Shade's appearance and emotions cryptic, in order to allow his audience to interpret its traits how they saw fit.[13] As a result of the intentionally slow pacing, Pyta needed ways to keep the player engaged and remind them that progress was occurring, even if it was not readily apparent. To do this, he implemented certain behaviors for the Shade such as self-talking and sleeping, and showed rocks falling in the cave to act in the place of a day-night cycle underground.[6]

Philosophy [ edit ]

Pyta found meaning in the "pain of boredom", believing that moments of perennial excitement were unhealthy or impossible.[14] He felt that emotional responses could not be forced at will, and giving time to something allowed for greater attachments to form.[13] The developer used own his experiences of loneliness to gain inspiration for The Longing, and explored this theme through the Shade.[13] In particular, he highlighted the growing darkness that appears around the Shade as it leaves the starting area, saying that it represents "the journey to overcome loneliness".[4] Pyta underscored the importance of honesty in how he portrayed these emotions, enabling his audience to relate. He believed that "If someone is traumatized by what you deem to be emotionally true, it's maybe a little too early for them to experience this in their life. But ultimately, there should be no self-censorship".[4] Pyta considered empathy to be a key strength[14] and set out to encourage it between the player and protagonist from the start.[6] He placed distinct importance on using empathy to keep a bored player interested, and utilized behaviors such as the side dialogue to prevent them from giving up.[4] In addition to these emotional themes, Pyta sought to portray the "subjectivity of time" by demonstrating that if the player keeps the Shade comfortable, the speed of the countdown will increase. He said this reflects how happiness helps to endure waiting.[13][4] Although The Longing has multiple endings, Pyta wished players would not restart their saved game and begin another playthrough. He believed that resetting causes the player to lose the value of their experiences, robbing them of their emotional appeal. The developer cited his thoughts to an essay by Roger Ebert, in which Ebert argued that video games could not be considered art because choices could be easily unmade and life respawned.[4] Pyta hoped that when players reached an ending, they would feel the story had properly concluded, and find meaning in its outcome.[14]

Reception [ edit ]

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Prior to launch, the game was featured at PAX West in 2019[21] and a demo was showcased at AdventureX 2020.[22] The Longing was published by Application Systems Heidelberg[1][2] and released on March 5, 2020, to Steam for Windows, macOS, and Linux,[23][5] followed by a version for Nintendo Switch on April 14, 2021.[24] Reception of the game was largely positive; It won the "Best Debut" award at the 2020 Deutscher Computerspielpreis[25] and was nominated for the Nuovo Award at the 2020 Independent Games Festival.[26] On the review aggregate website Metacritic, the PC and Switch versions received "generally favorable reviews".[27][28] Critics praised The Longing's experimental premise. Adventure Gamers recommended it to players who liked unusual gameplay, or observed video games as an art form.[3] PC Gamer in Swedish called it a "fascinating experiment" with plenty of atmosphere.[20] The Washington Post said that its creativity helped him better understand what video games could do.[2] Critics enjoyed improving the Shade's environment,[14][29] and reviews of The Longing repeatedly alluded to the Tamagotchi virtual pet.[14][30][31] Specific commentary centered around The Longing's atmosphere, which was variously described as "gloomy",[9] "lonely"[32] and "eerie".[14] The visuals were highlighted as a strength.[9][33][34] Nintendo World Report felt that the caves were well-drawn and distinct,[33] while 4Players and Der Spiegel compared the art to that of German cartoonist Walter Moers.[9][30] In a more critical review, Nintendo Life accredited the art and sounds for their boldness, but found the atmosphere to be dull and uninteresting.[11] The soundtrack often received praise from critics.[3][34] Adventure Gamers appreciated the music for displaying a medley of emotions, feeling as though the songs expressed the breadth of the kingdom and the Shade's small size in comparison.[3] The Games Machine similarly felt that the sound did well blending the movement of the Shade with the atmosphere.[34] Reception towards the slow-paced gameplay was mixed. Nintendo Life called the game "perhaps the most boring we have ever played", saying that although The Longing acted as a thoughtful reflection on loneliness, the large amount of waiting made it feel like a waste of time.[11] 4Players, Adventure Gamers, and The Games Machine said that many users would become impatient while playing, and the sedate pacing would not be for everyone.[9][3][34] On the other hand, The Washington Post enjoyed the slowness, comparing it to the works of filmmaker Béla Tarr and saying it helped the mind wander.[2] Likewise, Hardcore Gamer said that the appeal of the Shade helped pass the time, and ease the player into the pacing naturally.[7] Due to the release during the COVID-19 pandemic, commentators frequently compared playing to life under quarantine.[3][14][29] GamesRadar+ analogized The Longing to experiencing a COVID-19 lockdown, saying it "best sums up life in the 2020 pandemic".[29] Adventure Gamers questioned whether The Longing would have found an audience outside the pandemic. The reviewer opined that players would have had little interest in topics of loneliness, and the game's appeal would have been aided through isolation brought by the lockdowns.[3] The circumstances under which Pyta released the game were not what he originally expected, and the developer himself thought the pandemic allowed for players to better connect with the Shade. Wired agreed with his assessment, writing that the Shade felt alive in a magical way, and that The Longing best captured "2020's sad and surreal lockdown energy".[14]