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The Longest Journey – Guide and Walkthrough

Guide and Walkthrough (PC) by T_Hayes

Version: 1.1 | Updated: 06/19/2008 Highest Rated Guide

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The Longest Journey

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An adventure game produced by Norwegian developer Funcom , The Longest Journey  is the first game of The Longest Journey Saga . It introduced us to April Ryan , a strong-willed heroine with a troubled past, and the twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia . April is troubled by nightmares, and strange events are happening in her quiet neighbourhood which are becoming harder to ignore. Guided by the mysterious Cortez , April discovers that the Balance , the powerful force that enables the twin worlds to exist, is in danger of failing because there is no Guardian in the Tower maintaining the Balance.

It falls upon April, a Shifter who can move between the worlds, to restore the Guardian and save the Balance (helped by her sidekick Crow ). However, powerful forces contrive to stop her, with the Chaos Vortex , the Vanguard and their leader Jacob McAllen first among them. On her side are Cortez and the White Dragon .

The entire story is narrated by Lady Alvane , a mysterious figure whose tale brackets the game. April's journey takes her through a multitude of locations across the twin worlds and beyond, leading up to a climactic but ambiguous ending, which made fans eager for a sequel.

The title undoubtedly owes much to The Neverending Story ( Die Unendliche Geschichte , 1979), by ironically-named German fantasist Michael Ende. It also tells the story of two worlds: our own, and one of fantasy.

The game and its creator Ragnar Tornquist were highly acclaimed as genre-savers, and put Funcom on the map. Although it was never a huge seller in any market, The Longest Journey (TLJ) gained a large and devoted fan-base that stubbornly stayed alive in the years after TLJ was released.

In 2011, it was announced that an iPhone port of The Longest Journey is in development.

• 1 Starting Points
• 3 Release dates
• 4.1 Conception
• 4.2 Two Directions, One Destination
• 4.3 I'm Not the Chosen One You're Looking For
• 4.4 Storytelling
• 4.5 Further reading
• 5 External Links
• 6 References

Starting Points [ ]

• Official site
• Chapters of TLJ
• April's Diary
• Inventory Items
• Music of The Longest Journey

On the 27th of April 2003 a sequel to TLJ was announced, and on the 17th of April 2006 Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was released.

Release dates [ ]

• Norway: 19th of November, 1999
• Sweden: December, 1999
• France: December, 1999
• Germany: March, 2000
• United Kingdom: April, 2000
• United States: November, 2000
• Steam: 1st of May, 2007

Development (1996-1999) [ ]

Conception [ ].

After Funcom's work on Casper (Interplay Productions, 1996), they decided they would need to develop their own games to stay afloat. Other than Anarchy Online their former Dublin office (later closed) was developing another title known only as "Project X", about two worlds: one of science-fiction and one of fantasy. It was originally intended to be a platformer in the style of Heart of Darkness (Interplay Productions, 1998) called Split Realities . [1] But when Ragnar Tornquist, 25 at the time, took control of it he wanted to craft it in the style of his favourite adventure games: Day of the Tentacle (Lucasarts, 1993) and Gabriel Knight (Sierra, 1993). Adventure games may have already begun their decline but, as there was no real financial pressure, Tornquist began his swansong to the genre.

Ragnar later posted an excerpt from an early version of the story (27th March, 1996):

In her dreams that night there were angels and horses. With fierce, burning eyes, the white angels rode their black horses into the green pastures of an eerily familiar realm, and in their tracks all life withered. She knew the setting, yet she also knew she’d never consciously set foot in it before now. With the passing of the angels came a mighty roar, and darkness fell on that beautiful world.

In the darkness there was a face - a man’s face, bearing an uncanny likeness of herself, twisted through a mirror darkly. His eyes were cold, yet there was nothing evil about the man. He seemed just distant, dreamy, disinterested. As if pulled by unknown forces, she lifted her hand to touch the man’s face and felt her fingers touch her own face…

April woke with a start. The neon illumination of the big ‘Hotel 24hrs’ sign across the street added a ghostly sheen to the unfamiliarity of her bedroom. The sound of sirens overlapped in the night, and voices echoed through the grim corridors outside her door. [2]

(Tornquist later noted " The funny thing is how close a lot of what was written back then is to the next game's storyline. ")

Two Directions, One Destination [ ]

From the beginning the game was about April living in the Border House, but at this time the world she lived in was much more dystopian as the staff were watching a lot of Dark City (1998). April's adventure began after repeated dreams of dark angels, and the other world was to be beautiful in contrast to the darkness of her own. Tornquist realised that, for the player to truly sympathise with April, he would have to have them participate at first in her ordinary world, and it must be at least partly recognisable to them.

This lead to a greater balance between the tone of both worlds, as the fantasy world incorporated some of the darker elements itself. April's Venice was modelled on New York's East Village, where Tornquist had lived while studying film at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University from 1990-1993.

At this point he decided that he wanted to set April's world in our own time, but Didrik Tollefsen kept pulling her towards a more futuristic setting. This would allow the technological world to better contrast with the magical one, although Tornquist was careful not to let it descend into a Bladerunner (1982) pastiche. He has since reflected that the Stark sections of TLJ reflect the tension he felt between the two desired time periods, and some of this crept into the more recognisable technology of Dreamfall .

I'm Not the Chosen One You're Looking For [ ]

A more gentle dystopianism lingered in TLJ, however, in the form of the satirisation of Capitalism in such features as the privatised police force and rampant corporate warfare . This commentary was more organic than the deliberate themes such as that of 'faith' in Dreamfall , but faith and religion had a place in TLJ as well. Tornquist recalls:

"Games don’t often refer to religion. I was trying to make the whole idea of that universe co-exist with religion, having that story in the context of faith ... The Longest Journey is a game about finding yourself, and having belief in yourself, and conquering your personal demons, on a very simple level. It is also a game about having faith, and you have all these characters, like the Catholic priest, having him refer to the whole aspect of faith in relation to the unbelievable nature of split universes, and how you reconcile that with your own personal faith."

Even when the projected 18 months of development doubled and the budget began to blow out, Funcom stood by the game. TLJ was not always a carefully planned story, and Tornquist had not finalised the ending until relatively late in development.

"I think TLJ reflects the mind of a 25 year old, and Dreamfall is that of a 30-something. When you’re in your 20s, you don’t know where you’re heading, much like April. While in your 30s, maybe it is more about the loss of faith in yourself, faith in religion and faith in the world."

Originally April was meant to fill the role of "Chosen One", but Tornquist gradually became more and more disillusioned with this idea. He was reading Neil Gaiman at the time (especially the Sandman comics, 1989-1996) and watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), and became influenced by the idea of a protagonist who is not the most important person in the world - but still has an important role to play. Tornquist puts this more realistic attitude as: "You’re only a cog, but... you can make a big difference."

Storytelling [ ]

Perhaps most importantly, TLJ is about storytelling. The entire game is bracketed by Lady Alvane's narration, and many of the characters advance the plot by telling their own stories. April must even read several books before she can continue her journey. Tornquist has said that character development is more important than - and even shapes - narrative. When writing the dialogue for TLJ Ragnar often only had a few lines written for each character, but after casting would allow the personality the actor brought to the part to shape the dialogue he wrote for them.

"Most of the dialogue for TLJ was written in a frenzy during the night. I stayed for two or three weeks in New York, and I did the writing at night until 3 or 4 in the morning. Then I went to bed, then printed it out on the crappy printer I bought, and then I’d hand them the new script pages."

This gave the actors plenty of freedom in their roles, and also lead to the many humorous out-takes accessible through the Book of Secrets . In the case of Andrew Donnelly the stand-up comedian who played Burns Flipper , this lead to plenty of colourful language, which drew the ire of a surprising number of players. "He was a good example of why it was a good thing I didn’t have someone standing over my shoulder while we made the game."

As an afterword, in comparison with Dreamfall Tornquist says:

"... it’s not as profound, but it has a simple joy that’s lacking in Dreamfall. It has a sense of exploration and adventure that’s lacking in Dreamfall, because Dreamfall is a lot more serious, and everybody’s questioning themselves, and everybody’s having a crisis of faith."

Further reading [ ]

• Making Of: The Longest Journey
• Ragnar Tørnquist On… The Longest Journey

External Links [ ]

• The Longest Journey - Official Site
• The Longest Journey Transcript

References [ ]

• ↑ Adventure Gamers interview 14/09/99
• ↑ Ragnar Tornquist - 5/8/03 (archived)
• 1 Choices in Dreamfall Chapters
• 2 April Ryan
• 3 Zoë Maya Castillo

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Packages that include this game, buy the longest journey + dreamfall.

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"The Longest Journey is not only the best adventure games in recent years, it's one of the best games ever" - GamesDomain

About This Game

• Over 150 locations spanning two distinct and detailed worlds
• More than 70 speaking characters
• 40+ hours of gameplay
• 20+ minutes of high-resolution pre-rendered video footage
• Cinematic musical score

System Requirements

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• The Longest Journey

Table of Contents

• Prologue: A Lion is in the Streets
• Chapter One: Penumbra

This is the first game in the The Longest Journey series. For other games in the series see the The Longest Journey category .

The Longest Journey is a point-and-click adventure game designed in Norway by Ragnar Tørnquist. It is the first game in an intended trilogy, and was followed in 2006 by Dreamfall: The Longest Journey . The third part has been announced as an episodic series entitled Dreamfall Chapters .

Between Stark and Arcadia there is an ancient balance. For thousands of years this Balance has weighed the scales of the cosmos evenly, ensuring harmony between science, magic, order and chaos. But, now in an age of great turmoil, chaos threatens to tip the scales and bring terrifying dreams to life. As the tides of chaos gain momentum the fate of everything lies in the hands of one person. Her name is April Ryan. She is a Shifter. The power to walk between worlds is within her grasp and her destiny is foretold in a hundred tales. The journey ahead is treacherous, winding and shrouded in mystery, this is the longest journey of them all.

• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey
• Dreamfall Chapters
• Guides at completion stage 0
• Funcom Productions
• Empire Interactive
• Single player

Navigation menu

The Longest Journey

Game Details:  Fantasy, 1999

Links:   Moby Games , Steam , Adventure Gamers

Walkthrough Updated:  1/15/2003

Suggested Listening:   Give Up Now ( Ash 25 )

Look around, including inspecting the egg. Take the scale from the nest and the twig from the tree. After your conversation with the tree spirit, walk to the right to see the stream. Combine the scale with the scale and use this to redirect the stream. Talk to the tree spirit again and the egg will be saved.

Chapter 1: Penumbra

Go and get the diary and picture from the table. Look at the diary and take the timesheet from within. Next go over and open the window. Look outside and untie the clothesline. Back inside, open the closet and take Guybrush (the toy monkey). Head out of your apartment. You will now meet Zack and have a brief conversation. When it is over, take a look at the plant in the foreground and take a leaf. Now try to use the FACT terminal - it is of no use. Head downstairs.

Talk to Fiona, your landlady about everything. Grab the matches from the table, and have a look at the plasma screen. There is a hidden button behind the screen that you can press to view the trailer for the game! Go and look at the cork board on the wall, and take the pink note. Read it, then give it to Fiona and you will get a gold ring. Note you kept the pin from the note. Go outside.

Talk to Cortez, then investigate the machine to the left. Try taking the clamp, but water flows everywhere. Note the frayed wires - connect them with your gold ring. Now use the two knobs to modify the orientation of the switches until they are all horizontal. You can now turn the valve in the top left to lower the pressure, then the wheel to lower the flow, and remove the clamp. Take your ring back before leaving. Head to the bridges, then go straight through to the park, and on to the academy.

Read the VAVA noticeboard, then head inside. Take the rubber glove from the bin, and head upstairs. Pick up your easle and brush, and use it on the canvas. After a while, Emma will walk in. Talk to her, then clean up and head back through the park and bridges, to the Cafe.

Go inside and take a candy from the jar before speaking to Charlie. Go further inside and talk to Emma. Grab some bread from the table, then look at the poster near the jukebox. Take a ticket to the exhibition - look at the ticket to find the address. Now talk to Stanley, your boss. Give him your timesheet, then threaten to quit, and he will give you your money. He will ask if you will work an extra shift - you will get a different ending to the chapter based on your decision, but it will not affect the rest of the game.

Go back to your apartment. Look out the window again, and throw the bread down to the rubber ducky. Now pull up the chain and you will get the clothesline. Next, head back to the cafe, and collect the rubber ducky. Now head to the subway. Use the gene scanner, and press a button (you will always select weekly). Wave your cash card in front of the camera to get access, then go through the gate. While you are here, notice the sparks from the other track. Combine the clamp with the clothesline. Inflate the rubber ducky, then look at it and remove the bandaid. Combine the ducky with the clamp/clothesline and use this fishing instrument to get the key. Board the subway train. Look at the map, and select Waterway Bridge.

Go inside and talk to Cortez. After he leaves, return to East Venice via the subway. If you agreed to work late, return to the Cafe. If you did not, return to the Border House.

Chapter 2: Through the Mirror

Go downstairs and talk to Fiona - she suggests Zack might know where to find Cortez. Go up and knock on Zack's door and you will get some info. Now go to the subway and head to Metro Circle. Go left here and try to enter the elevator - you will be stopped by the cop because you are not of the correct status. Return to the circle and head right, then right down the street to find the Mercury Theater. Talk to Freddie and keep talking to the cop until he tells you he would like a sweet. Move the trash can and dip the candies in the green ooze, then give one to the cop.

Go left and pick up the cop's hat from the street, then return to the theater. Look closely at the fusebox, and open it with the key you got from the subway. Now flip all the switches off, except the melted one. Use the bandaid to repair the glove, then use this on the sparks to turn off the marquee. Freddie will open the door and head into the alley. Go left and pick up the cop's hat from the middle of the street, then return and go into the alley.

Look at the shadow project up on to the wall, then place the hat on the garbage heap and put the monkey near the base of it. Open the trash can near the door and use the matches on it to light a fire. Freddie will come outside and be distracted, so sneak behind him into the theater. Talk to Cortez, and you will end up in another world.

Note the painting of the monks on the wall, then walk far to the right. Talk to the Priest, and you will eventually work out his name is Tobias. Outside, go to the stalls and talk to the map maker about everything, then go back to the temple and talk to Tobias about Stark, Arcadia and The Balance. Talk to Tobias again, specifically to find out how to contact Brian Westhouse, the "Rolling Man".

Go back to the map maker and ask him about the Rolling Man until the Dolmari shows up and is fired. Accept the job as the delivery person, and you will receive a list and a map. Head into the city, north from the stalls, then head out through the city gates and go right to the docks. Go to the ship on the right of the pier and give the map and the list to the captain - he won't sign the map without some music! Go back into the city and find a musical instrument merchant to the left. Buy a flute from him, and return to the captain. Give him the list again and he will sign it while you play the flute.

Return to the map maker again and talk to him, then show him the list and you will get another assignment. Go back towards the city gates and head to the Brian's bungalow. Talk to him and give him the map, then keep talking and give him the list. When you try to leave, he will give you a pocket watch. Use the pushpin on the pocket watch in your inventory and you will end up back in Stark. Talk to Cortez about everything, then go to the Fringe Cafe and talk to Charlie. Walk further into the Cafe and you will sit down. After Emma enters, you can decide to go on a date with Zack, or brush him off.

Chapter 3: Friends and Enemies

Leave your bedroom and talk to Zack in the corridor, then head to the subway and take it to Hope Street. Go north from the stairs to reach the cathedral, then go inside and talk to Father Raul. He will direct you to Building 87, where you should now go to find Warren Hughes (it is just outside on the street). Talk to him, and he requests that you break into the police department, destroy his criminal record, and locate his sister.

Go back to the subway and head to Metro West. Look at both the street signs, then use the roadblock and it will change positions. Climb into the container and you will end up in the police station. Talk to the desk sergeant, then try to open the door in the background - it is broken. Talk to the skinny fella and the portly fella, and you find out they will need a signed form to return to work. Look in the toolbox and take the old form, then talk to the desk sergeant to get a new one. Go and give that to the portly fella, who then requests an addendum. Talk to the sergeant to get this, then give it to the portly fella. Now look at the left vidphone and note the number on the screen. Use the right vidphone and dial the number from the left one so it starts ringing. Talk to the portly fella and tell him he has a phone call, then talk to the skinny fella and say the same thing. Fuse the 2 wires together on the panel to open the door, then try to go through - the desk sergeant will see you. Go and look at the shelves behind her, then talk to her and ask for a form. Now fuse the wires again and go through. Come back outside and pick up the screwdriver, then repeat the process to get through the doors again.

Use your cash card on the machine to get a can of Bingo! Classic. Next head into the locker room at the end of the hall, and go left to discover Minelli on the toilet. Talk to him, then look at each of the lockers, and say you are Maria Hernandez. Use Minelli's key to open his locker, then look at the mirror and the broken shard, so you can look at the note to find out about his computer login. Take the medicine while you are here, then give it to him. Note that he loses his synthetic eye when he sneezes. Leave the police station and you will see a news report. Go to the alley next to the movie theater (use the subway to go to the Radio Power Station) and pick up the toy monkey. Look at it, and take the eye. Return to the police station and turn the light off in the toilets using the switch just outside Minelli's stall. When he next drops his eye, switch it with the monkey's eye. Leave the locker room and use Minelli's eye on the retinal scanner to enter the Archives.

Use the computer and log in with Minelli's details. Search for Warren Hughes, then delete his record and print a hard copy. Look at the name Erika Hughes and the colonization number next to it. Now search for the name and the number, and print out her record as well. Search for the Church of Voltec, and note the name Jacob McAllen - search for him next, and write down the 4 symbols you see on the screen as you will need them shortly. Leave the computer and access the control panel opposite. Press the 4 buttons corresponding to the symbols from the computer, and you will receive a file. Look at this in your inventory to find a tiny datacube. Pick up the papers from the printer and leave the police station. Go and visit Warren again at Hope Street and he will tell you about Burns Flipper. Get back on the subway and go to Newport Docks.

Go up the stairs and walk far to the right, then approach the garage. Knock on the large doors 3 times and you will get inside. Go down into the pit and talk to the Flipper. Give him the datacube and watch the videos, then ask him for a fake ID, and he will ask for an anti-grav unit. Go back outside and use the can of soda in the paint shaker, then head back to the subway and go to Metro West. Return to the crash site outside the police station and talk to the police officer until he starts coughing. Offer him the can of soda (only works if you have shaken it up) and he will leave. Now use your glass shard to destroy the laser beams, then use the screwdriver to get the anti-grav unit. Return to the Flipper and give it to him, and he says you can get your ID tomorrow.

Go back to the cathedral on Hope Street. Go to the confessionals and you will overhear Cortez and Raul. Talk to Cortez, then return to the Border House and go upstairs. Zack will enter his apartment before you can talk to him properly. Enter your apartment and you will meet up with Emma and Charlie, then end up back in Arcadia again.

Chapter 4: Monsters

Enter the Journey Man Inn and talk to the woman near the fireplace until Abnaxus enters. Talk to him, then when you get tired, sleep in the chair. In the morning, try to leave and the woman will give you clothes. Agree to work for her and you will be paid. Now go outside and head into the city, then to the marketplace. Go and visit the map maker and give him the list so you can get another delivery. See Tobias in the temple and talk to him before leaving the city.

Go to the City Green and visit Abnaxus. Talk to him until you hear of the God who fell down to the sea. Next visit Brian Westhouse in his bungalow and talk to him until he speaks of winged storytellers. Head to the pier and talk to the old sailor on the small pier. He will tell you about mermen, and about a bird that the cups dealer cheated him out of. Talk to Captain Nebevay about the mermen and the God. Now head into the marketplace and approach the cups dealer. Agree to play his game, then use your screwdriver on the cups and choose the cup that moves when you hit it - you will get a calculator as a prize. Try to give him the screwdriver, but you need to think about which prize you want to claim.

Now head to the Enclave. Enter it and go downstairs, then talk to Minstrum Yerin and read all the books on offer. Return to the pier and ask Captain Nebevay for passage to Alais - he won't take you because there is no wind, no navigator, and you are a woman. Talk to the old sailor again and he will tell you he will help you if you get his bird back. Return to the cups dealer and give him the screwdriver to get the bird. Go and give the bird to the sailor who will call in his favour with Nebevay. Talk to Nebevay who will agree to take you if you fix the problems of the wind and the navigator.

Go to the Road North and you will enter a farm area. Head into the forest and talk to Crow, then follow the path to find a broken bridge. Talk to Ben-Bandu the Banda, then look at the bridge before returning to the previous screen. Help the old woman and talk to her, then follow her into her house. When she leaves, grab the broom from next to the cabinet and use it on the cabinet to free Ben-Bandu's brother. Now take the small skull from the table and throw it through the small window. Pick up Bandu-Uta and throw him through the window. Now when you are chased by the Gribbler, lift up the loose plank to knock it into the fire.

After talking to Ben-Bandu, go to the Banda village. Talk to the Elder, then to Crow and the brothers, then enter the Spirit Dig. Look at the chairs and the grid on the wall, then go to sleep on the bed.

Chapter 5: There and Back Again

When you awaken, go outside and talk to Ben-Bandu, then the Elder (you will get a piece of the disc) and Crow. Head into the swamp, then across the bridge. Pick a purple flower before proceeding up the hill. Look at the floating tower in the distance, then descend to the plains. Look at the man who has been turned to stone, then blow your flute to call Crow. Use Crow to get some berries from the right of the screen, then mix them with the flowers to make a moisturizing mixture. Use this on the man and he will lower some stairs for you. Climb them to enter the mountain.

Place a coin in the gargoyle's hand, then blow out both candles that appear. Place another coin in the hand and take the salt and pepper shakers. Turn the hourglass in the foreground and quickly run up the stairs that flip over - if you don't make it, turn the hourglass and try again. Try to take the parchment under the mirror door and an apparition will stop you. Ignore the parchment and knock on the next door to reveal another hourglass. Turn this, then run quickly to the door on the left. Open this to proceed. In the next room, use the pepper shaker on the stony face and the door will open and allow you through.

Go through the door and start up the stairs to meet Roper Klacks. Talk to him, then talk to him again to challenge him to various tasks, but you will lose them all. Give him the calculator to defeat him. Now climb the stairs and enter the tower. Take the white vial from the bookshelf, the green vial from behind the curtain, the blue vial from beneath the skull and the yellow vial from next to the cauldron. Go and read the big book and you will see how to make a spell. Approach the cauldron and put in white, green and then blue essence to make an invisibility potion. Return to the mirror door from earlier, use the invisibility potion on yourself, then grab the parchment. Look at the big book again and attach the parchment to fix the page.

Next make the light-as-a-leaf potion, by mixing the yellow, white and blue essence. Use this on yourself, then get the red vial from the top of the shelves. Make the wind potion with the white, red and blue essence. Next make the big bang potion with 2 lots of red essence and blue essence. Finally, make the bind magic potion with green, yellow and blue essence. Use the big bang potion on the large purple crystal - it will fail. Use the bind magic potion on it, then try the big bang potion again and it will work. Play the flute, then open the window and play it again. Talk to Crow, then give the wind potion on him and direct him out the window.

Back on the ground, head to Marcuria, then go to the pier and talk to Nebevay. Show him the wind potion to prove you defeated Klacks. Now go to the Journey Man Inn and talk to Tun Luiec at the bar - give her the map and talk to her about the navigator job. After the chat, go to the temple and talk to Tobias to get a talisman. Finally, go to the pier and you will set sail.

Chapter 6: The Chaos Storm

Walk to the bridge and look at the spirit compass. Talk to Nebevay and Tun, then go below deck. Eat some candy, then use the half-eaten candy on the sack of flour and pick up the worm when it gets stuck. Also pick up the axe from here, and look at the chest - it is open and empty. Go back up to the bridge and talk to Nebevay and Tun again. Head to the deck and get an apple from the barrel. Go and try to give it to Nebevay, then put the worm in the apple and give it to him. Talk to Tun and ask to take control of the ship. Place the talisman on the spirit compass, then ask for Tun's help. When Nebevay returns, try to take the talisman and Nebevay will take it away. Go down below and use the axe to break open the lock on the chest.

Chapter 7: A Deep Blue Mirror

After your chat with Crow, look at the head sticking out of the water. The next time it appears, try talking to it, then try to touch it the third time and you will be taken underwater. Look at all of the drawings on the walls, then take a blue polyp from the wall. Use the pushpin on yourself to get some blood, then use the polyp on yourself and go through the hole in the floor.

Swim to the left and open the closed shell on the seabed, taking the black pearl you find there. Swim next to the city, and get some glowing green stuff from the wall on the left. Return to the bubble cave. Mix some blood with the green stuff, then the mixture with the black pearl. Eat the golden pearl you have created, then swim back to the city. Talk to the Maerum about everything, then take the spear and talk again. Now take the crystal and show it to the Queen - she will let you keep it.

Swim outside and move the seaweed aside so you can take a second crystal. Move the seaweed again and enter the cave. Get two more crystals, then look at the stone altar. You need to line up the rings with their opposite symbols (fire with water, bird with fish, pot with harpoon, Maerum with fallen god). Now you need to place the four crystals in the four slots, so that two of the faces on each crystal match the symbols of the slots they face. Specifically, the first stone goes bottom right, second top left, third upper right and fourth lower left. Now that the cave is lit, read the drawings on the walls, and note the symbol on the left of the cave - it matches your talisman.

Return to the Queen and talk to her, and you will show her the cave. Take the spear and swim to the shipwreck by going right past the bubble cave. Approach the wreck and kill the snapjaw using the spear. Now take a tooth from the dead snapjaw so you have proof of your kill. Swim inside the wreck and take the talisman, then swim back towards the city. Enter the cave again and use your talisman on the symbol. Take the disc piece from the niche you reveal. Return to the Queen once more, and show her the tooth, talisman and disc piece. You will now be taken to the nearest island.

Chapter 8: Reunification

Get the rope, then follow the path to the left. Tie the rope to the small tree and climb down the hole into an underground cavern. Search through the rubble to find a key, then climb back up, untie the rope and return to the beach. Play your flute to call Crow, then talk to him before using him on the jungle. Head to the volcano, and look in the big mouth. Note the symbol on the wheel, then use the key in the keyhold to change it. With each new symbol that is displayed, look at the lens and note down what you see. Make sure the wheel gets all the way back to its starting position. Take the key and leave the mouth. Look at the tall tree in the background. Now leave the volcano altogether and head for the new area on the map.

Walk through the opening and you will meet and speak with the Stickmen (mostly just Wick). Climb the tree and look at the crossbow, then go back and ask Wick about it. Look at the base of the statue to the left, and insert your key. Turn the key left to set the top ring to the apple shape, and turn it right to set the bottom ring to the S shape. Take the key and return to the beach.

Head through the arch on the right, then up the path to the cliff. Look at the statue base, insert the key, and set the top ring to the arrow shape and the bottom ring to the S shape. Get the key again. Go back down and head left to the ruins. Look at the statue base, insert the key, and set the top ring to the volcano shape (it acted as a mirror when you were in the volcano) and the bottom ring to the apple shape. Get the key again.

Go back to the Stickmen and talk into the ear on the base of the statue there - if the statues are set correctly you will talk to Q'aman. Go to his secret area and talk to him in person, then return to the beach and go through the arch to find a helpless crab. Try to touch it, then try to talk to it. Return to Q'aman and ask him to help. Go up the cliff path and talk to Q'aman again, then give him the candy wrapper when he says he doesn't have a lure to catch fish.

Visit the Stickmen and tell them they can resume work on the cannon. Follow them up the tree and talk to Wick to learn what they need. Go back to Q'aman and get his fishing line and a large fish bone from the pile. Return to the Stickmen and give them the line. Now when the cannon is complete, ask if you can test it for them. Combine the fish bone with the rope, then use the combination on the cannon. Pull the lever and you will cross the canyon.

Talk to the Alatien here, then look at the updraft. Use the light-as-a-leaf potion on yourself, then the wind potion on the updraft to fly across the gap. Talk to the Alatien again, then head through the tunnel and in towards the tower. Talk to the guard in front of the castle entrance, who says to prepare for questions about the 4 fables. Talk to the other four Alatiens you will find to learn the 4 fables, then return to the guard and answer his questions (once you have heard the fables, the correct answer to each question is the third option). Now enter the tower and talk to the Teller. When you are swimming, pick up the sand from near the structure, and look into the small orifice. Talk to it, then enter through the larger orifice at the top. Try to take a circular protrusion and the God will awaken - it is the blue Draic Kin. Talk to it, then you will take a jewel. Talk to the Dark Person, who will give you another stone and a map. You will now fall asleep and be taken back to Marcuria.

Chapter 9: Shadows

Try to walk into the city, but a Chaos Vortex will appear and you will jump through a Shift to end up in the cathedral in Stark. Talk to Father Raul, then head to the Border House. Talk to Emma, then you will meet Gordon Halloway and run up the stairs to escape. Quickly talk to Zack before heading into your apartment. Jump out the window into the river, then drink the invisibility potion. Go past the guard and head for the Fringe Cafe - you will automatically escape through a door. Talk to Lady Alvane, and you will end up in Arcadia.

Chapter 10: Rebirth

Head to the City Green and talk to Abnaxus to get the last piece of the disc. Go to the Enclave and put the four stones in the circular hollows (each will only fit in one place). The dragon's head would appear to be stuck, so blow your flute and get Crow to fix the problem. Now head down into the library and talk to Minstrum Yerin. Go down the stairs and try to turn the wheel, but it is stuck. Talk to Yerin again and he will unlock the sluices. Now turn the wheel and get the disc. Leave the Enclave and try to return to the city.

Chapter 11: Kin

Back in your paint studio, pick up the paintbrush and use it on the canvas to create a Shift to visit the Mother. When you return to Stark, go to the Newport Docks and talk to Flipper Burns. After you receive your fake ID, give him the star map and he will get a friend to decipher it. Leave here and go to Metro Circle. Ride up in the elevators on the left. At the top, get the pizza box from the trash can. Look at the sign above the clothing store, then go inside to get changed. Now use a shuttle to reach a new area of Newport.

Talk to the police officer to learn the location of the MTI Building, then go down to the street and you will find the building automatically. Talk to Gerold at the front desk, but he won't let you up in the elevator. Give him the pizza box and he will be fooled. Up in the office, try to open a drawer and an alarm will sound. Talk to McAllen up here, and then again down in the laboratory. When you are being chased, look at the computer and use it to open the door. Run outside and head to the lower right ledge. Cortez will appear and save you from the mutant. After you talk to him, he and McAllen will reveal themselves as the other two Draic Kin and fall from the roof in battle.

Go back into the laboratory and look at the computer again. Unlock the containment chamber and you can get the disc from it. Leave this area and return to Flipper Burns. Get the copy of the map and learn about the Morning Star, then return to the elevators at Metro Circle. Next to the shuttle are some lift tubes - go up in these and talk to the receptionist. Tell her you want to register as a colonist and you will be taken to the Morning Star.

Chapter 12: Dreamland

Try to enter the women's toilet, but it is locked, so go into the men's. Use your cashcard on the dispenser to get some Instant Heat. Now move the trashcan to reveal a vent, and open it using your coin. Crawl inside, then look at the screen to the left and exit at Exit #1. Pull the cable out of the camera, then re-enter the shaft, look at the screen and exit at Exit #2. Put the Instant Heat in the coffee cup, then quickly re-enter the shaft. Look at the screen and go to Exit #2 again, and you will enter the security station when the guard leaves. Look at the computer in the background and you will discover where the Guardian is being held. Look at the security map on the wall and press the Cell Block button to order the guard off duty. Search the coat here to get a key.

Leave the security room via the door, then go into the far corridor to find the Cell Block. Open the panel outside Cell 5 and use the key to unlock the door. After you talk to Adrian, return to the security room. Use the security map to order the guard at the Rest Area on duty, and the guard at the Airlock off duty. Leave the security room, go to the far corridor and exit to the right. Press the lit red button on the control panel and it will open a capsule containing a pod. Look at the panel on the pod - it is missing an oxygen filter.

Return to the security room, and place the Airlock guard on duty, and the Cargo Bay guard off duty. Exit the security room and take the left corridor. Enter the cargo bay and use the computer terminal to find out which boxes hold oxygen filters. Now look at all the boxes here until you find the right ones, and get an oxygen filter. Return once more to security, put the Cargo Bay guard on duty, and the Airlock guard off duty. Go back to the airlock and put the oxygen filter in the pod. Now press the yellow button on the control panel.

Chapter 13: The Longest Journey

Walk into the desert. Look at the tower far off in the distance, then start walking towards it. At your first trial, use the bind magic potion on your talisman, then use the talisman on the Chaos Vortex and you will defeat it. Look at the other side of the chasm and you will get across. Now keep walking towards the tower.

You will soon come across your father, and will appear as your younger self. Show your father the golden ring you have been carrying around, and you will forgive him and be allowed to pass. Keep walking and you will reach your 3rd challenge, a large chasm. Call Crow using your flute. Talk to him, then use him on the tower, and then on the cone structure beneath it, where he will find the Well of Making. Now use him on the canyon, then on the Well of Making, then the canyon, and a mist bridge will form. Cross the bridge.

Look inside the Well of Making, then use the disc on it. Now touch the hand that appears in the well and you will be joined by Adrian. When Gordon starts fighting Adrian, use the talisman on them.

Just watch the closing tale. You now have access to the Book of Secrets from the main menu.

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The Longest Journey

3D adventure game reviewed

Saving April Ryan

Every now and then a game comes along that sucks you into its world so completely that you vanish into it for days at a time, surfacing only for food and sleep when you just physically can't play any longer. Last year we had Outcast to rob us of sleep and social life, and this year we have The Longest Journey.

Produced somewhere in the depths of Scandinavia, and only reaching our God forsaken shores some months after it had been released across most of the rest of Europe, The Longest Journey is quite simply one of the slickest and most involving adventure games I've ever had the joy of playing.

You take on the role of April Ryan, an art student in 23rd century America who finds herself caught up in an epic struggle of good and evil that spans two worlds - her own scientific world of Stark, and the magical realm of Arcadia.

April has the ability to "shift" between these two worlds, and before long you find yourself travelling backwards and forwards between them as you try to solve the puzzle of who and what you are, while at the same time trying to save the world from imminent destruction at the hands of a pseudo-religious group known as the Vanguard.

The plot is told through a mixture of in-game conversations and beautiful rendered cinematics that are amongst the best I've seen. Although at times the info-dumping can get a bit much, and the conversations are occasionally a little long winded, the strong characters and excellent story drag you on through the game's four CDs.

Sound And Vision

The first thing to strike you on starting the game is just how beautiful it is. The pre-rendered backdrops are simply stunning, ranging from the city-scape and slums of Stark to the forests, islands and medieval cities of Arcadia.

In total there are over 150 locations to explore, and 50 characters to speak to, from cops and engineers to talking birds and eccentric alchemists. The characters are real-time 3D models, and most of them are nicely detailed and well animated.

Unfortunately the game is locked into a low resolution of just 640x480, which can make the characters look rather blocky at times against the stunning backgrounds, and causes some nasty "jaggies". If you have a Voodoo 5 or GeForce 2 graphics card you are in for a treat though - full-scene anti-aliasing really does give this game a whole new lease of life.

The sound is equally good, with some excellent voice acting and atmospheric music that suits the game and its mood perfectly. The script manages to keep you involved in the game and its characters, as well as injecting a welcome dose of humour, although some people may find the frequent swearing from some of the characters a little over the top. Make no mistake, this is not a kid's game...

Of course, one of the most important elements of any good adventure game is its puzzles, and luckily The Longest Journey scores well here as well.

The puzzles are fairly challenging at times, but most of them are logical enough if you stop to think things through. There are a few bizarre puzzles which had me scrambling for the walkthrough though, and it's not always entirely obvious what you should be doing.

Luckily the game includes April's Diary, which is invaluable when you get stuck. This includes entries about many of the key events that take place during the game, which give you a further insight into April's character and, on a more practical level, can often give you a pointer as to what to do next.

You also have access to a log of all her conversations throughout the game, and trawling through the transcripts of her recent conversations sometimes turns up clues that you missed when listening to them the first time round.

Interfacing

Controlling the game is achieved with your mouse, using a very simple left and right click interface that allows you to move around, examine or pick-up items, talk to characters, and combine items in your inventory, all within a couple of mouse clicks.

Talking to another character brings up a series of options at the bottom of your screen, although as with most adventure games, at the end of the day you usually end up going through most or all of the options anyway in one order or another.

You can also access April's Diary by moving the mouse to the top of the screen and clicking on the little diary icon that appears. This gives you access to save and load game options, game settings, conversation logs, and the diary itself of course.

It's all very intuitive and easy to use, and is very unobtrusive, leaving you to concentrate on April and the world she is exploring.

The Longest Journey is not without its flaws. The humour may not appeal to everyone, the conversations can be rather long and meandering at times, and the labyrinthine plot is occasionally hard to follow.

Also the 3D characters don't look as good as they should do because of the low resolution, and although the game still looks gorgeous and runs silky smooth even on my old RivaTNT, you will really need a graphics card with support for full-scene anti-aliasing to make the most of the game's visuals.

At the end of the day though, The Longest Journey is an engrossing and highly entertaining adventure game with characters that you can care about, an involving storyline to keep you hooked, and settings and characters that are both beautiful and bizarre. What more could you want from an adventure game?

Eye Candy          

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The Longest Journey

• High Quality 16.2 MB
• Low Quality 7.2 MB
• High Quality 9.4 MB
• Low Quality 5 MB

Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime. The Longest Journey is more than a game - it's more like a book, a movie and a game all rolled into one. Explore an interactive and beautifully created universe from the perspective of April Ryan, a young art student who soon discovers that there is more to her world than meets the eye.

With the power to pass between worlds like others pass from waking to sleep, April must embark on the longest journey of her life; a journey not only across twin worlds, but also into her very own heart and soul. Embark on a voyage across phenomenal worlds, encounter a fantastic cast of unforgettable characters, and unravel one of the most epic stories ever told.

Experience what critics around the world are calling one of the best adventure games of all time. Experience The Longest Journey !

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"Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where." — Cortez

The Longest Journey is the first game of the The Longest Journey Saga . It is a 1999 Adventure Game written by Ragnar Tørnquist and developed by the Norwegian company Funcom for Microsoft Windows . Famous for its expansive storyline, a lovable, Genre Savvy heroine, and flawless gameplay (as far as point-and-click gameplay goes), the game is commonly credited with resurrecting the Adventure Game genre after its crisis in the late '90s. In November 2014, The Longest Journey also received an iOS port.

April Ryan is an ordinary art student living in the Orwellian metropolis Newport and applying for the local Academy of Arts. She has her share of problems with her parents, insecurity about her future, and increasingly strange dreams, but she also has some great friends, a job, and a friendly landlady. Then a weird Cool Old Guy named Cortez appears and tells her that she is The Chosen One who has to Save Both Worlds — and then he sends her to that other world , Arcadia , that she is supposed to save. As her familiar world crumbles around her , April has to dive deeper into the secrets of the universe, fulfill cryptic prophecies, bring down an Ancient Conspiracy or two, save the Guardian of the Balance , and ultimately restore the harmony between the Twin Worlds of Stark and Arcadia. And that all in less than two weeks.

Tropes found in the game:

• 13 Is Unlucky : Inverted. In Arcadia, thirteen is a lucky number with strong tradition. The Ayrede High Council has thirteen ministers, and thirteen Fathers who begat the Sentinel and built the Tower of Balance.
• Abusive Parents : April's adoptive father , though it's strongly hinted he feels deep remorse over it.
• Alice Allusion : When Cortez helps April travel to Arcadia for the first time, he deliberately invokes this imagery to her: "Why, Alice, I am sending you through the looking glass!"
• Alien Geometries : The maze in Roper Klacks' castle has some fake perspectives. There is also a staircase at the background, which is revealed to be just a painting.
• Almost Dead Guy : Flipper utters some final words to April when she meets him half-dead.
• Alphabet Soup Cans : Roper Klack is beaten by using a calculator, to prove that you can do math and he can't. Or at least, you can do it faster. Afterward, the mage gets sucked into the calculator, for reasons unexplained.
• Amulet of Concentrated Awesome : The Talisman of the Balance helps April out in various situations.
• Ancient Astronauts : The Alatien and the Maerum has a common lineage. Their ancestors apparently came from space.
• Ancient Conspiracy : The Vanguard.
• Ancient Tradition : The Sentinel Fathers.
• Bird People : The Alatien are roughly humanoid birds with wings for arms.
• After all her numerous trials and sacrifices throughout TLJ , April is basically given heartfelt thanks... and then left to her own devices . She even admits as not knowing how to feel as she starts her trek "home".
• By the end Arcadia is under attack and Tobias is dead.
• Borrowed Biometric Bypass : Glass eye on retinal scanner.
• Chekhov's Boomerang : Mr. Guybrush is utilized twice in the game.
• Chekhov's Gun : The Mystery Door by the Fringe.
• Chekhov's Volcano : The volcano on Alais.
• The Chosen One : Played with heavily. When April asks Cortez if she is the chosen one, he denies the idea. Later, he gets to admit it to be true. April doesn't want to be in that role either, but grows into it.
• Cloudcuckoolander : You never know what George the maintenance man will say next.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat : Minelli uses this to secretly keep an eye on the movie entrance. April points out that obviously, he must be a cop.
• Cosmic Deadline : Sort of a Disc one variant, with April obtaining two pieces of the stone disc within roughly ten minutes of each other. In true Longest Journey Fashion, she points out how easy obtaining these pieces was .
• Covert Group with Mundane Front : In Stark, the Vanguard are working under the cover of the Church of Voltec.
• Creator Cameo : Ragnar Tørnquist voices Marcus, a minor character near the start of the game.
• Cruelty Is the Only Option : There are other things too, but special mention goes to Detective Minelli. First you poison him (or at least give him a severely upset stomach) to get him to move out of an area, then you steal his glass eye (he obviously becomes very panicked when you do this) and replace it with a plastic eye from a toy monkey (which he then puts in his eye socket). Other solutions involve conning your way around problems.
• Cyber Punk Is Techno : A lot of technoheads in the cyberpunk metropolis of Newport.
• Cymbal-Banging Monkey : The Guybrush monkey toy.
• Delivery Guy Infiltration : April breaks into the Vanguard headquarters by pretending to deliver pizza.
• Didn't See That Coming : The ending reveals that April is actually supposed to get the Guardian to his destination, not become the Guardian herself.
• Dismantled MacGuffin : The Stone Disc, the key to the Guardian's realm in the first game. Justified in the Back Story : the disc was originally kept at the Sentinel Enclave, ready for pickup by The Chosen One , but then the Vanguard tried to steal it. Afterwards, the Sentinels decided to break it up and hand the pieces over to the four magical peoples most motivated to keep it hidden (since most magical creatures would likely perish if the Twin Worlds were forcibly reunited).

• A Dog Named "Dog" : April's sidekick is a crow named Crow. He was also originally a bird named Bird.
• Doom Doors : The sound of any automatic door. These become more apparent in the later parts of the game, on the upper level and the space station.
• Down the Rabbit Hole : Pretty much the point of the first part of the game and it explicitly references Alice at many occasions.
• Dramatic Gun Cock : The cop at the shuttle crash does this after April speaks with him and he sends her away.
• Dream Intro : Subverted. While it looks like a dream, when April visits the same location in the waking world, she can see the traces of her actions from when she was "dreaming" about it at the start of the game. In other words, it was real from the start, she just didn't realize it then.
• Drugs Are Bad : The fictitious drug "Rapture" comes up repeatedly, though it's not important to the story. Too many will really mess you up. Also referenced is the fictitious drug "Amathin".
• Entertainingly Wrong : Captain Nebevay is tricked by April into leaving to checking on apple supplies below decks, despite noticing what pest is infecting them. These are worms, all right — vicious, snarling wheat worms, driven mad by their hunger for a change of diet!
• Fantastic Drug : "Rapture" and "Amathin", the effects which are never explained in detail. "Instant Heat Potency Pills" can be found in the men's rooms, a fantastic replacement for Viagra.
• Framing Device : The game starts with an old woman named Lady Alvane being asked to tell a story to two children. Instead of the one they asked her, she tells them the story of April Ryan. At the end of the game, Lady Alvane finishes her story, and the children leave.
• Funny Background Event : April crashes a news report and does this.
• Game-Breaking Bug : Some actions have to be done in the exact right order, even if the game seems to accept any order. Usually, it's no big deal, except for one puzzle that doesn't allow disassembling a partly-assembled contraption. It requires to pull a rubber duck (that has to stay inflated) over a steel clamp and then tie a rope to the clamp . Since there's a time limit until the duck deflates , many players reverse the order: attach the rope to the clamp, then blow up the duck and attach it . But this way the game behaves as if there is no rope, and April can neither use the device nor untie the rope. The device is required to finish Chapter 2, but the mistake can be made early in Chapter 1. In other words, a player has to restart. note  There seem to exist several different versions where the bug may or may not manifest. The build 142 sold at gog.com does have the bug.
• Gentle Giant : Sleeping Q'aman. Not surprisingly, his official circus nickname is "The Gentle Giant."
• Glass Eye : The police officer's eye falling out and rolling around. Also an example of Electronic Eye . It becomes a Borrowed Biometric Bypass .
• Guardian of the Multiverse : Guardians of the Balance.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy : In the space station, if a guard catches April, she runs away and the guard just returns to his post. The worst thing happens when the guard at the HQ catches you: he escorts you out, no matter how many times he caught you before. This same guard, when you disconnect the security camera, simply leaves his post to reconnect it instead of raising the alarm.
• Guide Dang It! : One of the reasons this game was so well received was the lack of this trope. However, even then, a few puzzles may come off as unintuitive, namely the rubber ducky puzzle very early in the game.
• Heel–Face Turn : Gordon Halloway has one after his soul is reunited with his body.
• Hilarious Outtakes : Accessible via the Book of Secrets.
• Hitler Cam : Used when recording the speech of Jason McAllen .
• Improvised Screwdriver : April has to unscrew a grating and uses the single Arcadian coin she has left to do it.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own : Invoked by name.
• It May Help You on Your Quest : Tobias gives you the Talisman of the Balance, and is quick to admit that aside from being magical, he has no idea what it does and doesn't really know how it will help, only that it's supposed to be given to April.
• Keep It Foreign : In the Spanish version Cortez is not Hispanic, but rather a Frenchman named "Corthes".
• ...And April still follows her home . Not until she's trapped inside the Gribbler's house does she go " Hey, you know what... "
• Limited Wardrobe : Partially averted, with different, context-sensitive outfits for April. Justified, too, when she enters Arcadia in her nightclothes.
• Luke, I Am Your Father : The White Dragon, who turns out to be April's real mother.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service : April has to collect the pieces of the Disk of the Guardian and the Dragon Eye Jewels.
• Magitek : The "statue-cum-phonebooths", as April calls them, are used as communication devices between different parts of the island. They can be rotated to configure which other statue they are listening/talking to.
• Merged Reality : That's what the Vanguard are attempting to do; apparently, chances of failure don't bother them much.
• Modern Stasis : The game is set 200 years in the future, yet, apart from the cyberpunkish aesthetics, there is little plot-relevant futuristic technology.
• There is also a "mystifying" machine by the hotel that acts as a Myst-esque puzzle.
• Move Along, Nothing to See Here : Said by the police guard bot at the site of the crashed transportation unit in front of PD.
• Mr. Exposition : Cortez and Tobias have lengthy exposition speeches.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : When traveling on Nebevay's ship, April first manages to divert the ship into dangerous waters with her magic talisman. Then, when she tries to recover the talisman after Nebeway takes it away from her, she hits the floorboard with the axe instead of the chest in which the talisman is locked away, which results in the ship sinking.
• NPC Amnesia : April can change her answers without fearing any backlash. The most blatant example is a high-strung secretary who won't let you into the Corrupt Corporate Executive 's office. You can go through every option in the Dialogue Tree (all of which will fail), then leave, come back with a pizza, and pretend to be a delivery girl (in the same set of clothes), and he'll let you through. Although he does acknowledge that your character April does look familiar, April pretty much gaslights him into believing you.
• Ominous Floating Castle : Roper Klack's castle.
• Our Dragons Are Different : The Draic Kin
• Overly Long Name : The first two Bandas met have long names, Bandu-umanu-banta-au-rubana-biutan-binaort ('the little one who tries hard to live up to his father who sings to the Soil') and Bandu-uta-matuta-uiaten-aiama-binaort. April clearly wants to refer to them with a shorter name.
• Paper-Thin Disguise : Simply by holding a pizza box , April can get past a guard she had previously pestered to no avail.
• The Passwordis Always Swordfish : At PD, April correctly guesses the password for the database to be "laura0731" which is the name and birthday of the officer's wife.
• Percussive Maintenance : The housekeeper at the Mercury theatre kicks the flickering neon sign with his broom in hope to get it to work again. The actual problem is in a nearby fuse box - when the percussion doesn't work anymore, he leaves.
• Physical God : The Guardian. However, after or during the Changing of the Guard, they are as helpless as normal humans.
• Product Placement : One of the bits of graffiti on the subway is the logo for Coca-Cola's short-lived Mountain Dew competitor Surge.
• Prophecy Pileup : By the end, April fulfills the prophecies of at least three magical peoples who all proclaim her their respective Chosen One .
• Reconcile the Bitter Foes : April has to play the peacemaker between the Alatien and the Maerum to get to the Old God, a.k.a. the Blue Kin.
• Ridiculous Future Sequelisation : If you look at a red cherub in the cathedral, April mentions that it must be from the sequel of the Bible.
• Scary Shadow Fakeout : Invoked - you must assemble a pile of things to make a shadow that resembles one of a man pointing a gun, so that a guy sees it and gets scared.
• Set Piece Puzzle
• Shout-Out : The game features a lot of homages to famous TV shows and movies of our time, including Looney Tunes , Evil Dead , Futurama , Labyrinth , and Star Trek . And there is Constable Guybrush .
• Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty : Most of Newport is quite gritty, which is in contrast with the shiny upper levels. The space station is also gritty.
• Slipping a Mickey : While putting candy in ooze gives a rather obvious bad taste and only has the detective driven off because spitting out the candy hits Freddie, it's done more direct later by putting "Instant Heat" in a security guard's coffee.
• Sorry, I'm Gay : When April tries to get past a security guard by acting cute, all he says is, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm gay".
• Standard Power-Up Pose : The Guardian of the Balance assumes this pose (but with his legs together) upon ascending to the top of the Tower of the Balance.
• Stealth Pun : When April returns Crow to his original horrid owner, she's literally giving him the bird.
• The scene with the Gribbler, although the jury is still out on whether it was played straight or as a mockery of the trope.
• Disrupt the magic compass and prevent the ship's escape from a storm that even got the hardened crew shaking in their boots? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Superstitious Sailors : Played for Laughs with Captain Nebeway, who invents the craziest maritime superstitions on the spot that allegedly prevent him from signing a map delivery receipt — all to conceal the fact that he cannot actually read or write.
• Supervillain Lair : Roper Klacks' castle and McAllen's skyscraper and office.
• Surprisingly Easy Miniquest : Getting the Stone Disc pieces kept by the Dark People and by Abnaxus .
• Taken for Granite : Roper Klacks favorite pastime is turning people into sentient statues .
• Talk Like a Pirate : Defied. Captain Nebeway talks normally, even if April tries pirate-speech on him. Nebeway is not impressed.
• Third-Person Person : Q'aman refers to himself by his name, seemingly related to him not fully understanding some conversation from April.
• Title Drop : "You're about to take the first step on the longest journey of your life."
• Unlikely Hero : April is just a minimum wage waitress and starving artist at the start of the game
• Visible Invisibility : We can still make out April when she becomes invisible.
• We Can Rule Together : McAllen tries to convince Cortes of this.
• What Happened to the Mouse? : Near the end, after April escapes Venice, Emma and Charlie is never heard from again, except that Emma is alive . We don't get to know whether April finally got reunited with them or not. These questions are resolved in Dreamfall , though.
• Worm in an Apple : April has to distract Captain Nebevay away from the compass aboard his ship. Her course of action is to catch a wheat worm, stick it inside an apple, and show the infested apple to the captain as "proof" that the barrel might be infested and needs to be checked up on.
• Worthless Yellow Rocks : If you try to gamble your gold ring in the cups game, the dealer will refuse and say that he only accepts iron coins.
• Wretched Hive : Newport to varying degrees. Venice is quite nice, except for the sewage flowing in the canals. The Metro Square area looks like a typical Cyberpunk city. Then there is The City Narrows , Hope Street. You don't want to go there unless really needed.
• You Can't Miss It : The mapmaker's directions in the delivery mission.

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Sorry ma'am.

April's attempt at flirting with a cop hits a bit of a snag.

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• GARAGE: Bad Dream Adventure
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The Longest Journey

• First Released Nov 16, 2000 released

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GameSpot Reviews

The Longest Journey Review

• Reviewed on:

The Longest Journey is one of the best adventure games in years.

Player Reviews

Most helpful positive player reviews, i used to be the falling-for-action-and-gore type of gamer, never cared for adventure games... but then came tlj.

I've never written a rev in my life, and probably I won't bother writing one again for a long time, but this game is something that's worth the while. I'll try to give this as simple and as short as I can: I play sho... Read Full Review

What Gamespot Users have to say about The Longest Journey

An epic tale from start to finish;).

its an unqique tale and exciting story,, which becomes an ultimate joureney from start to finish,, with awesome dialogs and many diff friends and enemies and companions,, travel on many diff lo... Read Full Review

The start of an epic tale that would span the distance between our world and our wildest dreams.

Historically, some of the most successful adventure game series have revolved around satirical situations played out by cartoon-like characters, such as in the Monkey Island or Sam & Max series. The Longest Journey break... Read Full Review

The Longest Journey promises a really long journey and one of the greatest adventures in the history of video games.

Many people see video games as a tool for quick and fun entertainment. If you ask them to play a game where you have read long lines of text and do lots of mouse clicks, they'd probably yell- Boring! After all they'd exp... Read Full Review

If you ever like any adventure games, you would enjoy this one

This is easily one of the best adventure games ever made. Here is the strength of this game, big story, interesting and funny conversation, exotic world setup, not so easy but meaningful puzzles and reasonably good 3d ... Read Full Review

It's just out of this world...

12 years later it remains the most compelling ,well thought out and simply charming story I have ever heard. It's an adventure game and that is exactly what to expect, a journey of weight in the reality of an artistic ch... Read Full Review

An incredible point and click adventure that tells a wonderful and compelling story.

Gameplay: 4.5/5 + I've said it before but let me repeat that I am not a real big fan of point and click adventures. This game, however, really made me see this genre in a new light and I completely respect this game. ... Read Full Review

Complex storyline makes it more than a typical point-and-click, solve puzzles adventure game. Worth checking out.

Although the game is just over ten years old, and certainly shows its age especially in the character models, the scenery is still pretty amazing. What makes The Longest Journey full of eye-candy is how the developers c... Read Full Review

The best of its genre !

The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure game ala Monkey Island where the player has to go through the story by solving some puzzles here and there or by talking with npc's to triggers events. The interface ... Read Full Review

This game changed my life.

Easily the best adventure game ever made (at least it's my favorite). Masterful storytelling, well written script (adult themed, and with a few hilarious moments), gripping characters, beautiful visuals and so much more... Read Full Review

Prepare for a thrilling adventure to take you around the world… Or rather both the worlds

TLJ starts off with a storyteller preparing to tell two people about a special young woman and her journey. Then of course we get to play as this young woman and control her journey. The girl is named April Ryan and she ... Read Full Review

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