The Longing is an indie point-and-click adventure idle video game, released on March 5, 2020 by Studio Seufz. The game follows a creature called a Shade, who waits 400 days to awaken a sleeping king. During this wait, the Shade must find ways to pass the time. 'The Longing shows beautiful art and unhurried gameplay.' 4.2/5 - omegascopio.com.br, Brazil 'The only flaw I can find in this little pearl is that we will hardly replay it, but it was created as a unique experience and so it will be for all those who buy it.
Factsheet
Developer:
STUDIO SEUFZ
Based in Stuttgart, Germany
Publisher:
Application Systems Heidelberg
Based in Heidelberg, Germany
Website:
399d-23h-59m-59s.com
Press / Business Contact:
xoxo@studioseufz.com
Social:
facebook.com/studioseufz
instagram.com/studio_seufz
twitter.com/AnselmPyta
Platforms:
Steam (PC/MAC/Linux)
GOG (PC/MAC/Linux)
Release Date:
5th of March, 2020
Genre:
Idle, Adventure, Indie
Description
THE LONGING is an unusual mix of an adventure and an idle-game. The player controls a Shade, who is told to keep watch of a sleeping King for 400 days until he awakens. The catch: These 400 days start to count down in real-time.The player will be completely on his own, in a giant underground cavern. Do you simply want to wait? Do you want to build a home for yourself? Do you want to find a way out of the cave? Over time, parts of the cave change – moss and mushrooms grow, spiders craft their webs, water is dropping from the ceiling, stalactites break and fall.It's a game about loneliness, escapism and the eternal search for purpose.
Concept
THE LONGING is a unique, slow-paced experience which makes excessive use of time as a game mechanic. The player only receives one task: to wait. But there are various ways how to play the game that the players will need to figure out themselves: You can speed up the time by collecting items in the cave and putting them in your underground living room. Or you can try to escape from the cave by taking the dark and dangerous path to the top. There are a number of obstacles the player has to overcome, each of them using the concept of time differently. Play blackwake. You have to let a spider craft its web, which lasts days, or plant mushrooms in the right spots to let them grow bigger.
No matter how the player wants to play the game, THE LONGING guarantees a unique experience far from the hyperactive offers of today's entertainment. Unlike any other art form, games can make extensive use of time to tell stories - an idea that hasn't been explored enough yet. The game deals with the feelings of solitude and longing, which make their way into the players' hearts in combination with the overlong duration of the experience.
Trivia
THE LONGING was heavily inspired by the German Kyffhäuser legend, where a King under a mountain is waiting for the right time to awaken; The story is also described in a famous poem by Friedrich Rückert. Part of the graphics are a hint to the real Kyffhäuser caves and the 6.5-metre-tall Barbarossa sculpture.
In the game you can read real, complete books, mostly classics of world literature obtained from Project Gutenberg.
The music and the atmosphere of the game are inspired by dungeon synth music, an obscure subgenre of dark ambient and black metal.
Games that served as influence or comfort: Clicker Heroes, Arx Fatalis, Desert Bus, Tamagotchi, Dear Esther.Other inspirations: David Firth, The Moomins, German Lore.
Awards
Nominee, Nuovo Award @IGF 2020Winner, Long Feature Award @A Maze.2019
Special Mention, Animated Games Award Germany 2019
Winner, 'Best Debut' @Deutscher Computerspielpreis 2020
Winner, Innovation in Games Award @Ludicious 2020
Images
easier to download: dropbox-link to all images
The Studio
STUDIO SEUFZ (En: 'Studio Sigh”) was founded in 2017 by Stefan Michel, Benedikt Hummel and Anselm Pyta, all alumni of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, with the goal to create unique animations and games with soul. Anselm Pyta and Benedikt Hummel know each other since school; Their free-to-play games like LUCKY TOWER, LUCKY TOWER 2 or MURDER (under their former moniker 'exotworking') were played over 100 million times on the web.
THE LONGING is the brainchild of Anselm Pyta, who serves as the game designer, artist, sound designer and scripter. He has been working on it since 2014, taking inspiration from a trip to the Kyffhäuser in 2012.
The Team
Anselm Pyta
Art, Animation, Game Design, Sound, Scripting
Thomas Krüger
Code
Stefan Michel
Producer
Laura Brosi
Technical Artist
Jan Roth, Jürgen Härtenstein
Music/Sound Supervision
The game was supported by the MFG Baden-Württemberg.
It's based on Anselm Pyta's student project at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.www.animationsinstitut.de
Contact
Business Inquiries
xoxo@studioseufz.com
Facebook
facebook.com/studioseufz
Web
studioseufz.com
The Longing Mac
Game Website
399d-23h-59m-59s.com
presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks
'The Longing' Gets Release Date - Screens & Trailer
by Rainier on Jan. 14, 2020 @ 11:55 a.m. PST
Deep underground, a tired King must sleep to restore his strength. He asks his servant, a faithful Shade, to wake him when 400 days have passed. Then he closes his eyes, leaving the Shade utterly alone in a vast, dark cave. In The Longing, you are that Shade.
The Longing’s 400 days count down in real time from the moment you start—even when you stop playing and exit the game. Your only required task is to awaken the King once the 400 days have passed. So, you could just wait to see how it ends… Or, you can explore the vast cave and eventually decide: will you stick with the King and build a comfortable life for yourself underground? Or will you make a break for it and escape to the world above?
The Longing For Mac High Sierra
The Longing has several endings, and not all of them take 400 days to uncover.
Key Features:
- 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.
The Longing will release on PC/Mac/Linux (Steam and other platforms) for for $14.99 / £12.99 / EUR 14.99, and support English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian.
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