As soon as you start, the game inevitably counts down the 400 days - even when you stop playing and exit the game.

It is now up to you to decide what to do with your solitary existence beneath the soil. Don't stress yourself, you have plenty of time.

Choose your playing style
Start the game and simply come back after 400 days to see how it ends. You actually don't have to play the game at all. But the Shade will be even more lonely without you.

Or explore the caves and collect items for your comfortable underground living room. Just send the Shade to take a stroll - the walking speed is slow, but luckily there is no need to hurry.

Read tons of classic literature from Nietzsche to Moby Dick right in the game - or at least have the shade read them. After all, time goes by faster if you learn to keep your mind occupied. (The little Shade in the game finds ONLY English books for now.)

Ignore the king's commands and advance to the outer regions the cave. It will be a long and dangerous journey into darkness...

NOTE: The game time keeps counting down even if you quit the game or shut down your computer.

History
"THE LONGING was heavily inspired by the German Kyffhäuser legend, where a King under a mountain is waiting for the right time to awaken; The story is also described in a famous poem by Friedrich Rückert. Part of the graphics are a hint to the real Kyffhäuser caves and the 6.5-metre-tall Barbarossa sculpture.

In the game you can read real, complete books, mostly classics of world literature obtained from Project Gutenberg.

The music and the atmosphere of the game are inspired by dungeon synth music, an obscure subgenre of dark ambient and black metal.

Games that served as influence or comfort: Clicker Heroes, Arx Fatalis, Desert Bus, Tamagotchi, Dear Esther. Other inspirations: David Firth, The Moomins, German Lore."

Features
• Slow exploration of a vast, hand-drawn cave.
• Atmospheric Dungeon Synth soundtrack.
• Various endings.
• Lots of well hidden secrets.