The Longing is not the most intuitive game. A lot of questions will arise while playing, some about how to achieve certain things, others simply about how some mechanics work.

This guide is an attempt to explain the usual points of confusion and give tips for the more difficult parts so you can enjoy the game without accidentally spoiling the whole solution while looking for answers.

When you get to a point that raises some questions, come to this guide and look for it.

Corrections, extra info and suggestions for additions are welcomed.

You can contact me privately by email if you want: sexadiantes@gmail.com

Please upvote this guide so more people can find it.

UPDATE: The game was updated with some extra content that seem related to hidden secrets. It includes a key. I won't be covering that on this guide.

The Longing is designed to be played once. Once you reach an ending, the game will be "locked".

You can unlock it for a second playthrough by waiting at the end screen.
There's also a code you can type while the game is open to forcefully reset it to day 1: 399d-23h-59m-59s

The game connects to the internet once on startup to check that you didn't cheat.

You don't really need to wait 400 real-time days; an important part of the game is finding ways to make the time run faster.

There are multiple endings, some of which might not require to wait the full 400 days.

All of the endings require player action to trigger; just walking/entering doors is safe and won't trigger an ending.

Can I just open the game once, close it, and then come back 400 days later to see the ending?

Yes.

What if I forget to come back? Will I miss the ending?

No, it requires action from the player to activate.

Can I miss some event if I'm not playing during a certain date?

Yes. You can miss your birthday. Check out the birthday section to know more.

How many endings are there?

There are 4 basic ones. After an update, at least another ending was added, but seems to be super obscure. Slim chance you would get it by yourself without cheating or reading about it online. I won't be covering that on on this guide.

What are the different endings?

- You wait and wake the king.
- You commit suicide (fastest way to end the game).
- You get to the surface and live (solved the last puzzle correctly).
- You get to the surface and die (not solved the last puzzle correctly).

You can't run.

You can double-click to make the shade walk to that point of the screen. Instead of the left click, you can also use the space key.

You can click the crown on the top bar to make it walk home automatically.

You can use the menu that comes out with the arrow near the crown to remember areas to be able to walk automatically to them (arrow pointing down = remember this place, arrow right = go to that place).
Keep in mind that the shade will walk exactly to the point where you saved the location, not just the entrance of that area. Also, the image saved is a screenshot of your screen (with the shade removed from it).

You need to awaken the king once 400 in-game days have passed. You don't need to do it exactly when the time period ends, it can be later.

What happens if I try to awaken him early?

Nothing, the shade will just remind you that you need to wait.

What happens if I disobey the king?

Don't worry that you will be disobeying the king by exploring different parts of the caves. None of the endings can be triggered by just walking, you need to take action.

If you take action to disobey him by going outside, the game will end. You can't just walk outside, you need to interact with an item... on the well.

It's a good idea to draw your own map of the game on real-life paper, it will be useful to take notes and mark places.
You can also find a map somewhere in the cave, but it's not the kind of map you can take with you.

I found the map, now what?

Once you find the map, you might be confused as to how to interact with it. Here's how: Just wait in front of it.

Actual detailed explanation: If you look at the map, the shade will say that the map requires time to be deciphered. If you wait still in front of it, in a couple of minutes the camera will start slowly zooming out, until it eventually reveals the whole map. That should trigger the achievement.

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Link to an image of the map in 4K (the map room is missing): https://www.reddit.com/r/TheLonging/comments/fgmkjf/4k_game_map/

Each page you read makes the timer advance a minute. A page counts as being read as soon as it appears on-screen, so you can just skip pages by clicking the next page button very fast and it will count as reading the book. The time reduction only works once per page, so re-reading a book is useless. The "idle reading" option will make the shade turn a page once per minute (so instead of clicking 200 times to finish a book, you can leave the shade idle reading). Works with the game closed, but it will only keep reading until it finishes that book; it will not automatically change to another unread book.

Should I actually read them?

You don't need to read them, but some elements of the game make reference to some of the stories.

Is there secret information hidden inside the books?

You might find some tips... The shade sometimes writes something on the last page of a book.

How do I get the "Avid reader" achievement?

It should trigger after reading 3 or so books (but some people report it took them way more books). You can just click the next page button very quickly until the book is finished; it will count.

Is there anything more to them?

Apparently now if you read them backwards you can reverse the time.

Having paintings on the walls makes the time advance faster while you are home. Also, the name of some paintings might reveal things about the game/thoughts of the shade.

You can move paintings and other items on your home by hovering the cursor until it changes to a hand, then click. To remove a painting, you can burn it in the fireplace. This has no other effect then to remove the painting.

Don't worry about spending your papers; you can find more.

Where do I find more paper?

In the Halls of Eternity.

How do I unlock the "My Favourite Painting" achievement?

Tip 1: Read the shade's book of thoughts.

Tip 2: You need to draw a certain picture 5 times.

Solution: Make 5 drawings of lice.

You need to find 4 pieces of the instrument. They are scattered through the caves, no need to do anything special except to find them. They are not hidden.

In case you still can't find them:

- One is in your home.
- One is at the bottom of the room that has the blocked door to the library.
- One is in a walkway that shows in the background. It's a shortcut that goes from the screen avobe the one with the library door (hidden entrance, after a staircase that goes up-right, keep walking right off-screen instead of turning left with the stairs) to the screen previous to the crystal cave.
- One is on the room with 2 stairs and a door that leads out of the palace and takes time to open the first time.

If you want pictures and a map, check this link: https://the-longing.fandom.com/wiki/Instrument_parts

How do I use the instrument?

After interacting with it, the shade will start playing the same note and the cursor will change to a musical note. Move it up and down to change the note it plays and have it keep playing.

Can you use the instrument to make the time go faster?
Yes.
If you play the 4 notes from the higher one to the lower one, the time will advance 10 minutes.

They are scattered through the caves, most of them on the ground. Pay attention! They are tiny (but shiny!)

One of them is not found on the ground: The yellow one is a piece of sulfur. You need to mine the room with the yellow walls on the mines using the mattock.

You will find them through the cave. You need a mattock to get them. Having them will make the time run faster in your home.

You can move them around you cave by hovering the cursor over them until the icon changes to a hand, then click.

How many colors are there?

5. Actually 6, but the last one is incredibly hard to get.

Do I need more than one of every color?

I think not, but I'm not 100% sure.

Will taking the blue crystals have any negative effects?

No.

Green crystal?

Late game spoiler: On the day of your birthday, a green crystal will emerge from the water on the crystal cave (the one with 3 waterfalls and white crystals. You can grab it if you are there's at the exact time of your birthday. It makes time pass faster at home. You can use the blue fire to rewind time and try again if you just missed it, and apparently reading books backwards also works now too.

Some doors take some time to open, the shade will comment on it.
You don't need to wait in front of them.

Do I need to wait in front of it?

No. Just try to jump so the shade says it will fall in about a week, then come back a week later.

The door is blocked, can I unblock it?

No.

Is there another way to enter?

Yes.

Tip: Locating the library on the map might give you an idea of where other entrances could be.

Solution: You need to wait a month for the water to fill the hole in the moss area, then cross and enter the library.

Where are they?

They are not hard to find if you try to explore the cave thoroughly.

Tip: You will find them on the labyrinthine caves with lots of connecting doors you find through the left door of the first hall above the room of the king. It's a white shining door.

Path to get there: From the hall above the king's room (the one with stairs, 4 doors and 4 crystals on the walls:
- Door to the left.
- First door from the left.
- Bottom door.
- First door from the left (has a sign on top).
- Middle door.
- Keep advancing until you get out from another door in the middle, then enter the door to the left.
- Door to the right.
- Keep walking right until you see it.

Are they really endless?

Apparently yes. After about 100 hours of walking you appear back at the entrance door.

If I explore them, do I need to walk all the way back to get out?

Yes.

Should I explore them?

Yes. You can double-click one side of the screen and the shade will keep walking automatically.

Short explanation: If you keep walking forward, you will find items on the floor, but be careful because time stops counting down when you are inside.

Complete explanation: Every full minute of walking forward there's a chance of either nothing or a random item appearing on the floor. There are some useful items there like books and decorations for your home. Eventually, only papers will appear from time to time, this probably happens in less than 2 hours. You can stop exploring then unless you need more paper, but by that time you probably have enough.

You will never find any new items on your way back, but exiting the halls and entering again resets it, so an item can appear on the first minute of walking every time you enter.

There is a room with a glass behind which there is a lot of treasure. The shade says it might break it with the mattock.

Is there something I need among the treasure?

Your main objectives and the achievements don't require getting the treasure.

I used the mattock, now what?

It broke, but don't worry, there a more in different parts of the cave, you probably can't access them yet.

So... can the glass be broken? Discover it yourself or read the next spoiler to know the answer.

Yes, it can be broken.

Solution: Use 3 mattocks and the glass will crack. Eventually, coins will spill out. There are 4 mattocks total in the cave, so even breaking 3 you should still have one left.

What do I do with that?

The treasure coins can be used at the Face to answer one of the new questions after the first three.

Where do I find it?

If you explore the caves, you will find it.

If you can't seem to find it: It's in the mines. To get to the mines you need to go through the door over the map, follow the path and eventually to an area down and to the left. The shade will say they are the mines.

I can see it but...

Tip 1:There's a sort of puzzle to reach it.

Tip 2: Look around, using headphones might help.

Tip 3: It involves waiting...

Tip 4 (almost the solution): You need to wait over a certain spot.

Solution: One of the structures that support the floor (which is also the ceiling of the area where the mattock is) is crooked. Stand over it (you will hear a sound) and wait until it breaks.

Can I dig through granite?

No. If you reach granite that means you can't dig further in that direction.

I lost my mattock...

There are more through the cave, probably in areas you can't access yet.

Use the mattock at the left wall of your home. The whole excavation process might be a bit confusing since you need to mine in different directions when the shade finds hard rocks. You will know you are finished when you have 3 rooms. The room for the bed (empty), the room for cultivating mushrooms, and the bath.

I need help with a certain part of the expanded house...

The bath? Read the section about running water.

The shade mentions that it would like to have running water at home. You should be able to solve this just by exploring the caves, but in case you need more help:

Where should I look for?

Tip 1: You need to find a certain cave room on the labyrinthine area to the left and down from the first hall, the one that is over the king's room. It's a room where you can do something, not just one containing a random pool of water.

Tip 2: If you find a room with a door over a pool of water, you are close.

Path to get there: From the hall above the king's room (the one with stairs, 4 doors and 4 crystals on the walls:
- Door to the left.
- First door from the left.
- Bottom door.
- First door from the left (has a sign on top).
- Middle door.
- Keep advancing until you go out of another door in the middle, then enter the door to the right.
- Door on the bottom.

Further explanation: You should find a round rock in that place. If you get near it, an action prompt will appear to push it. Push it until you can't push it anymore. A stream of water will flow, and on your home there will now be a stream too.

To be able to craft the bed you first need to expand your house by using the mattock, read above.

After that, you will need some materials: 20 moss and 10 wood.

Where do I find the materials?

There's an area where a lot of moss grows (up and to the left from the first hall above the king). The moss takes some days to grow. About the wood, you will find pieces of wood scattered through the caves. You will probably have to wait to unlock certain areas before you can collect 10 pieces.

What does sleeping on the bed do?

Time runs about half a second faster for every second. You might have dreams.

To make a fire you will need 2 pieces of flint. You should find them through the cave fairly quickly.
Flint is not spent; you can make as many fires as you want with just 2 pieces of flint.


You can make a fire on the left part of your home. Making a coal fire will time run faster while the fire lasts. You need coal, which falls from the ceiling in almost every part of the caves from time to time.


You can only get the required pieces of lapis lazuli very late in the game.

Tip 1: After your birthday, one part of the cave changes and lapis lazuli is found there. See the birthday section to know more about your birthday.

Tip 2 (solution): After your birthday, the crystal cave (the one with 3 waterfalls and white crystals) will dry and you will find the remaining pieces of lapis lazuli.

What does the blue fire do?

Time runs backward instead of forward while it lasts, which is only about a minute. You can reverse more time by playing the instrument while the blue fire is on.


I recommend trying to make at least one, then see what happens, then maybe try a second time. If you don't understand it, come read some tips.

Where do I find sulfur?

In the mines, there's a yellowish room you can mine with the mattock.

I made a sulfur fire and I have questions...

Tip 1 (basic explanation): The shade will get out of home and start walking automatically. You can't go back home for an hour or so because it's smelly.

Tip 2: If you don't stop it, the shade will try to go to a particular place. This place might be different depending on what areas of the cave you have unlocked, apparently it will try to go to a place you have not yet been to or where there's something for you to do, so you might want to try again after you do more progress. Be careful not to accidentally click and make it stop!

Tip 3: If it goes to a cliff and can't climb it, you might need to solve the mushroom puzzle and the darkness puzzle. They are pretty obscure, I recommend looking at their respective sections to get some clues.

What happens next (BIG spoiler): If everything else has been taken care of, the shade will walk until it reaches the entrance to the secret tower.

There's a place in the cave where you can find a spider.

I found it and I'm confused.

Explanation: After breaking its web, it will move a bit down and to the left and start waving another that will allow you to climb. It will take some a couple of days, if I remember correctly (the shade will tell you). You don't need to wait there.

You can pick and plant mushrooms on certain spots. Once you plant a mushroom, it will take it about 10 hours to grow back.

How many kinds of mushrooms are there?

2: Green and pale-pink.

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You can eat the mushrooms. Try it.

I've tried and I'm still confused.

Eat 3 pink mushrooms to have a dream. There are 3 different dreams you can have, then they will start repeating.

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Mushrooms found outside your home have some uses to them, but they might be a bit too obscure. You might want to read the first 3 tips if you don't want to waste too much time growing mushrooms.

Tip 1 (highly recommended): Once you reach a part of the cave that glows green and has a lot of mushrooms on the ceiling, try experimenting planting some mushrooms there, I think they grow faster.

Tip 2: Observe how different mushrooms react when growing near other mushrooms.

Tip 3 (first part of the solution to the puzzle): Pink mushrooms planted near green mushrooms grow bigger.

Tip 4: You can reach a new area by growing mushrooms.

Tip 5: It's on a cliff up and to the left from the spider. Only the 3 closest planting spots are involved.

Solution: Plant a pink mushroom on the spot closest to the cliff and a green mushroom in the nearest spot to that one, which is a bit to the left. When the pink mushroom grows big (it will take 10 in-game hours), you can use it to climb the cliff.

After doing all that I can't use those mushrooms anymore...

(Marked as a spoiler in case you didn't complete the rest yet, but if you are in this situation just read it) After coming back from the cliff, the shade might say something about the big mushroom and refuse to climb again. Just break the green mushroom with the mattock, if it's still there, and plant a new green mushroom. Once it grows again you should be able to climb.

There's a cliff there you can't climb.

Tip 1: Finding the way to climb is a puzzle, but a pretty difficult/annoying one. I recommend reading the next tip.

Tip 2: Use the glowing green cave to plant some mushrooms, experiment and observe.

Tip 3: Read the mushrooms section for more tips/the solution.

There is a place hard to reach that is in total darkness.

How do I get there?

Tip 1: It's beyond the mushrooms area.

Tip 2: You need to climb the cliff over the mushroom caves.

Tip 3: A sort of puzzle needs to be solved to be able to climb that cliff, refer to the "cliff near the mushrooms/spider" section for more clues.

What do I do once I'm there?

Tip 1: You can find some tips about it inside the game. The face will tell you. You can find the face once you can cross the stalactite bridge.

Tip 2 (the previous in-game tip): "You will only overcome darkness if you learn to become darkness. This way you will be invisible to it. But you will only achieve this if you delve deep, deep into your mind in conscious loneliness."


Tip 1: Walk through the darkness until you reach a cliff where you can commit suicide but DO NOT COMMIT SUICIDE.

Tip 2: Wait.

Tip 3: If a dialogue option appeared but it ended and nothing happened, move a bit and then wait again until it reappears. Apparently this can happen almost anywhere on the caves if you wait long enough, but it might be faster (and assured) if you are in darkness.

Solution: Wait near the suicide cliff and some minutes later a dialogue will appear. You need to choose the answers as if you wanted to escape the caves and go outside. If you choose the wrong answer, walk a bit and wait again. After you do it correctly you should be able to close your eyes.

How does this new mechanic work?

Wait on the darkness without moving for some minutes and the option to close your eyes will appear. You can walk with your eyes closed, but only manually. If you double-click they will open.


Where is the darkness I need to overcome?

If you had read some in-game tips about overcoming the darkness, this might be confusing and counter-intuitive. If you don't know where to use the new mechanic, first you need to bring light to the darkness.

Tip 1 (basically the solution): Pink mushrooms glow.

Solution: Grab a pink mushroom and climb the cliff to go to the dark corridor.

Solution 2: You should find some hidden stairs between the mushroom cliff and the suicide cliff. They go up and to the left.

I found it, now what?

Explanation of the situation: If you keep walking through the secret path, you will find a pair of eyes like yours, that is Angst (that's how a painting of that face is called). If you get too close, she will say "I can see you" or something like that and start walking towards you. You can't escape. Once it touches you will be awake at home.

Solution: When the eyes appear, before getting to close and triggering the chase, wait without moving and close your eyes. With your eyes closed, walk past it (remember not to double-click).

Ahead is a very long walk in the darkness.

I found an option to commit suicide. Is it for reals?

Yes. It isn't some kind of test. If you commit suicide, the shade will die and the game will be over.

The king warned me about going to the surface. How close can I get safely?

As long as you don't actually get out, you are safe. You can't get out by just walking, so it won't happen accidentally. If you get outside, the game will end.

Stop reading here unless you found that area.

Can the exit be unblocked?

No.

So...

Important warning if you want to pursue this path: You will trigger an ending the moment you get outside. Also, you can only do this if the 400 days have not passed yet.

The only way out is through the well. It's a bit of a puzzle.

Tip 1: To reach the well, just walk from the blocked exit to the right, it might look like you are going through the wall. You will walk a bit through a dark corridor. It might look like you can fall on the well, but don't worry, you can't. Having read what the face tells you about the outside is IMPORTANT.

Tip 2: "Don't trust the childish eyes of the young. Only trust the old and blind."

Tip 3: Remember your dreams. Didn't have dreams? Tip: Eat mushrooms. Solution: Eat 3 pink mushrooms. You can have 3 different dreams. Alternatively, sleep in the bed and wait for a dream.

Tip 4: People will come from time to time. Not 100% sure if they come at random or they do it at certain hours, but there is a day/night cycle, so no one will come during the night.

Solution: Wait near the blocked exit, where you can see the surface. That way you can see when the old man approaches. If you do it quickly you still have time to walk towards the well and grab the bucket.

What happens if I ignore in-game advice about who to trust?

If you trust the kid, she will be scared and let you fall to your death.

"The cave is supposedly full of hidden places" refers to a place in particular: The secret tower.

While you could find the secret tower by exploring the map yourself, it's really hard to do.
However, the actual way to find the tower doesn't really require you to look for it. This might sound really confusing but hear me out: Finding it is a cool thing and you should find it while doing a different activity, so my recommendation is to forget about it for the time being. If by the time you have explored every other part of the cave and your home is complete you still have no idea where it is, come back for some tips.

Finding it without looking for it:

Tip 1: It is something you can do at your home.

Tip 2: It is related to the smelly fire.

Tip 3: Read some tips on the sulfur fire section.

Solution: Make a sulfur fire at your home. The shade will automatically walk to a place you have not discovered of where there's something for you to do. If everything else has been taken care of, it will reveal the path to the secret tower.

Finding it while looking for it:

It's almost impossible to find it by looking for it and I don't think you are supposed to. Even if you know where it is it might be tricky to find the entrance. You will need at least some tips if you want to even attempt to try it.

Tip 1: There is a clue in the last page of the book "The Secret Garden".

Tip 2: In what area could a tower be?

Tip 3: The tower is on the surface, so the entrance should be near the higher places of the cave.

Tip 5: The entrance is between the exit to the surface and the cliff where you can commit suicide. Listen closely.

Tip 6: During the long, completely dark tunnel between the suicide cliff and the exit to the outside, there's a point where the floor changes.

Solution: During the long, completely dark tunnel between the suicide cliff and the exit to the outside, there's a point in which the sound of the steps briefly changes from rock to soil. At that point, you need to advance up and to the right. The shade will soon comment that you've found a secret path.

A sure way to not miss it: From the are with the blocked exit to the outside, start walking towards home. When you enter the dark tunnel, keep your cursor on the top-right corner of the screen (and walk manually towards that spot). Most of the way the arrow will just point right. You might have to move it at some point where the shade goes down some stairs, but as soon as you can, move it to the corner again. You need to walk quite some time until you get to the point where you can actually start walking up and to the right.

Where do I find it?

Tip 1: You will probably find it eventually like any other book.

Tip 2: It appears either at the library, the secret tower or (rarely) at the halls of eternity.

I found it, but I don't understand how it works...

Tip 1: It's an obscure puzzle. You need to think outside the box.

Tip 2: Literally outside the box.

Tip 3 (basically the solution): You need to make the book neverending by putting the text in yourself. You might want to close the game for that.

Solution: You need to find the neverending text file on your computer and write text into it; the book will not be actually neverending, just as long as you make it (you can just copy text from another long book and paste it repeatedly). Do this with the game closed.

The file is located in The Longing_Data > StreamingAssets > books_plaintext > notebook.txt

To find the game folders go to your steam library, right-click on the game, choose "Properties...", choose the "Local files" tab and click the "Browse local files..." button.

Your birthday happens on a specific date. You need to open the game during that date for it to trigger and get the achievement.

What day is the shade's birthday?

You should be able to deduct it by yourself if you think about it.

Tip 1: Remember what happened during the intro.

Tip 2 (basically the solution): The shade is created the first day, during the intro.

Tip 3 (exact date): It's when the clock marks 34 days left (365 days after starting).

[Thanks to Kohru for the info.]

Does this game prevent you from cheating?

Yes. The game connects to the internet once on startup to check that you didn't alter your computer's time or something like that.

What happens if it detects cheating?

You will be placed in a cell.

The game detected me cheating. What can I do now?

You need to click a button 400 times and the game will restart.