Long Gone Days makes an incredibly easy recommendation for those wanting a narrative-forward and cerebral RPG that will make you feel emotions along story beats. It excels in storytelling and creating feelings of fear out of a war-torn alternate reality where geopolitical tensions are as equally sensitive as they are now. But, if you want an RPG that encourages thoughtful party management and turn-based combat, you should look elsewhere.
Long Gone Days portrays itself as an RPG about modern warfare and international conflicts. For those of you following the news over the past decade, you’re probably familiar with the subject. Or, you may be slightly aware of international tensions. Either way, what starts out as an international drama turns into a tale straight out of Black Mirror. You follow Rourke, a young sniper of a paramilitary organization who’s sent out on a peacekeeping mission to Poland. Of course, things don’t go as planned; Rourke is off on a journey of absolution and forgiveness across multiple European countries.
Long Gone Days plays as a turn-based RPG with minor nuances. The player mostly controls Rourke and takes him through multiple Eastern European countries, interacting with other NPCs and finding hidden secrets scattered throughout the towns he encounters. Walking, talking, and battling are the main elements to expect. That and an occasional sniping minigame. Since Rourke is a sniper, he’s asked to pick enemies off for the story to proceed. This little bit is quite simple and nowhere near frustrating. Part of me wishes that there were more sniping sequences scattered throughout the story, but there’s a reason behind the few instances of this minigame emerging.
Battles felt laborious and somewhat clunky. They’re relatively slow, too. These turn-based battles have players choose which parts of enemies’ bodies Rourke and his party to target. Targeting a torso deals low amounts of damage but nearly guarantees a hit, whereas targeting a head can chunk a good portion of health but is also likely to miss. Having the choice to selectively target specific parts of the enemy would feel good if there were additional benefits to selecting parts and/or battles were faster. As it stands, the most that can be done is inflicting paralysis by targeting arms, but that’s a very rare side effect. It’s more worth just targeting heads despite the frequency of missing.
Other than typical attacks, each of Rourke’s party has a set of skills that cost Skill Points (mana). Adair is a healer and can relieve party members of their status ailments. Ivan is a true pacifist, unable to attack or use harmful weapons (grenades) but able to temporarily boost allies’ stats. The abilities give each character their own strengths, which was great, but managing SP proved to be quite a chore when the only ways of restoring SP was via items or the rare post-battle reward of a small SP pittance. That’s right – going to sleep and starting a new chapter leaves you with the same amount of HP and SP as you had the day before. I’m not asking for Pokemon centers on every corner, mind you, but I would expect SP and HP to increase after a good nights’ rest.
I appreciate how the lack of constant battling makes Long Gone Days less of a grind-fest. I know some folks bristle at the notion of repetitious turn-based battles that often reward players with piddly amounts of experience to encourage that loop, but you won’t encounter that here. Instead, battles are sporadically added, some even being missable altogether for those who opt into a pacifistic playstyle. You would expect battles to have some additional meaning, then, since they’re sporadic. This is unfortunately not the case. The few boss battles and required small enemy battles felt similar despite the bosses having unique attacks. The rewards for beating bosses felt just as similar as beating smaller enemies, too. It would have been nice to expect to receive something meaningful after taking down a key character.
Walking out of Long Gone Days, I’m torn. I appreciated that battles could be forgone and weren’t a required element. Many fans of Toby Fox’s Undertale/DELTARUNE enjoy the option of being a true Pacifist or Genocidist (err…Genocidal player?) for the multiple endings and rewards that come with being both types of players. You will experience something similar in Long Gone Days, but the payoff feels less thought out. Battles ended up feeling mostly the same and it was flat out annoying to rely on items as the primary means of improving health/SP. I wanted something to truly challenge me while also encouraging me to strategically utilize my resources and teammates in battles; I didn’t really get that opportunity.
We know that not all good RPGs need to have a fully fleshed out combat system or even a consistent set of minigames in order to be deserving of praise. Honestly, those two elements can be treated as “nice to haves” if the RPG in question leans heavily into things like its art direction, sidequests, story progression, and music/ambiance. Take for instance Decarnation, a title I considered in my review as being more about the journey and less about the gameplay. It successfully instills feelings of dread through its story beats, gruesome pixel art, and unsettling music. Its minigames felt off-kilter, but everything else felt fully realized.
Long Gone Days, then, leans quite heavily into similar game design territories. Instead of dread, I felt a combination of concern yet intrigue as I played. Rourke’s path of finding himself amidst a war-torn world gave me the options of guiding him forward in a pacifistic or bloodthirsty fashion. My actions had meaning to those around me as well as my future. I was lucky to complete a hidden side quest during the first chapter that exponentially grew my concern as I asked myself what was going on in Rourke’s world and what Rourke’s compatriots were truly up to. I didn’t have to complete that side quest, mind you, but I was rewarded with lore that confused me and a weapon upgrade that made a few battles easier.
Each chapter of Long Gone Days featured a handful of side quests that were available right from the start. All I had to do was open the menu, navigate to the quest tab, and see what I could also complete during my current chapter. Of course, the side quests didn’t flat out tell me what to do, but it gave me enough hints to point out where I should be looking and such. Once I left a chapter, the side quests became locked away because of the story’s progression. I wasn’t able to complete all of the side quests during my review period because of this, but it could also have been because of the choices I made in-game. Completing side quests felt rewarding, though – some gave me insights into Rourke’s world (similar to FFXVI’s approach to worldbuilding), while others gave me equipment and supplies that made battles a smidge easier.
All of this is to say that if you want to get the full Long Gone Days experience, you’ll definitely need to replay it once or twice. There are some hidden quests that emerge based on the players’ choices, and there are multiple outcomes connected with the main quests. The entire thing can be completed in 10-12 hours, possibly less if you’re efficient in using items in-battle to clear enemies.
Do I feel the need to replay it after this review? Eh. Not really. I was fine finishing the story where I did only because I felt complete with the story and didn’t feel drawn to return to the game. There’s part of me who wants to return to this game in the future so I can get the rest of its trophies, but…not now. It’s one of those games where the player deserves to rest for a bit to come to terms with some of the heavier themes expressed in the story.
The ways in which Long Gone Days tells its story is worth commending. The gravity of the events of the game in contrast with current events in 2023 feel familiar, real, yet powerful. Rourke and his compatriots’ journeys intersect at critical moments of humanity, shedding light on internal and existential conflicts connecting with one’s purpose in life and attempting to make amends for transgressions committed under false pretenses. Characters’ dialogue is in no way tacky or lazily glued to tried-and-true character archetypes abused by too many games. You’ll see some plot twists coming a mile away, while others will shock you when you’re most vulnerable. It’s all written incredibly well.
Graphically speaking, Long Gone Days blends 2D-pixel art with shonen-esque anime cutscenes and character portraits that are fully animated. The maps feel crisp while NPCs look detailed enough to express simple emotions. Character portraits blink and mirror the current situation while interactable objects bounce and glimmer. Nothing looks or feels copy-and-pasted, making the game’s progress feel like things are changing. It’s very, very, very pretty.
I just love Long Gone Days’ soundtrack. I really do. It sets the moods of bleakness, mystery, and concern quite well thanks to its darker undertones. While playing, I was reminded of Nine Inch Nails’ earlier and piano-heavier works, most notably The Frail/The Wretched. Not all of the game utilizes the piano, but it’s dark. I was swallowed by the tracks because of how well it instilled those feelings of uncertainty in line with the story beats of a war-torn Eastern Europe. Audibly speaking, Long Gone Days is a complete package. This I Dreamt absolutely killed the audio ambiance.
If you’ve gotten this far, you can probably tell how much I loved the writing, art, and music. I did and still do. My biggest gripe with this RPG is that of its battles and their pacing. I fear that some players will become frustrated with the battles and won’t get to experience some of the truly awesome stories, designs, and sounds Long Gone Days have to offer. Either way, it’s worth a shot.
Long Gone Days makes an incredibly easy recommendation for those wanting a narrative-forward and cerebral RPG that will make you feel emotions along story beats. It excels in storytelling and creating feelings of fear out of a war-torn alternate reality where geopolitical tensions are as equally sensitive as they are now. But, if you want an RPG that encourages thoughtful party management and turn-based combat, you should look elsewhere.
