The Long Reach

The greatness of this game relies on its willfulness, trying to carry out a project full of tension, characteristic of the madness and the dilemmas of the science fiction genre. To accomplish that, they introduce insane characters, capable of causing real apprehension, especially accentuated by a good soundtrack. Sadly, all these great ideas fail to amaze us due to a simplistic level design and because it's deprived of terror.

The Long Reach is a fantastic debut from developer Painted Black Games in terms of presentation, but its lacking story (or explanation thereof) and technical hiccups hold it back. If you fancy a short horror experience with sleek, pixel art visuals and classic point and click elements, it's worth giving it a try.

If you’re easily frustrated you will probably give up way before the four or so hours it takes to beat the game, which is a shame because it’s a title that has something to give.

Fans of classic point-and-click adventures will feel right at home here, but anyone else might find The Long Reach a little flat.

A quirky 2D adventure with hints of psychological horror and some classic puzzles. Though its gameplay is riddled with glitches and its narrative full of flaws, The Long Reach keeps tempting you to peer around the next murky corner.

The Long Reach just barely misses the mark thanks to a painfully tone deaf script full of juvenile dialogue and puzzles that rely on process of elimination as much as actual thought-work. The general aesthetic of the world is appealing, with just well-crafted sprites, and the atmosphere is appropriately oppressive, but the overall story feels bound together by a script that can't decide between humour and tension.

All told, The Long Reach could have used some more time in the oven. It presents issues that seem readily solvable—lighting, object highlighting, proof reading—but in its current form, the game is frustrating and not particularly enjoyable. Maybe some of the problems can be patched out, but until that happens, I can’t recommend The Long Reach despite its intriguing storyline.