Studio Seufz’s award-winning, indie point-and-click adventure The Longing, which launched on PC platforms in 2020, is now bringing its cavernous depths to Nintendo Switch, as revealed in today’s Indie World Showcase presentation.
Players take control of a creature known as a Shade, the last remaining servant of a king who once ruled an underground kingdom. With the king’s powers diminished, he has entered a slumber lasting 400 days, and the lonely Shade is tasked with watching over him until he awakens. The catch? That 400-day countdown occurs in real-time, even when you’re not actively playing the game.
During gameplay, it’s up to you to decide how to pass the time. You can explore the caves and collect various items to decorate your underground living room, or defy the king’s orders and search for a way out. The environment will change as time progresses, with growing moss and mushrooms, spiders building webs, and stalactites eventually breaking and falling. The game even features “tons of classic literature from Nietzsche to Moby Dick” that the player can read. They can return to the game on the 400th day to see one of the multiple endings, determined by the player’s actions (or inaction).
The Longing is available today on Nintendo Switch for $14.99 via the Nintendo eShop.
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Written by Reece Heather
A lifelong Nintendo fan and a longtime editor at Zelda Universe, Reece will forever be grateful that he somehow dodged the Naughty List of Christmas 1998, when Santa delivered the life-changing gift of a Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, and Mario Kart 64. When he's not playing games, Reece is usually reading Punisher comics, delving helplessly into the weirdest depths of anime and manga, or spending time with his cocker spaniel Gracie -- the goodest girl ever!
