The Longing (Nintendo Switch) Review

When starting to write a review, almost every finished product follows a standard format, initial impressions, experiences, memorable moments. It's a nice little comfort net for most would-be journalists that ensure a quick turnaround and plenty of content. There is in any context, any chance of this whatsoever when reviewing such a unique animal. Based on the legend of German King Barbarossa, The Longing puts players in the role of a servant tasked with patrolling the caves below the mountain range of Kyffhäuser for 400 days until the king awakens. That's it really. That's the game. It's fantastic.

As the 400 days pass in real time(!) using the Switch internal clock to keep track, gameplay can be abandoned completely in favour of just starting the game running and running in over a year to awaken the king and end the experience. So much however would be missed in doing so, even if it doesn't feel that way at first. Every action or movement is an exercise in patience. The shade himself moves painfully slowly through areas which may be enough alone to put off most players instantly until the realisation that with 400 days to pass, what's the rush?

Physical objects amp the trudge, and prevent progress, as they are littered throughout the expansive network of this cave system. For example, one of the first obstacles stumbled across is a gap between one of the many stairwells. With no real jumping ability from your wanderer, a hanging stalactite provides passage across once it falls. Instantly the gaming brain begins to think about how this could be brought down until the shade proudly exclaims it should fall in about a week. Such a bonkers revelation is either going to bring a smile to the face or an instant console shutdown. Either return in a week and check, or find somewhere new to slowly plod over to.

The whole premise of lone warden is divisive for sure but in all aspects, utterly fascinating. By putting the time in, there is a lot to while away those solitary hours. While exploring the underground, items can be collected and used back in the hollow Shade calls a home. This can be anything from wood for a new bed, to a musical instrument providing some much-needed noise to break the silence. Each addition to the home will also allow the passage of time to progress quicker, removing a few precious seconds from the clock. A bookshelf can also be filled with multiple licence free books from Moby Dick to volumes of thought-provoking Billy Corgan-esque ramblings. From a dank and depressing initial first impression, your abode can evolve into a crystal lit, portrait filled wealth of knowledge and comfort. Its immensely satisfying, even more so with the amount of literal time put in to making it happen.

Quality of life features are minimal but included, most useful being the bookmarking system. Any room visited can be stored in a limited number of spaces, and walked to automatically. Incredibly useful for the daily moss or door check. One issue that did arise, however, is when playing in docked mode primarily, the screen did tend to dim after a few minutes leaving an already dank world pitch black minus two glaring yellow shade eyes. Be sure to knock off that screen burn setting and revel in the magic of automatic trudging.