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The Longest Walk

The Longest Walk Game Cover
97%Game Brain Score
story, graphics
gameplay, music
97% User Score Based on 286 reviews

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About

The Longest Walk is a single player casual simulation game. It was developed by Alexander Tarvet and was released on September 9, 2022. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

The Longest Walk is a deeply personal biographical documentary walking simulator game about my father's experience of living with depression and suicidal thoughts.

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The Longest Walk screenshot
The Longest Walk screenshot
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97%
Audience ScoreBased on 286 reviews
story28 positive mentions
  • Deeply emotional and personal storytelling that resonates with many players, particularly those who have experienced depression or mental health struggles.
  • Unique and beautiful art style using photogrammetry-like visuals that effectively enhance the immersive, contemplative atmosphere.
  • Short and accessible experience that delivers a powerful message of hope and encourages empathy and mental health awareness.
  • Very minimal gameplay limited to walking, which some feel makes it more of an interactive story or art piece than a game.
  • Lacks deeper interactivity, environmental detail, and length, leading some players to feel it ends abruptly or is too short.
  • Some technical issues such as lack of options (no save, no pause menu), no background music, and performance concerns on certain hardware.
  • story
    87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story is a deeply personal and heartfelt narrative about a man's struggle with depression, acceptance, and hope, presented through a minimalist walking simulator format. Its genuine, unembellished storytelling resonates strongly with players, especially those familiar with mental health challenges, offering a touching and relatable experience. While short and simple, the story's emotional impact, combined with striking art and audio, makes it a powerful and meaningful journey.

    • “It's not trying to gamify pain or over-dramatize it; it just lets the story exist, and that’s where its strength lies.”
    • “A genuine story of mixed emotions of depression, acceptance, and moving on.”
    • “The art style is just gorgeous and adds to the atmosphere and direction of the story, with the environment being left open and blank, making me feel like I was experiencing the father's story for myself and all the loneliness and emptiness that comes with anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings.”
    • “It's exactly the kind of interactive walking simulator/art exhibition experience I usually enjoy very much, but with a concept so minimalist and simple in nature I really hoped for more of an imminent connection between the surroundings and the storytelling.”
    • “I wish there could have been a choice in the beginning: the short story or the full story. Then I would gladly have listened to the full story.”
    • “Not everyone will understand this experience - it's not a game, it's not interactive, it's just a story a lot of people live.”
  • graphics
    47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game features a unique, dreamlike art style with visually striking, impressionistic graphics that effectively convey the emotional weight of its deeply personal story about depression. While some find the minimalistic, pixelated visuals unconventional or simplistic, many praise the aesthetic for enhancing the atmosphere and immersion. Overall, the graphics are regarded as a memorable and integral part of the experience, adding to its emotional impact.

    • “The art style is just gorgeous and adds to the atmosphere and direction of the story. The environment being left open and blank made me feel like I was in my own little void, dissociated from the rest of the world. It worked in making me feel like I was experiencing the father's story for myself and all the loneliness and emptiness that come with anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings.”
    • “Not enough has been said about how gorgeous this game is. The impressionist art style is simply gorgeous and a joy to look at.”
    • “The visuals are stunning and I would play it again if I was ever in a bad spot.”
    • “The graphics are bad”
    • “I actually thought it was a graphical glitch until I looked at more screenshots.”
    • “Love the graphics and general idea of the game but sadly, the execution is not ideal.”
  • emotional
    45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game delivers a deeply emotional and intimate experience, poignantly exploring themes of depression, anxiety, and personal struggle through a heartfelt narrative and striking visual style. Despite its short length and simple gameplay, it resonates strongly with players, eliciting empathy, reflection, and even tears. Many praise its ability to create a touching, relatable atmosphere that feels both personal and sincere.

    • “The longest walk is mechanically simple, you spend around 10–15 minutes walking while listening to a deeply personal monologue, but the emotional impact is anything but small.”
    • “Hearing the developer’s father speak so openly about living with depression makes this feel intimate, honest, and genuinely touching.”
    • “The art style is just gorgeous and adds to the atmosphere and direction of the story; the environment being left open and blank really made me feel like I was in my own little void, dissociated from the rest of the world. I'm not sure if this was intentional but it certainly worked in making me feel like I was experiencing the father's story for myself and all the loneliness and emptiness that comes with the struggles of anxiety, depression and suicidal feelings.”
  • gameplay
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay in The Longest Walk is minimal and mechanically simple, primarily involving walking through the environment while listening to a personal monologue. While some find the lack of interactive gameplay frustrating, others believe it effectively serves the emotional narrative about depression, making the experience impactful despite its simplicity.

    • “The longest walk is mechanically simple, you spend around 10–15 minutes walking while listening to a deeply personal monologue, but the emotional impact is anything but small.”
    • “This game is very good, it's not ultra super gameplay focused but the message is very important because it is about depression and dealing with such feelings, 10/10 would recommend everyone should play this game.”
    • “The gameplay is simply there to look at.”
    • “I would give it a 1/10 difficulty rating as the gameplay is minimal and the instructions are pretty clear during the whole game (you need to follow the path of what it will later be "The Longest Walk").”
    • “But, there is not much gameplay here... just hold down W to advance through the map locations.”
    • “The gameplay is barely there and honestly does not enhance the experience in any meaningful way.”
  • music
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music effectively complements its emotional tone, ranging from a haunting absence of background music to enhance feelings of emptiness, to well-crafted tracks that enhance the story and visuals. Overall, the music is praised for its contribution to the game's atmosphere.

    • “The story is pretty emotional, a game formatted in QWERTY and with subtitles, the music is pretty good too.”
    • “Love the visual and music.”
    • “The game conveys the emptiness you feel in depression just right, with a barren white land and no music.”
    • “No background music.”
  • optimization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Optimization is inconsistent, with the game running smoothly on devices like the Steam Deck, but experiencing significant lag during scenes with complex geometry, even on high-end hardware like the RTX 4090.

    • “I also noticed that many reviews complain about performance, I have nothing to say other than it ran perfectly on my Steam Deck.”
    • “Sometimes there is bigger geometry which is completely unoptimized and will lag even your brand new RTX 4090.”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its gorgeous art style and intentional minimalism, effectively immersing players in a sense of loneliness and dissociation that mirrors the story's themes of anxiety, depression, and struggle. This creates a deeply personal and emotional experience.

    • “The art style is just gorgeous and adds to the atmosphere and direction of the story. The environment being left open and blank really made me feel like I was in my own little void, dissociated from the rest of the world. It felt like experiencing the father's story for myself, capturing the loneliness and emptiness of struggles with anxiety, depression, and suicidal feelings.”
    • “The atmosphere is great.”
  • stability
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game runs smoothly and stably when played with Proton, indicating strong compatibility and performance on that platform.

    • “Runs great with Proton.”
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Longest Walk is a casual simulation game.

The Longest Walk is available on PC and Windows.

The Longest Walk was released on September 9, 2022.

The Longest Walk was developed by Alexander Tarvet.

The Longest Walk has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked The Longest Walk for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

The Longest Walk is a single player game.

Similar games include When the Darkness comes, Missed Messages, TREE, Fractured Minds, The Beginner's Guide and others.