Beyond the Long Night | Steam Deck Review

June 28, 2023 Scott Clark

The roguelike/roguelite genre has become a personal favorite of mine over the years. I’ve reviewed countless titles and some grace my top ten of the years they released. I’m constantly looking for fresh takes on what initially drew me into this style of gameplay. I eagerly jumped into Beyond the Long Night almost immediately hoping for hours of satisfying failures and restarts. While the game is designed well mechanically, it commits a couple of cardinal sins for me personally that keep it from being a must-play for me. With that said, there’s a lot to love with what Noisy Head Games brought to the table to set it apart from the rest. Those who prefer success by skill and perseverance over muscling your way to a finale will find a lot to love here.

Get Out!

Your goal in the game is simple: escape the caverns in which your floating “ghost” of a character awakens. For unknown reasons, you’re trapped far below ground, and you have to get to the surface. There’s not much story outside of this, but there doesn’t need to be. You will encounter other NPCs along the way who are also trapped, and they offer some interesting tidbits of backstory that help to set the scene. But these moments aren’t the real reason to play Beyond the Long Night.

The gameplay consists of you moving in a 2D randomly generated Metroid-like environment from screen to screen. You’re suspended in the air by helium balloons, which also act as your character’s health. Each hit pops a balloon, and when they’re all gone, it’s game over. In twin-stick shooter fashion, you have full 360 degree movement and a starting ranged attack in the form of a pea shooter. At the start of each run, a man awards you with a random special ability to get you going. As you explore the map, you’ll acquire more special abilities or upgrades to the ones you already have. The further you go, the more your skills stack. The satisfaction comes in becoming a cute killing machine, even though it takes a while (and more than likely several runs) to get there.

Exploring the depths is just as fun as any similar game with random dungeons. Discovering new abilities and checking them off your list can be rewarding. Fighting enemies is much more methodical, as you really have to carefully clear each enemy from the room before opening the next. Every hit is precious, and one wrong move could send you into a tailspin very quickly.

You’re Breaking My Heart

The rogue aspect of Beyond the Long Night will probably attract fans of the original Rogue more than fans of the more modern formula. This is because there are zero permanent upgrades after your character dies. Everything you collected from abilities to currency are completely wiped clean at the start of each run. This aligns with the genres roots for sure, but it lacks that “one more run” mentality I’m used to in similar games that offer some incentive to make your next run a bit easier.

On some level, I get how satisfying it is to complete this game without any help outside of lucky drops along the way. But I definitely felt very defeated when failing a session. Starting from scratch the same way you did the first time you fired up the game is a bit disheartening. Still, there’s something cool knowing you could ostensibly complete the game the first time you play it.

Another core aspect of the gameplay is something listeners of our show know I despise: a ticking clock. Even though there’s no physical clock on screen, you’re eventually locked out of certain lower areas of the map as you progress. Specific rooms turn red and traversing them can damage your character. That means you’re limited to how much of the map you can explore, since you’re constantly forced upwards. With a randomly generated dungeon, there’s no way to know if you missed out on a killer upgrade. I get what the devs were going for here by constantly pushing you forward, but the pressure is very stressful for me personally.

Beyond the Long Night Final Verdict

Even though I sound like I’m talking very negatively about Beyond the Long Night, it’s still a very solid indie game. I’m sure others will appreciate its more punishing formula. I’ve just gotten so used to failure making me want to give it another go instead of feeling like I’m taking two steps backwards. Don’t stay away from this title just because of my personal frustrations. I am enjoying my time with it, especially when the upgrades finally click and I have brief moments of feeling overpowered. I think players with a bit more patience than I do will find a lot to love here.

To hear me talk more about Beyond the Long Night, be sure to listen to our April 19th Episode of The Gaming Outsider Podcast, around the 59:19 time stamp.

This review is based on a Steam copy of Beyond the Long Night provided by 71 Consulting for coverage purposes. It is also available on Mac.