A Long Way Back

Beautiful game; so beautiful.

(Spoilers)

I think the gameplay and some other elements were a bit unpolished, and not always super satisfying. It made it a bit hard for me to commit to it at first. Although the concept of losing a mechanic each time you go back (and the fact that this wasn't immediately announced, so I was caught by surprise by the mechanics I no longer knew) was so extremely poignant and emotional and awesome. If I remember correctly the first time he mentioned losing skills was when he didn't want to lose his wedding ring? Which made me cry. That moment was so incredibly well done through writing, pacing, level design, everything. Another wonderful level design choice was the right to left movement rather than left to right, that matched up thematically so well.

I thought the sense of progression generally was so unique, from loss of mechanics instead of acquisition, the changes in the music, to Walter's character design and etc. The ending really wrecked me, and I don't think I've had exactly that happen to me in a game before; the game just instantly closing (or dying) and kicking me out to my home screen. That was crushing, and so well conceived.

If you ever made a polished, purchasable version of this game, I'd be your first customer. I'm about to do my first game jam, and a collaborator told me we might not be able to make something impactful and emotional in the time we have; I'm gonna point them toward this game to show them otherwise.

After playing, I was inspired to spend the night with a friend and enjoy my time in a city I don't like all that much. And it gave me a renewed sense of gratitude for the upcoming holidays with my family.

Thanks so much for a great experience!