Review jademonkey 3/5 · Dec 30, 2022
I decided to give The Longest Road on Earth a shot since I'm a big fan of Grotto, also by Brainwash Gang. Unfortunately, it just didn't click with me the same way.
I think The Longest Road on Earth would be generously described as a walking simulator, but that implies a bit more exploration or freedom of movement than is …
I decided to give The Longest Road on Earth a shot since I'm a big fan of Grotto, also by Brainwash Gang. Unfortunately, it just didn't click with me the same way.
I think The Longest Road on Earth would be generously described as a walking simulator, but that implies a bit more exploration or freedom of movement than is present here. This is largely a collection of vignettes of the lives of ordinary anthropomorphic folk set to some very pleasant dreamy pop folk. Maybe "Minimally interactive extended music video" is a good description. I'm actually perfectly fine with this, but it does mean that, gameplay not being a factor, the rest of the package has to resonate.
Longest Road has you taking a peak into the lives of the characters at various points, without much in the way of an overall unifying narrative. If I had to describe the scenes in a single word, it'd be mundane. A bike ride through the woods, serving food at a small diner, riding a train (a few times), mopping floors, etc. Some of these scenes (especially the train) feel overly long, though I'm sure that's purposeful.
I appreciate that the aggregation of these scenes evokes feelings of melancholy and maybe a sort of wistfulness, but I'm just a much more narrative driven type of person, so I didn't get a whole lot out of it. That said, I really did enjoy the music and the pixelated-but-expressive greyscale art. I think that made the experience worthwhile even if the overall package didn't particularly resonate with me.
