Between Action and Inaction: A Distant-Play Reading of TheLonging

This paper offers a phenomenological distant-play (Fizek 2022) reading of The Longing (Studio Seufz 2020), an underexplored semi-idle game that challenges traditional gameplay paradigms through its metareferential, philosophical, and contemplative structure.Our central argument is that The Longing uses its unconventional mechanics to explore themes of time, agency, and existential longing, thereby offering a distinct commentary on how contemporary players engage with themes of spatio-temporality, passivity, and self-realization at the intersection of literary and ludic experiences.