Earlier this month, Camila Gormaz sawLong Gone Days, the video game she wrote, developed, and illustrated at 12-years-old, come to life as a now 32-year-old.Long Gone Daysis amodern-day JRPGthat takes a different approach on war, focusing more on what goes on beyond the violence.
Long Gone Daysfollows the story Rourke, who was born and raised into a private military company called The Core. After finally getting sent out on his first mission, representing the Polish army, he realizes that the organization which he idolized is not what he thought it was. After Rourke abandons his post and tries to stop the military, players will build friendships and look for hope in thestory-driven game, which was developed by This I Dreamt, a three-person team, consisting of co-writer and artist Gormaz, co-writer and game designer Pablo Videla, and programmer Camilo Valderrama. In a recent interview, the developers told Game Rant that creating the game was based off of a number of influences, including first-hand experiences with the Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian military dictatorship in Chile, which lasted from 1973 to 1990.
The Use of Unique Characters and Multi-cultures
When Gormaz began to write Rourke, she said she wanted to explore an emotional character in “a world where emotions are not seen.” In the beginning of the game, there are glimpses of Rourke’s thoughts and feelings, but he’s not—and neither are players—able to dwell too long on it as orders must be followed. Players will enter asniper mode, but are given limited ammo, putting pressure on hitting all necessary targets.
Despite being into video games and becoming a developer, Gormaz didn’t own a video game console, so she saw a lot of characters through Nintendo Power. There, Gormaz found Crono from JRPGChrono Trigger, which is why Rourke’s hair is red, andLink fromThe Legend of Zelda, who Adair, the game’s medic, is modeled after. But, aside from looks, Videla said everyone is their own character.
I think that their personalities evolved a lot over time. In the final version of the game, they are their own unique characters. What we tried to do with Rourke was that he’s someone who’s been a bit isolated from the world, so it helped us to use him as a device to show the different cultures and the different places that we visit from a new perspective and to help him learn a bit about what it’s like to be a person outside your chosen role.
The Characters of Long Gone Days
Valderrama explained that whileLong Gone Daysis a “war” game, it focuses on specific aspects like human relationships. In the opening scenes ofLong Gone Days, players are immediately introduced to Rourke who explains, through first-person dialogue, that he was born a soldier. Not too many scenes later, it’s revealed that Rourke has been struggling with his identity and values. The game then transitions intopixel artwhere Rourke sits alone in a moonlight-lit room with windows where he meets the first character, Lynn, who is assumed to be American and is someone who has been looking for freedom her whole life, Videla said.
Then back at The Core, Rourke meets Adair, who Gormaz said is at first a disciplinarian, but later eases up and turns into one of Rourke’s closest friends. Other characters that players meet include Atiye, who is a journalist of Turkish decent investigating the attacks by the Polish army on Kaliningrad; Ivan, a Kaliningrad resident and teacher in a local orphanage; and Cygnus, a hacker for an organization that helps The Core. Videla told Game Rant that though everyone comes from different backgrounds, both professionally and ethnically, yet they still all come and work together towards one goal.
We wanted to explore that because sometimes when people tell you that you are not from a country, from either country, you have this kind of crisis that you don’t belong anywhere else. They all have different reasons, but they all have the same desire to stop the main enemy of the game.
The Lingering Effects of Chilean Military Dictatorship
Aside from Gormaz’s collection of inspirations,Long Gone Dayswasalso influenced by real-life eventsof when Chilean general and dictator Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. Videla’s parents had an active role where they helped people stay safe during the dictatorship, and one of the ways to stay safe was to use a fake name. Players will see this utilized in the game as Cygnus, the hacker, works under his fake name. On top of that, when Rourke is getting his orders from the Sergeant Major in the first mission, they emphasize to not communicate with the locals—not even reveal the names on their dog tags.
My parents’ story were a lot of related things that you have to do to keep yourself safe. If you are meeting someone, use a fake name so if they get caught, they don’t recognize you because they can get you as well. They’ve shared stories about protests or a time when they felt like they had arguments where people who wanted to take a more violent approach versus what they wanted to do that was more related to politics and more like teaching people and diplomacy in some way. There’s a lot of inspiration on that regard in the way that we try to make the actions that the party takes in the game feel a bit more real.
Another vital aspect of the game is communication. InLong Gone Days, players will encounter NPCs who speak many different languages, which they may not understand, and the same goes for the characters in the game. In order to counter this or use this as an advantage, they must recruit interpreters. These NPCs will lead show players how to buy at shops and complete quests, which may include some light detective work. Gathering information is key and arguably mirrors a real-life incident when the CIA looked into Pinochet as a potential leader of a coup d’etat against Salvador Allende, Chile’s president from 1970 to 1973; that report was based on intelligence information from a dinner party.
We also took inspiration from world history because you can’t deny also that there’s a lot of stuff that has happened through our history that still affects someplace in the world. We attempt to not focus so much on one specific aspect of history or one specific conflict, but take into account how the different situations that happen in the world shape the way that people see this type of conflict.
Overall,Long Gone Daysis not an average military game. It looks to come from a different perspective that forces players to think about the other side and the lasting after effects, similar toThis War of Mine, which is a survival gamethat follows a group of civilian survivors. As Rourke battles with his self-identity and learns to improve from his past, players may find themselves on the same path.
Long Gone Daysis out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
