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A curious one this, a game that has a clock that counts down from 400 days as soon as you start it and you don't even need to play it to get to the ending, as time continues when you're not playing. I've played some slow games before but this is an all new kind of sloth.

It's called THE LONGING and you play as Shade, the last lonely servant of a King who once ruled an underground kingdom. The King's powers have faded and he sleeps for 400 days to regain strength and you're supposed to stick around until he awakens. Announced today, Studio Seufz have now given it a release date of March 5 and you can see the wonderful four hour long trailer below. The trailer is obviously a joke, at how you can just sit around and do nothing.

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However, there's a ton to explore if you're willing to seek out the secrets. Time isn't just for show, things actually do change the further in you go. Moss and mushrooms grow, spiders make their webs, water drops down and more. There's also a possibility that you might be able to escape the cave somehow. Every part of the game uses time as a mechanic, an obstacle you need to overcome. It sounds brilliant, exactly what some busy lives need.

Feature Highlight:

  • Slow exploration of a vast, hand-drawn cave.
  • Atmospheric Dungeon Synth soundtrack.
  • Various endings.
  • Lots of well hidden secrets.
  • Time-based puzzles.
  • A lonely but cute protagonist.

I'll be taking a look at it for sure, can't wait to journal everything I find.

You can wishlist and follow THE LONGING on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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17 comments
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Shmerl Jan 15, 2020
Quite original. Hopefully they'll make a GOG or itch.io release!
Shmerl Feb 19, 2020
Looks like it's coming to GOG! https://www.gog.com/news/coming_soon_the_longing
Shmerl Feb 19, 2020
razing32 Feb 19, 2020
Quoting: Shmerl

Scared to ask if that GIF is on loop or if it's just tens of hours long.
Shmerl Feb 19, 2020
Quoting: razing32Scared to ask if that GIF is on loop or if it's just tens of hours long.

They should have stitched it a bit better, to make looping more smooth :) And from the description, looks like you'll actually need to walk for a long time in the darkness, to reach some hard to find places in the cave:

QuoteIgnore the king's commands and advance to the outer regions [of] the cave. It will be a long and dangerous journey into darkness...


Last edited by Shmerl on 19 February 2020 at 9:59 pm UTC
Shmerl Feb 19, 2020
See also: http://www.399d-23h-59m-59s.com/press/press.html

There is also the question of requiring Internet connection to play it (may be to check real time value?). If it at least works with regular ntp - it's fine. But if it relies on some specific server - it's a problem potentially.


Last edited by Shmerl on 19 February 2020 at 10:03 pm UTC
razing32 Feb 20, 2020
Quoting: ShmerlSee also: http://www.399d-23h-59m-59s.com/press/press.html

There is also the question of requiring Internet connection to play it (may be to check real time value?). If it at least works with regular ntp - it's fine. But if it relies on some specific server - it's a problem potentially.

Well , if it's not DRM , won't be an issue.
I mean , my humble guess is an NTP server won't be THAT hard to reverse engineer.
Still might make for some funny results if the server does go down. :D
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