Beyond The Long Night Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · April 20, 2023

For this Beyond The Long Night Review, where we explore a whimsical underground world whilst being chased by a mysterious corrupting force in this charming twin-stick action roguelike! Befriend loveable characters, fend off enemies with chaotic abilities, and uncover the secrets of this subterranean kingdom caught in a time loop.

Beyond The Long Night Review Pros:

Decent pixel art graphics.
Download size.
Steam achievements.
Full controller support.
Graphics settings – resolution, v-sync, screen mode, brightness, and highlight enemies.
Twin stick shooter gameplay.
Pick up and equip superpowers.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
Run based.
The map uncovers as you play.
Find and shoot loot boxes.
Collect gems that are currency in the game.
Unlock new hats by hitting certain milestones.
Maps and layouts randomize every run.
Encounter many different characters.
Multiple choice questions.
Slight puzzle elements.
Gets very bullet hell.
You play on a screen-by-screen basis.
The journal fills in with stories, upgrades, and challenges as and when you discover them.
Simple controls.
Loadout – bullet type, super power, super power upgrade, passive, and your buddy.
When you clear the screen of enemies all gems go straight to you.
The balloons that fly around you represent your health bar and collecting a heart brings back a balloon.
Pick up new equipable items.
Very easy to get into.
The controls feel tight.
Discover shopkeepers to upgrade your Loadout slots.
End of a run breakdown showing kills, time taken, gems collected, and items you found.

Beyond The Long Night Review Cons:

Cannot rebind controls.
Not that great to play with the mouse and keyboard.
Minimal graphics settings.
The early part of a new run is slow and tedious as you have crap weapons etc.
Slow to get going.
Loading can be slow.
Gets tiring talking to the same people over and over.
The enemies are so small and annoying.
Gunplay is not as fun as it could be.
The rooms are small.
Rooms repeat a lot.

Beyond The Long Night:

Official website.

Developer: Noisy Head Games

Publisher: Yogscast Games

Store Links –

Steam

7/10

Graphics - 7/10
6/10

Sound - 6/10
7/10

Accessibility - 7/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
7/10

Fun Factor - 7/10

6.8/10

Summary

A roguelike twin-stick shooter, Beyond the Long Night, is a pixel art game all about exploring a mountain and shooting bad guys as you fly around with the help of your balloons and find loot and secrets. Playing the game it’s fine, controls are tight but the shooting is not as rapid or as satisfying as you want for every new run is the game’s biggest letdown. Get some upgrades, find new powers and weapons and the game gets really enjoyable, but it’s the climb to that point that is underwhelming. Baseline weapons are slow and crap, enemies are really hard to kill due to their size and inability to behave and new toys take ages. It’s the general theme throughout afraid, get a new gun and then wait until you find the next best thing then the next but the current weapon just delays the boredom. Room after room encounter after encounter the game just falls flat with repetition and slow progress. Beyond the Long Night looks cool but the climb to fun takes longer than the climb to the top of the mountain.