Beyond the Long Night Review
Cows. That is all. I got nothing else. Well, technically, they are motivational cows. And now, you are confused. Either you are asking, what is wrong with this guy OR saying, go on…
Developed by Noisy Head Games and published by Yogscast Games, Beyond the Long Night is a “charming, twin-stick action roguelite.” The dark mountain is an underground kingdom stuck in a time loop - the aforementioned long night. Reaching the overworld will supposedly end this and that is your task. On your journey, you will interact with the many denizens of the kingdom including the annoying child (he lives up to that name) and the cow farmer with his motivational cows (see, not a joke) to name a few. Can you end the night or are you doomed to an eternal cycle?
As the explorer, you wake up with nothing but a hat and a gun. You will meet Pickles who is playing a guitar by the fire and gives you a brief primer. He also provides you with a superpower. In fact, you meet Pickles every time you die except it is always the first time. The first time or the 100000th time, the goal is still the same: reach topside which means, you generally want to head in an up direction. As you move from room to room, you have to deal with enemies, traps, and puzzles. Enemies will drop gems that are used at shops and a cool feature is that after defeating the last one, all gems will come to you. Traps remain regardless of enemy status so no need to worry about dodging lasers, spikes, or motion-activated shots to collect each gem. Did I mention the darkness? The long night comes about by a bright red light (I know, darkness but a bright red light - I do not make the rules). Once an in-game message appears regarding a rumble in the mountain, it is time to pick up the pace. If you look at your map, the darkness can be seen by looking at the red-covered sections.
If you happen to be in the vicinity of the darkness, you will see the red light peering in through each of the exits. All treasure and enemies are completely obliterated within these rooms and you will take damage with prolonged exposure. There is plenty of warning but, again, up should be the general direction you move. Also, enemy rooms lock you in until they are all defeated. That should be kept in mind if you decide to explore even after the darkness begins to spread. At the very least, find the exit to the next level/section so at least you know where to head before being consumed by the bright but very tempting light.
How does one go about clearing the way to the topside and outrunning the darkness? That peashooter you start with will only work for so long and the superpower Pickles gives you has a cooldown. Along your journey, you will upgrade your build. Builds are comprised of four (4) subsections: Bullet, Superpower Upgrade, Passive, and Buddy.
Bullet upgrades affect bullets, duh. You can acquire fire bullets, explosive bullets, bullets that curve, faster bullets, and even bullets that pass through objects, enemies included. Superpower upgrades not only affect the currently equipped superpower but any that you may pick up on this run. These upgrades include a quicker recharge rate, increased use, or providing a shield every time you use one. Passive upgrades can boost your movement shield, provide shields, or increase your damage when at low health. Last but not least are Buddy upgrades. You may find Buddy who will follow behind shooting at your target. Interestingly, Buddy upgrades are not a guarantee of finding Buddy. A decision needs to be made: do you upgrade the abilities of Buddy hoping you find him or do you wait until you do and not worry about wasting an upgrade? Upgrades are found by defeating enemies, solving puzzles, in chests, at shops, and of course, from the cows.
All upgrades are infinitely stackable. For example, Spirit Bullets allow your bullets to pass through objects. As you collect more upgrades and increase the rank, the distance it can pass through also increases. The first time you collect any upgrade, it will be discovered and on future appearances, you will see the description. This applies mainly to shops as you can see exactly what you are purchasing on subsequent runs.
Roguelites can be pretty hard and even scare players off from even playing. The concept of playing with little to no progress to show other than you, the player, getting better is not always enough. The developers here have added in an accessibility menu to make the game significantly easier.
Options include increasing your damage and decreasing enemy damage. If you feel you have no time to explore, you can even slow the spread of the darkness. If for some reason you feel the game is not challenging enough, all these toggles can be cranked to 11 to make the game even harder.
Beyond the Long Night is an incredibly charming yet challenging roguelite twin-stick adventure. If you need more “one more run” games in your life, this should move right to the top of that list. Even after reaching the topside, the game is not even remotely over. I will be playing this for many, many more hours and hopefully, you will too.
