Application Systems is pleased to announce that last year's surprise indie hit The Longing is coming to Nintendo Switch -- today!
This unusual adventure / sim / idle game hybrid, a passion project by German indie developer Anselm Pyta of Studio Seufz, releases today as part of Nintendo's Indie World event.
Store Links
- North America: https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/the-longing-switch
- Europe: https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/The-Longing-1950697.html?s=countries
Assets
- Nintendo Switch trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_OixLwvmdo
- Nintendo Switch screenshots and other images: https://ashgames.com/press/The_Longing/download/image_pack
- Press kit (includes localized game descriptions): https://ashgames.com/press/The_Longing
About The Longing -- A Meditation on Self-Isolation and Loneliness
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.
You are that Shade, and your 400-day vigil starts today on Nintendo Switch.
The Longing counts 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 against the King's orders? The Longing has several endings, some that come sooner than others.
Praise and Awards
Initially released for PC, Mac, and Linux just over 400 days ago, The Longing was an unexpected hit in a year when many of us felt like the Shade, trapped at home for days on end:
- "I love that The Longing has imbued my laptop with this sad and eerie atmosphere, which is another of its brilliant subversions. We tend to think that computers and software should make us quicker and more efficient, that our time can always be better optimized. [The Longing] is a rebuttal of these ideas." Wired, The Longing is a Video Game of Transcendent Slowness
- "The Longing makes a mockery of the idea that games depend upon instant gratifications. It is a minimalist game that creates ample space for the mind to wander and philosophize along with the Shade as he considers his existential condition, his loneliness and his lack of control over his situation." Washington Post, The Longing: Patience (and lots of it) is required, but it's worth every minute
- "In the process of playing, The Longing forces you to live in the experience of waiting, wondering, being alone with your thoughts, the unanswerable, and what it means to be content." Ars Technica, Ars Technica's best games of 2020
- Why The Longing Takes Four Hundred Days to Play - Adam Millard, The Architect of Games
- Independent Game Festival Nuovo Award nominee and winner of the German Computer Game Award (Young Talent Award - Best Debut), Ludicious Innovation in Games Award, and A MAZE - Long Feature Award.