The Longing is an indie point-and-click adventure game developed by Studio Seufz. Set in an uninhabited underground kingdom, the story follows a creature called a Shade, the sole servant of a sleeping king. Tasked with awakening the king after 400 days, the Shade must find ways to pass the time. Gameplay involves activities such as exploring caves, drawing pictures, and decorating the Shade's home as the player waits out the 400 days in real-time. Depending on how well-furnished the Shade's home is, time begins to progress faster, with time also passing while the game is closed and not in use.

The Longing
Cover art
Developer(s)	Studio Seufz
Publisher(s)	Application Systems Heidelberg
Director(s)	Anselm Pyta
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X Linux Nintendo Switch
Release	Windows, macOS, Linux March 5, 2020 Nintendo Switch April 14, 2021
Genre(s)	Point-and-click adventure, idle
Mode(s)	Single-player

Studio Seufz was co-founded by Anselm Pyta, who first gained the idea for The Longing after hearing a legend about a sleeping king inside of the Barbarossa Cave. Pyta wanted to explore feelings of loneliness and empathy in a narrative-driven story, while also using time as a game mechanic. He was partially influenced by idle games such as Clicker Heroes (2014), which he believed were flawed because they had repetitive gameplay and lacked endings. Pyta designed gameplay to encourage empathy between the player and the Shade, believing it would prompt the user to improve the Shade's environment. The underground setting was inspired by both dungeon synth music and Pyta's experience of residing in a basement, while the backgrounds were created in Photoshop and the characters in Adobe Flash.

The final product was merged in Unity and released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux on March 5, 2020, and later for Nintendo Switch on April 14, 2021. The Longing received positive reviews from critics for its soundtrack, visuals, and experimental nature, while the slow pacing was met with a mixed reception. As the game released amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, reviewers drew comparisons between both the game and lockdowns, relating elements of gameplay to that of living under quarantine.

Gameplay

The Longing is a point-and-click adventure game. Taking place in a subterranean kingdom, the player character is a called a Shade, the lone servant of a sleeping king. Asked by the king to watch over him for 400 days, the Shade must awaken his master after that time so that he may "end all fear and longing".[1][2] Gameplay revolves around a countdown of 400 days as the Shade waits to awaken the king in real-time. Interaction with the world is slow-paced by design,[3] with the Shade's movement speed being significantly slow.[4] The Shade can explore caves, gather resources to furnish its home, or perform other time-wasting activities such as reading[lower-alpha 1] and drawing.[2] Many aspects of the game are time-dependent, for instance, puzzles which require the player to wait a certain amount of time before progressing.[3] The game is intended to, at least in part, be played idly,[3] enabled by features such as idle reading and a bookmark system, by which the player can direct the Shade to automatically walk to a previously saved location, return to its home, or randomly wander around.[6][7]

The player's main goals are driven by a to-do list of things to improve the Shade's life,[8] however, no interaction with the game world is required to advance the timer, as it continues regardless of what actions are taken and progresses even if the game is not open.[9] Time advances faster in the Shade's home depending on how well-decorated it is, as well as while performing certain actions such as drawing.[6] 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 only intended way to play.[3] 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.[3] The game features several endings, and not all require the player to wait out the 400 day timer.[6][10]

Development

Background

Development of The Longing began in 2014 and lasted six years.[11][5] Director Anselm Pyta originally created flash animations that were released on Newgrounds, until he co-founded Studio Seufz in 2017.[5] Pyta first gained the idea for The Longing in 2012, while he was hiking in the Barbarossa Cave near Kyffhäuser: 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, Pyta later recalled that the character had "stuck" with him.[12]

For his diploma at Animationsinstitut [de] in Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, Pyta wanted to develop a game and a film, but only the film was eventually finished. Animationsinstitut later transferred their rights to the unfinished game back to Pyta, who used it to apply for funding towards The Longing. Pyta also founded Studio Seufz alongside Animationsinstitut friends Benedikt Hummel and Stefan Michel, who were studying interactive media and animation/effects production, respectfully. The three chose to work in their own studio instead of joining an animation company: Pyta had found little interest in working for any of the existing groups, and considered the creation of Studio Seufz the only way to produce his own original content.[13]

Design

Pyta was interested in using time and waiting as mechanics for one of his games, believing that they could be used to create "empathy and emotion" if paired with a good overarching narrative. He imagined many possibilities with these mechanics, but said that avoiding redundancy with them was a challenge.[5] The Longing was partially influenced by idle games such as Clicker Heroes, which Pyta liked because they would progress when he was not using them.[12] However, he felt as though they negatively impacted players with repetitive gameplay and the lack of an ending, recalling that he had quit many of those games because they did not have an "emotional conclusion". Pyta sought to alleviate the "Sisiphos mindset" of idle games by giving The Longing an end, and pacing gameplay to keep the player interested enough to see the conclusion of its narrative.[5][12] The atmosphere was considered to be an important part of the game, with Pyta calling it an aspect of gameplay that he best remembered after playing. While still studying, Pyta had began listening to dungeon synth music and residing in a cellar; These environments helped him define The Longing's cavernous atmosphere, with Pyta calling the experience "a weird and special time in my life".[12]

While designing the game, Pyta conceived 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. He considered the first option because it would remove stress for the player, while also including the last because it would allow for adventurous gameplay as the player solved problems that were based around time. The Shade was designed so that the player could compare their own moments of loneliness to the character's, and players were encouraged to empathize with its condition. Pyta deliberately made the Shade's appearance and emotions cryptic and unclear, in order to allow for the player to interpret and understand the Shade's traits how they saw fit.[12] He also needed to find ways to keep the player interested in waiting, and remind them that 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.[3] The backgrounds were created in Photoshop, while the characters and objects were created solely in Adobe Flash; Both elements were coded and merged in Unity.[12]

Philosophy

Pyta felt as though The Longing created meaning through the "pain of boredom," believing that it could act as a remedy for moments of "constant excitement" brought about by the increasing consumption of technology.[14] His perception was that satisfaction did not come from fast-paced experiences, and that giving time to enjoy something allowed for greater emotional connections to form.[12] One important theme of the game was loneliness, which Pyta was experiencing when he gained inspiration for The Longing.[12] He explored this theme through the Shade, one indication being through the change in lighting; As the Shade moves farther from its starting cave, its surrounding turn dark and lose all light. Pyta said this change represents the "journey to overcome loneliness", and that although some people will succumb to that darkness, others will eventually leave it behind.[5][12] When asked if his emotional depictions may be insensitive to some viewers, Pyta replied that he implemented it in order to allow his audience to relate their own experiences of loneliness, believing that his players should experience trauma in their lifetime without ignorance.[5]

Empathy was considered by Pyta to be an important aspect towards keeping the player engaged.[3][5][14] The game was deliberately designed to encourage empathy between the Shade and user, and Pyta implemented behaviors such as the Shade's side dialogue to keep players hopeful for improving its environment.[5] Pyta also wished to show the "subjectivity of time" by demonstrating that that if the player keeps the Shade comfortable inside the cave, the speed of the timer will increase; He said this reflected the fact that whoever finds happiness will be able to better endure waiting.[5][12][15] Although The Longing has multiple endings, Pyta hoped that players would not restart their saved game and begin another playthrough. This aligned with his belief that resetting games caused them to lose the value of their experiences, robbing them of their emotional appeal. He compared the phenomenon to an essay from Roger Ebert, in which Ebert argued that video games could not be considered art because choices could be easily unmade and life respawned.[5] Pyta hoped that when the player eventually reached an ending, they would feel as though the story had properly concluded for the Shade, and would find meaning in the fate they chose for it.[14]

Release and reception

Prior to release, the game was shown at PAX West in 2019[15] and a demo was showcased at AdventureX 2020.[23] The game was published by Application Systems Heidelberg[1] and released on March 5, 2020, to Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux,[24] followed by a release for Nintendo Switch on April 14, 2021.[25] The Longing was received positively by critics, winning the "Best Debut" award at the 2020 Deutscher Computerspielpreis[26] and was nominated for the Nuovo Award at the 2020 Independent Games Festival.[27]

The game received a "generally favorable" aggregated score by Metacritic for both PC and Switch versions.[28][29] Critics praised The Longing's experimental premise. Adventure Gamers recommended it to players who appreciated video games as an art form, and to those that appreciated unusual gameplay.[10] PC Gamer in Swedish called it a "fascinating experiment" and an "original experience" with plenty of atmosphere.[21] The Washington Post said that its creativity it helped him better understand what video games could do.[2]

Many reviewers highlighted the visuals and atmosphere.[30][31][9][32] Nintendo World Report felt as though each area of the caves was distinct and well-drawn, saying that it was difficult to find a better designed video game in a subterranean setting.[30] Switch Player found the visuals to be reminiscent of a destroyed kingdom, appreciating the choice of tones.[31] While considering the experience to be inferior to that of the indie game A Dark Room, Nintendo Life considered the visuals atmospheric by design.[9] The soundtrack was also frequently acknowledged by critics.[10][32][33][31] Adventure Gamers praised the music for displaying a medley of emotions, feeling as though each song expressed both the breadth of the kingdom and the Shade's small size in comparison to it.[10] PC Gamer in English said that the soundtrack was full of sounds that "would normally make my [sic] hair stand on end."[33] and The Games Machine felt as though the sound did well blending both the atmosphere with the movement of the Shade.[32]

Reception towards the slow-paced gameplay was mixed. Nintendo Life called the game "perhaps the most boring we have ever played," acknowledging that although The Longing acted as a thoughtful reflection on themes of loneliness and dullness, the large amount of waiting made the game feel like a waste of time.[9] The Games Machine, Adventure Gamers and 4Players all felt as though many players would be impatient while waiting, and the slow pace would not be for everyone.[7][10][32] On the other hand,The Washington Post compared the pacing of the game to the works of filmmaker Béla Tarr, saying it "stimulated thought."[2] Hardcore Gamer also felt as though the appeal of the Shade and the constant discoveries helped with the pacing and made waiting "feel natural."[4]

Due to the game's release during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, commentators frequently compared playing it to life during the pandemic.[10][34][14] GamesRadar likened The Longing to experiencing a COVID-19 lockdown, finding "novelty" in looking for ways to improve the Shade's livelihood while she was doing other tasks.[34] Adventure Gamers questioned whether The Longing would have found an audience if it hadn't been released during the pandemic; Believing that players would have had previously little interest in topics of loneliness, the reviewer considered that the game's appeal was aided by the isolation that the lockdowns brought.[10] Wired said that people affected by quarantine would relate to the Shade, and likened the perception of time in-game to that of the world of the pandemic. The commentator also compared DIY crafts created while under lockdown to decorating the Shade's home, calling the entire experience a "cocktail of intense boredom and occasional triumph".[14]

See also

• Kyffhäuser legend

Notes

References

External links

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• Official website
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