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  • October 2, 2019

The Long Return

The Long Return Game Cover
84%Game Brain Score
music, story
grinding, stability
83% User Score Based on 83 reviews
Critic Score 90%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchPCWindows
Buy Nowfrom €8.19
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The Long Return Game Cover

About

The Long Return is a single player puzzle game. It was developed by MN and was released on October 2, 2019. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

A beautiful third-person puzzle adventure game telling the story of an orphaned cub that retraces his steps from the last journey he took with his mother. Along the way you will be challenged by fun and unique puzzles, explore amazing scenery full of life, and relive past memories of your mother.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
The Long Return screenshot
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83%
Audience ScoreBased on 83 reviews
music29 positive mentions
grinding2 negative mentions
  • Beautiful and atmospheric visuals with a relaxing and fitting soundtrack.
  • Varied and intuitive puzzles that provide a satisfying challenge without being frustrating.
  • Heartfelt, wordless storytelling that emotionally resonates, making the game a memorable experience.
  • Short game length with little replayability due to lack of level select and missable collectibles affecting achievements.
  • Janky and imprecise controls, including problematic jumping and camera movement, causing player frustration.
  • Several bugs and clipping issues that sometimes interfere with exploration and puzzle-solving.
  • music
    61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for being atmospheric, relaxing, and beautifully composed, significantly enhancing the emotional and immersive experience. Some users find it repetitive or feel it occasionally mismatches the gameplay, leading a few to mute it. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout element, often described as inspiring, charming, and integral to the game's mood.

    • “Maybe too good... Dale North has composed one of the most phenomenal soundtracks I have ever heard in a puzzle-platform-collectathon game.”
    • “The music... god lord the music is glorious and I love it.”
    • “The long return features an inspirational and beautiful original soundtrack that can be purchased along with the game.”
    • “For the game, however, the music feels like it was randomly placed into a loop for each level.”
    • “I personally was not very fond of the soundtrack, so I put the music volume to 0 and played my own atmospheric music from YouTube.”
    • “The music while relaxing can be a bit repetitive depending on how long it takes you to clear a stage.”
  • story
    35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is simple, subtle, and heartwarming, often told without dialogue through visuals and puzzles, creating an emotionally touching experience despite its minimalistic nature. While some find it underwhelming or forgettable, many praise its charm, atmosphere, and the thoughtful way the narrative unfolds alongside gameplay. Overall, the story complements the relaxing puzzle focus rather than overshadowing it, appealing to players seeking a gentle, poignant tale.

    • “The way the game tells its story, carefully built up through each in-game chapter, is crafted with great care and won't leave any heart untouched.”
    • “This is an indie dev who worked hard to make a wonderful, sweet game with a poignant story.”
    • “Regardless, the music is beautiful, the puzzles are simple but get to be entertainingly tricky as you progress, yet it never got frustrating, and it tells something of a nice story with no words.”
    • “The whole plot itself is minimalistic and if it wasn't for the final at the end I would have called the game out for having none.”
    • “The story is irrelevant.”
    • “As for the story, well I won't be bothered to remember any of it.”
  • graphics
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics are widely praised for their beautiful, simple, and aesthetically pleasing art style that effectively complements the game's tone and puzzles. While not graphically demanding or highly detailed, the visuals are immersive and well-accompanied by a strong soundtrack. Some users noted minor graphical glitches and a lack of optimization on lower settings, but overall the graphics significantly enhance the game's charm and atmosphere.

    • “The animations and graphics are absolutely beautiful.”
    • “With this combination of beautiful graphics and interesting puzzles, it is a game that I would easily recommend to all.”
    • “Graphics wise it isn't a heavy game to run but it still has a nice touch to it, finished off with a great soundtrack to move through the world.”
    • “But when the absolute lowest graphical setting is "medium", some more care in optimizing this would go a long way, too.”
    • “3) I also changed the resolution settings (in both directions - increasing the resolution in pixels while decreasing the detail of the graphics with qualitative settings).”
    • “While there are a couple of graphical glitches, a few odd sounds here and there as well as maybe a slight lack of purpose of exploration, the long return is a very sweet and short puzzle game.”
  • gameplay
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is generally praised for its relaxing and well-paced puzzle design, effectively introducing new mechanics and maintaining variety. However, some users find certain mechanics clunky or forced, and the linearity and scarcity elements detract from the overall experience. Overall, the gameplay combines fun puzzles with smooth, enjoyable progression in a visually appealing setting.

    • “From this perspective, the game introduces a mechanic or idea and then fleshes that out over subsequent puzzles, throwing in little wrinkles here and there as the game progresses.”
    • “The learning curve in the gameplay is handled really well too; I think new elements are added at the right pace, and there's a good bit of variety in the puzzles provided.”
    • “It looks fantastic, the puzzle design is fun, and it does an excellent job of teaching you mechanics without holding your hand.”
    • “It made what was supposed to be a relaxing game have a sudden scarcity mechanic that felt forced.”
    • “But the actual gameplay is so janky.”
    • “Clunky mechanic, weird decisions on collecting and dying.”
  • atmosphere
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its natural, whimsical, and calming qualities, enhanced significantly by a well-received soundtrack that many find immersive and charming. While some note minor immersion-breaking elements, overall it provides a soothing, casual experience with a fitting visual style and an appealing, light puzzle design.

    • “Nicely atmospheric and kudos to the musician for the soundtrack.”
    • “This game is very charming and atmospheric with a simple but appealing story and a good variety of interesting puzzles.”
    • “I especially liked the wonderful soundtrack that brings an incredible atmosphere to the game.”
    • “For a game with so much natural and whimsical atmosphere, seeing a big orange box reading 'frozen river' in Arial font is immersion-breaking.”
  • emotional
    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a surprisingly emotional experience through its simple yet touching storyline and well-designed puzzles, evoking both happy and sad feelings that resonate deeply with players. Many users were moved to tears by the heartwarming conclusion, highlighting its strong emotional impact despite a straightforward narrative.

    • “I didn't expect a third-person puzzle game to make me so emotional!”
    • “It made me cry which means it's fantastic in my book.”
    • “The puzzles are well designed and even without a single line of text it manages to have a heartwarming story.”
  • grinding
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users find the grinding aspect well-balanced, providing a challenging yet non-tedious experience that complements the game's casual, calming atmosphere. The relatively short playtime prevents it from becoming monotonous, making it an enjoyable and relaxing escape.

  • stability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is generally acceptable with some minor bugs like occasional clipping and falling off the map, as well as occasional graphical glitches and odd sounds. Despite these issues, it remains a smooth and enjoyable short puzzle experience.

    • “A bit buggy (falling off map without dying, occasional bad clipping) but not terrible.”
  • humor
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game arises from unexpected and ironic moments, such as effortlessly finding all gems after initially giving up, creating a lighthearted and amusing experience.

  • character development
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Character development is largely absent, with minimal progression or growth portrayed, contributing to a lack of emotional depth and immersion.

    • “No character development, no sense of isolation, no morning (almost, the only exception being the morbid implications of the ending cutscene made wonderful by North's music).”
  • optimization
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The optimization aspect has room for improvement, particularly in streamlining access to achievements for a smoother user experience.

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90%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

The Long Return is a puzzle game.

The Long Return is available on Nintendo Switch, PC and Windows.

The Long Return was released on October 2, 2019.

The Long Return was developed by MN.

The Long Return has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked The Long Return for its music but disliked it for its grinding.

The Long Return is a single player game.

Similar games include Spirit of the North, Aporia: Beyond The Valley, Path of Giants, RiME, Lara Croft GO and others.