Make Sure To Have The Tylenol Ready
The Long Gate is a brain breaker of a game that left me frustrated at every turn, but that is not always a bad thing. I am not normally a puzzle game guy, but here I am reviewing a puzzle game. The Long Gate has good marks on Steam, but how does it perform on the Switch? Time to get into the full review.
The Long Gate is a first-person action-puzzle game that has players solve a multitude of circuitry puzzles that get increasingly complicated. You start out by getting a device that reminds me of the gun from Portal and are immediately thrown into the den of lions that are the puzzles of The Long Gate. There is not much hand-holding here. This is the Dark Souls of puzzle games to me. There is a difficulty setting that nudges you a bit in the right direction if you are having trouble, but my small, smooth brain still had a lot of difficulties.
As previously stated, I normally do not play puzzle games. Do I enjoy puzzles in games? Yes, a lot of open-world games or dungeon crawlers have some sort of puzzles in them. However, The Long Gate goes far beyond anything I have ever played before. I struggled a bit with the intensity of some of the puzzles, but that never scared me away from the game. If anything, it made me come back after taking a break. It was frustrating to get through, but my stubborn self was too prideful to let a game get the best of me.
The aesthetic of the game is pretty, as these screen captures demonstrate. The environment and music make the entire experience much grander than it may initially appear to be. It is easy to sit and stare at your surroundings, not just to look for clues but to admire the aesthetic as well.
The Switch Version Is Nearly Unplayable
While I liked the look of the game from an aesthetic point, the game played HORRIBLY on the Switch. I suffered frame drops from time to time, textures were blurry, and anything written was hard to read at times. It did not help that the environment provided very little additional light. Graphics are never the be-all-end-all with me, but my goodness did they hinder the experience.
Honestly, it is hard to recommend this game unless you are an active puzzle adventure enthusiast. Even if you are, the Switch is not the place to experience this game, and because I am reviewing The Long Gate on Switch, that has to be taken into account. Overall, The Long Gate is a brain-breaking experience that somehow kept me coming back. If you love puzzles and have a PC, then I would say go for it. Just do not play it on Switch.
Final Score: 6/10
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