The indie scene has been home some of the most noteworthy puzzle games of the past decade. Standouts likeThe Witness,Baba is You, andReturn of the Obra Dinnhave gained mainstream notoriety despite being from smaller developers. Now, another indie-developed puzzle title is looking to join the ranks of these critically-acclaimed games later this summer.
Coming from developerDavid Shaw,The Long Gateis an atmospheric puzzle game that takes place in a mysterious series of caverns. The puzzles in the game are circuit-based and come in three forms: digital, analog, and quantum. Shaw collaborated with the quantum computing business, D-Wave, to ensure that these quantum puzzles specifically were accurate to real life.
The Long Gatealso allows players to complete all of the puzzles in the game in any order that they might please. The puzzles themselves often don’t only have one way in which they can be solved, either, meaning that experimentation is more than welcome. This is quite different from many other games in the genre and will hopefully mean that players won’t get stuck as often on specific sections.
To match the eerie, ominous tone ofThe Long Gate, the game features a score by composer Nicholas Newman. The music, which you can hear a snippet of in the trailer below, seems to prominently feature electronic tracks, which seem to be a good fit for the aesthetic and nature of the game.
Despite still not having a release date, a new demo forThe Long Gateis actually set to be released on June 16. The game is part of theSteam Summer Game Festival, which will allow a large number of upcoming titles to be played by the public for the first time ever. This demo, which introduces players to the opening portion of the game, will be playable starting tomorrow and will last until Sunday, June 21.
The Long Gateis planned to launch on PC viaSteamat an undetermined date later this summer.
Editor’s Note:For full disclosure, both the developer and composer of The Long Gate are friends of the author of this article.
