Long Gone Might Have Been One of the Best Gamescom Trailers at ONL

"Less is more", right? That's often a sentiment in artistic circles that suggests overloading any creative piece can be a detriment to its deeper meaning, and even hinder an obersver, reader or viewer's understanding of a piece's intent. It can also allow space for the aforementioned audiences to be contemplative about something without dealiing with its potential complexities. And it's also true of games, though our world is a tad different in that you can hide complex content within interactive parts of the visual whole, meaning the opportunity to deliver on an original vision and overload is there, it's just been done in a uniquely dynamic way. It's why games rule.

Long Gone from Hilltop Games is an exploration of a simple world; one entirely understood even in contextless form, deeply layered with nuance, character and narrative. It's apparent simplicity, bolstered behind a beautiful pixel-art aesthetic, however, belies its interactive nature. This is a world where rummaging through the lost, forgotten and decaying ruins of those 'long lost' to an all-too-familiar zombie outbreak, is the gameplay loop. Your carrot on a string here isn't to survive, but rather to understand and unpack. Here, unpack the latest trailer from Gamescom Opening Night Live:  

The game is part 2.5D Adventure, part Point & Click, part Puzzler -- all wrapped in a dark world filled with the undead, yet presented in a fun and light way, despite an everpresent death kiss awaiting any slip up.

Puzzles, interactive switchups, item extrapolation and more await the nosiest of Parkers among you as you piece together the stories of a once thriving community, now lost a decade on to whatever this scourge is (and was). 

Decades have passed, play as a survivor stranded in an old-world suburban neighbourhood. Explore the lives of people Long Gone through their forgotten belongings. Uncover the web of the distant past in this 3D pixel puzzle adventure inspired by games of old. Oh, and watch out for the zombies. 

Honestly, this ticks so many boxes for us, we're pumped. What the overarching narrative is and why it's important to unravel in this particular slice of decaying Americana is yet to be full revealed, but in terms of how this will play and the loop presented before us, it just oozes cool and gripping, all in one.

Plus, that trailer just ruled. There's nothing quite like a piece of art that already knows its audience, its flock and how best to relay its tone. We'll have more on this one soon, but for now rummage through our image carousel below and stay tuned!