As a Fallout Shelter veteran, I have no problem with committing the next 400 days to The Longing, out now on the Nintendo Switch. What’s with the 400 days? Well, let me tell you…
In this adventure simulator from Studio Seufz and Application Systems Heidelberg, you don’t live in someone else’s shadow; you effectively are a shadow. You play a Shade, the King’s servant, and have been tasked with waking them up from their 400 day hibernation. That’s it.
The duration set in The Longing isn’t random that’ll pass in a few hours of gameplay; it happens in real-time. From the moment you take control of the Shade, you have 400 days until the King will awake. What you do in that time is entirely up to you.
You could essentially leave The Longing ‘as is’ and come back in over a year to see the results as it all continues even when the Switch is turned off. But what’s the point in that? Perhaps you could explore the caves, make do with your surroundings, or disobey the King and make a run for it. There are multiple endings, so entirely down to the player.
This game has been on my radar for some time, and without knowing enough about it, I didn’t think I could fit in the time for another Tamagotchi type under my roof. Seeing as it’s for the Switch, I can take the Shade with me wherever I go and anticipate that this will be the cause for my insomnia once I get stuck in.
Here’s a trailer to give you an idea of what to expect:
The Longing is out now on the Nintendo Switch, and I’ll be burying my head into it later today and for the foreseeable future! It’s such a unique scenario that I won’t produce a conventional review, instead some periodic updates and a reveal in 400 days.
Let’s do a Power Rangers thingy, unite and do it simultaneously to see what ending we get. Are you in?
