2017 bestowed many of us gamers with a plethora of titles that came out of nowhere. While the AAA titles were stealing the show at major events like E3 and even Tokyo Game Show, there was still some spotlight that shifted towards that of the indie scene. For majority of 2017, we honestly have to say that indie games reigned supreme and it seems to continue that trend well into 2018. Just before the year ended, we had a chance to try out another fresh new title, this time from the team at IMGN.PRO, the same team that brought us the psychologically thrilling Kholat.

even The Long Days Gone is an action adventure RPG that takes inspiration from the likes of Diablo, while implementing some stealth oriented maneuvering to create a unique experience for players. While the effort to perhaps create something groundbreaking was there, often times we ran into kinks that needed to be ironed out. That, of course, we’ll get to later in the review but for the most part, anyone looking for something along the lines of Diablo meets Assassins Creed but from an isometric perspective, this one’s for you.

With impressive world design and unique gameplay mechanics entwined, Seven The Long Days Gone tries to create a totally refreshing experience for every gamer out there. Its attempt to stand out amongst a horde of truly powerful opponents from the AAA realm is truly admirable, and despite the flaws, it doesn’t shy away from being different. So many titles that we’ve run into have often felt rehashed or pretty much given a new wardrobe, but still remains the same underneath and that felt pretty heartbreaking.

Seven The Long Days Gone came out of left field with no one really knowing what to expect but once you get into the swing of things, the game can be a rewarding ordeal. No game is ever truly perfect and this game stands among those, but what we admire about Seven The Long Days Gone is it combines an interesting plot with interesting ways on how to accomplish your goals in order to successfully restore peace to the world you live in. However, despite its uniqueness and cool appeal, those imperfections oftentimes get in the way and prevent you from truly enjoying the lasting appeal of what it’s trying to offer. With that being said, let’s dive in a little deeper to give you a more detailed overview of what makes Seven The Long Gone both a long rewarding journey but one filled with plenty of holes to fill in.

Straight out of the gates, you’re greeted with a very long cut scene that pretty much explains the story behind the prison island of Peh, and Master Thief Teriel’s journey towards the infamous island. Much of his journey is filled with strife and it’s your mission to use Teriel’s skills to infiltrate the enemy base, survive an onslaught of unexpected traps and dangerous bosses, and ultimately escape this unforgiving prison known as Peh.

The problem with the opening cut scene is that despite its lengthy and pretty looking visuals, it does nothing to really immerse you into everything and so, at times, things feel a bit dry. Teriel’s background is marred by inconsistent holes in the plot and while we liked his character, it would’ve been nice to know a little more about him. Did he have a very dark past? Was his childhood scarred by strife and hardships? That we’ll never know and perhaps, that’s where we felt things could’ve been added to really fill the emotional gap. After the story is explained, you jump into a tutorial which explains the mechanics and how to maneuver around the world using stealth tactics to your advantage.

Once you’re in game and start to roam around, things start to feel a lot like your typical action RPG which is a good thing. Do a load of missions to level up your character, fend off strong enemies while testing out the cool stealth mechanics for that juicy kill and of course, obtain those powerful weapons to make battles a little easier.

All of that is totally cool but what kind of made us scratch our heads was the map layout and the lack of information for us to use in order to move towards the next objective. We often times found ourselves running around in very dark areas unsure of where we were supposed to go, and ultimately, that dark path led us to some very unexpected and uneventful scenarios. This was due to the map providing us with specific details as to where to go, but also the game itself suffers from poor lighting despite our options being relatively high. The combats we engaged in didn’t really give us that true sense of reward and so at times, our motivation to trek forward felt a little underwhelming. Things just started to feel lackluster after awhile and despite taking inspiration from Diablo, it failed to take along the exciting thrills you’d experience while battling powerful enemies.

This brings us to the stealth portion of the gameplay which we really liked, but also it failed to really nail every aspect of the mechanic. While attacking enemies in stealth, usually if not most times you should be guaranteed a kill, but in Seven The Long Days Gone, those kills aren’t always successful. It’s almost like a coin toss because you’re never too sure whether your actions will be rewarded or if you’ll have to continue fighting the enemy despite using stealth to take them out.

Speaking of taking out, Seven The Long Days Gone seems to have forgotten one important aspect about leveling up and it’s to provide players with an incentive to grab more powerful tools down the road. The campaign isn’t too long (roughly 10-11 hours) and half way through, we pretty much stuck with some of the strong weapons we received in the earlier portion. The longer we played, the more we yearned to find something even more powerful to quench our thirst, but sadly, every time we came across a new weapon, it just didn’t seem to stack up to what we already had. Once you upgrade your weapons in the early game, you don’t really need to go out of your way to get anything else, and so in the end, the combat starts to feel a little dry. More variety here would’ve been fantastic but due to the lack of inventory storage, a lot of times you tend to just run past a discovered weapon because you’ve already built a comfort with the one you currently wield. Now, of course this will not apply to everyone so take that with a grain of salt, we’re sure others will experiment with the other weapons they find in the game. It’s just that things feel limited and so why bother to try something new when you don’t really have much room to fit everything in? You’re better off just sticking to what you have but in doing so it creates a pretty unfulfilling adventure.

Another issue that plagued the game was the camera controls and how positioning can often affect what you can and can’t see while playing. While the climbing aspect of the game is really intriguing and allows for some really interesting scenarios, the camera steals that charm away with its wonky placements and because of the game’s multi-tiered layout, sometimes finding the right direction can be a bit tricky. You may think one way is the right way only to run into an invisible wall that the camera prevents you from seeing. It may seem like a small issue, but when trying to avoid engaging enemies or climbing towards a safer territory, having the camera work against you isn’t always an endearing ordeal.

We tip our hat off to IMGN.PRO for really trying to implement new ways of playing isometric style games, and there were moments where we felt the game had potential. However with most of the issues we mentioned earlier creeping up on us at almost every opportunity it had, the game really started to wear on us and ultimately made the overall experience a not so fun one. Pair that with some game crashes that we experienced in the early parts of the game and the annoyance starts to kick in. As we mentioned, before nothing is truly ever perfect and so in the end, it leaves a lot of room for improvement. Hopefully the team at IMGN.PRO can reassess the flaws within the game and perhaps come back with a more flushed out sequel that handles better, not just its in game mechanics but the overall appeal as well.

So that about does it for Seven The Long Days Gone. While we did enjoy its cool new approach, everything that’s new always comes some flaws along with it. If the team is able to look at those flaws and perhaps retouch things a little bit, increase the inventory storage along with weapon creativity, then Seven The Long Days Gone may truly stand out a lot more. However, for now, we’ll leave the decision up to you as to whether you’ll enjoy the game or not. Be sure to follow us on Twitter where we always keep the Honey’s family up to date on all the latest gaming news from around the globe, as well as the otaku lifestyle you all know and love. Also, catch us live on Twitch and check out some of the games we’ve reviewed to get a live glimpse of what to expect from those titles!

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