Whenever I hear about a turn-based game, I tend to stay away. I prefer having a full hand in the action that plays out with combat that is based on skill and less so on chance and intense strategy. I felt the need to forego that once I heard about Long Gone Days. With Long Gone Days, I was hooked by its premise of a war-torn dystopia that saw a defector fight to survive against a regime with the odds stacked against them and choices mattering. With this game being in development for a full five years, has it benefitted from all that time in the oven?

Long Gone Days markets itself as a narrative adventure game, but there’s much more to it than that. The Steam page indicates that every single instance of combat is vital to the story. This is true, but I have to say that it’s a still a slog.

There’s no level grind or anything, it’s just a mismatch of turn-based fights against enemies that focus you down, wear out your item reserve, any healing you may have, and force you to scrape. This is all while you’d be lucky to get an edge and paralyze them as there’s no critical hits or depth to speak of. Save often if you want a chance at progressing as it’s a royal pain.

Past the issues I have with combat, Long Gone Days is simply not optimized for PC in the remotest way possible. With a maximum resolution of 1920×1080, my 1440p monitor had a fit trying to get the game to fit onto my screen the first time. For a game with such simplistic graphical style and half a decade under its belt, it still reeks of mobile game conversion after all this time and a simple upscale would have worked wonders. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the pixel style the game presented, but I didn’t particularly enjoy how cookie-cutter the combat screens looked as a juxtaposition.

Long Gone Days isn’t all bad. I was captivated by the tale it had to tell. The whole “defect from the military that has an immoral goal” idea could sound cliche, but this title handled that subject matter so well that I pressed on past my pain points to see how it played out. What good things this game had going for it managed to outweigh the negatives long enough for me to reach a satisfying conclusion as the story got so complex and compelling that those attached to it could forgive the low points in droves.

In the end, you’ll have to figure out if Long Gone Days is the right game for you before you pick it up. It’s troubling that a game of this length and simplicity is pulling a $25 price tag when you can experience moving storylines for a fraction of that price in a lot of titles on Steam. Nevertheless, those who are drawn to it could end up loving Long Gone Days if they are willing to press through its shortcomings.

A PC review copy of Long Gone Days was provided by Serenity Forge for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Long Gone Days

24.99

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Intriguing Story
• Fantastic Pixel Graphics

Cons

• Awful Turn-Based Combat
• Major Graphics Issues
• Loss of Immersion Happens Often
• Lazy Combat Artwork