The Long Reach is an adventure horror game that focuses heavily on point and click adventure gameplay.
While the game might be packaged as a horror game, at its heart, it’s a classic, old-school adventure game. There is very little hand holding, requiring you to think about what you should do next, while also taking time to explore the world. Given the horror setting, it creates a sense of uneasiness as you wander around the scary environments. The puzzles can sometimes get a little too challenging and cross over into frustrating, but there are only a couple of these moments.
The game’s presentation carries a lot of the weight, with beautifully done pixel graphics and fantastic sound design. The pixel graphics seem to change pixel size depending on the object, so things in the foreground, such as your character, are done in a large, blocky style, while the background and lighting are done with many tiny pixels, making it blend together well. The lighting style is reminiscent of F.E.A.R., with some of the scariest uses of lighting in a pixel game I have ever seen. Many of the game’s animations are equally impressive. Even in their pixel style, it is always clear what is going on.
The sound design is the other huge positive for the game. The soundtrack is creepy and unsettling, without feeling overbearing. It doesn’t rely on loud music cues for scares, instead it tries to create a tense atmosphere, then allows the events of the game to scare you. Some tracks incorporate environmental sounds, making you question whether you really heard someone coming, or if it was just part of the song. This sense of confusion goes hand in hand with the central theme of the game, the difference between fiction and reality.
This theme is constantly brought up in the writing, and overall, the game nails it. There are a handful of moments that feature underwhelming writing, but on average, it’s great. There are usually pretty extensive dialogue trees for each conversation, giving you a fair amount of options while still being a linear, unchanging story. It makes the characters feel alive and interactive, as opposed to your usual adventure game, where characters are only there for you to use items on them, either to progress the story or solve puzzles. The overarching plot of the game is engrossing and fairly original. There are still some cliché moments, but there enough twists to make the plot feel like its own story, rather than a rehashed collection of horror tropes. Still, the game is definitely a better journey than destination. It does its best when it’s free of plot and just focusing on the atmosphere. This is one of the only adventure games I’ve played where exploration was one the biggest highlights.
Unfortunately, the game is not without its faults. Some of the puzzles require too much backtracking and could have been simpler without hurting the gameplay. The game also requires you to buy into the atmosphere to get much out of it. This is because horror is delivered in pixel art, so it is less visceral by nature.
Even with this issues, it is still a standout game that deserves to be played more. The Long Reach is easily one of the cleverest horror games I’ve played, and I’d strongly recommend it to genre fans.
