The Longest Journey Demo

Whenever magic is involved, you can be certain that an evil individual somewhere is plotting something unpleasant, since wizards who can wield powerful spells have a difficult time remaining sane for too long. However, magical worlds make for some interesting stories, especially when the entire universe is different from our own and everything functions on a different set of rules.

The Longest Journey is a point-and-click adventure game that revolves around magic and tells the tale of a young girl by the name of April Ryan, who's chosen to restore the balance between the two twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia. Even if she barely has any knowledge of magic and way too little life experience to properly comprehend the situation, the events she goes through over the course of the story change her and make her a worthy protagonist.

As far as the story is concerned, a lot of work went into creating a complex, yet comprehensible plot, which evolves steadily over the course of the game and keeps you wanting for more. There are many interesting characters to meet throughout the journey, as well as a lot of fascinating locations to visit and admire. Twists and turns keep on piling, while April turns out to be far more interesting that you may have initially thought.

Since the game is a point-and-click adventure title, after all, the puzzles are the main course on the menu and there are plenty of occasions to prove yourself, since they can be quite unforgiving at times. Actually, some of them can get downright frustrating, although there's always a clear logic behind them and you are never just pixel hunting on the screen for stuff to click on. Whether you have to catch worms and put them into apples, or save the worlds from certain doom, every challenge has its own charm and it is always a pleasure to be able to figure out a riddle.

The level design is yet another thing that impresses, especially since the different nature of the two worlds is reflected in the environments and landscapes that you get to visit. Although the graphic engine might show its age a bit when it comes to character models and animations, the levels themselves still look very good, mainly because most of them are pre-rendered and they haven't really been affected by the passage of time.

In the end, The Longest Journey still remains one of the best adventure games out there, thanks to the very well-written plot, the complex characters and the exquisite level design. The challenging puzzles and the endless dialogues can easily keep you playing for dozens of hours, experiencing everything the game has to offer.