Long Gone Days, which has entered Early Access, is a promising character-driven RPG with some interesting twists on the genre.
Long Gone Days
BURA
Price: $14.99
Platform: PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PC code for coverage.
Long Gone Days is currently in Early Access, with the first arc of the story available. While this doesn’t provide a complete picture of the game, it shows definite promise for what is to come. It is a turn-based RPG about a sniper named Rourke who has been raised in an underground facility known as the Core. On his first mission to the surface world, Rourke learns the Core’s goals aren’t as noble as he thought.
With the help of a medic named Adair, Rourke leaves, and the two are branded traitors. The first arc of the game deals with these events and their aftermath as Rourke and Adair flee to Kaliningrad, where the city is preparing for attack.
Although it is a turn-based RPG, there is no leveling up in this game. Instead, there are certain set encounters along the course of the story alongside a few optional ones. At the end of each battle, you’re given the choice between two rewards: an item (either a consumable item or a piece of equipment) or a morale boost.
Morale works differently here than it did in the earlier demo build. Now, Morale serves as the energy that lets you use your characters’ skills during battle. Additionally, if your Morale reaches 100% you will always perform critical hits, while if it drops to 0 your attacks will be weakened. This adds a layer of strategy, since you have to decide if you should use your skills or save Morale. Morale can also be boosted through dialogue choices throughout the story.
In another twist on the typical RPG formula, not all of your party members participate in battle. One of the companions you meet in this build is a non-combatant. If he is in your party, he serves as an interpreter, translating the dialogue of Russian NPCs you otherwise can’t understand. Since the full game will take place across multiple countries, there should be more interpreter party members later on to translate other languages.
Character movement feels a little slow, even while running, and I would have liked the ability to remap the controls, but overall the controls are pretty standard for this sort of game. There is also a first-person sniping mechanic, although it only shows up a couple of times in this chapter, near the beginning. It’s unclear how prominent it will be in the full game.
So far, Long Gone Days is mostly linear and major areas become inaccessible once you leave them. However, there are a few side quests to complete in each area. Instead of just listing them, the quest menu gives you a completion percentage for each quest you’ve started, which is a nice touch. Most of these are pretty basic RPG quests, but a few expand on the worldbuilding.
Long Gone Days is a character-driven game, and the characters shine here just as they did in the demo. The main cast is likable, and I want to see how things work out. As for the story, while the basic dystopian premise is familiar enough, the first chapter has enough mysteries to leave me curious about where this is going.
The full release of Long Gone Days is planned for later this year.
