Developer: Autoscopia Interactive
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Autoscopia Interactive
As Long As You’re Here is a game where you play as Annie, an elderly woman whose memory has started to fail her. The game is developed and published by Autoscopia Interactive. As Long You’re Here is a game that revolves around Annie and her children, who are her main caretakers, who are struggling over how to care for her, while the memories of her late brother start to resurface. The world around you (Annie) shifts from past and present, merging familiar places together and creating a hazy and unstable memory.
The concept of this game is extremely personal as it revolves around Alzheimer’s disease, in which the developers of this game had relatives with similar experiences. Thus, it becomes the beginning of creating an experience where you live as someone with dementia. This game is personal on a deep level, but allows players to feel what others have felt in such a meaningful and informative way.
Since As Long As You’re Here is a narrative walking sim game, the controls are pretty simple. The player moves around Annie’s world while interacting with objects. The controls allow for an easy and relaxed game. The gameplay revolves less around gameplay mechanics and more around exploration and the emotional connection the narrative brings. The game isn’t about solving puzzles but more about how time shifts and memories change, focusing on the storytelling and atmosphere. It took me less than an hour to completely finish the game, so it’s perfect to play and finish in one sitting.
The art of the game is simple and subtle. The colours embrace both warm colours, showcasing old and happy memories, compared to the present, which is more cool-toned, portraying the sadness felt. The colour palette shifts between the tones, showcasing the disorientation that Annie suffers from, showcasing the reality behind Alzheimer’s. The design of spaces is extremely important; each room showcases different moments of her life and her journey, and how she has changed throughout it all.
The music is subtle, ambient, and reflective, showcasing the touchy topic, supporting the mood of memory, changing time, and different emotions with different background noise, such as footsteps and memory warps, noises.
The concept of the game is extremely strong, and it was translated into the game very well. Being able to experience dementia from the inside rather than observing is very rare, shedding light on the experience of the person who’s actually living through it. The visual design of the game is well-designed and appropriate for the game. The length of the game and story only allows for a one-time play. I do wish that the game was a bit longer with the possible addition of puzzles or further obstacles, but I can understand why the developers may not have gone down that route. Either way, the game is raw and fresh, with the only drawback being its short playtime.
Overall: 8/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
