A few days ago, I saw an article about a newly-released free horror game called The Night is Long, so I decided to check it out.
The Night is Long begins with a fairly stylized opening cutscene in which a man suffering from grief sees a woman in the road and follows her into a strange mansion.
The rest has a more standard graphical style, and you play in the first-person as you explore the mansion.
Exploration has a somewhat linear approach, as most parts of the mansion are locked until you follow the path the game wants you to follow. This was most noticeable in the second that gives you a series of keys, most right ahead of reaching the door each unlocked. There are a handful of puzzles, however, and I did spend a little while wandering around trying to figure out what I’d missed.
There is a sanity system, although it only affects the number of supernatural incidents you encounter. While nothing stood out too much, it has some nicely atmospheric creepy moments and a couple of well-timed jumpscares.
It describes itself as having Lovecraftian inspirations, but it felt more like general supernatural horror to me. I enjoyed the story’s gradual development through discovered notes, even if the plot itself didn’t stand out much.
The Night is Long is a short horror game that takes under an hour to finish, and while it might not do too much to stand out from the genre, for a free game it’s an enjoyable enough addition to this year’s October lineup.
