THE LONGING: More Information About the Game Files

I’ve explored the game files to find some answers. Don’t open it unless you want to ruin your game experience.

DISCLAIMER

Ok, so. I have read all the game files and want to share things I have found. For many, it will spoil all the fun in the game. It will completely ruin your game experience. You will not want to try to solve any mysteries anymore, and, of course, if you haven’t completed the game yet, THERE ARE TONS OF SPOILERS IN HERE. For instance, there is a spoiler of every ending of the game. I won’t even mark anything as a spoiler, because this whole guide is one huge spoiler, it is intended for the people who have completed the game and want to know if were is anything more.

You have been warned. Close the guide right now.

ABOUT THE GUIDE

For every level in the game, there is a corresponding ‘levelXX’ file in the game directory. Most of these files are random unreadable characters or program code, but there are some parts that actually have some understandable information. I will call it “entries”.

Be aware that some of these entries are in German (because developers are German).
Also be aware that some of the files are really huge, and you might not wanna open it with a regular Microsoft Notepad.

When I first wanted to look at the game files, I was just reading those files looking for the English words. After some time, I thought that I should take some notes. And after I’ve read half of the files, I thought about creating this guide. And only now, writing it, I understood that I probably should have written a program that will remove anything but the English / German letters from the file, then carefully analyze and structure this information. As I think about that, it makes me extremely sad about all the time I’ve wasted for nothing, so… You are welcome to try to do it yourself and help me complete this guide. You are also very welcome to help me solve some mysteries I have found.

And sorry for the poor English.

INTERESTING STUFF

Mystery room

I found an entry “mystery_room” in levels 71 and 10 (level10 also contains entry “grab_mysteryroom_paper”). I have zero ideas what is this “mystery room”.

Kohl lab

There is an entry “kohl_lab” in levels 62, 41, 30 and 23. Once again, zero ideas what it is referring to. “Kohl” is “German” for “coal”, and “lab” is a… laboratory, I guess??

Gallery

Level 24 have a lot of entries “gallery”: “gallery_glow”, “gallery_behind”, “gallery_background”, etc. No idea what could it refer to.

Didgeridoo

There is an entry “hidden_flute” in levels 74, 56, 51 and 26. At first, I thought it’s some sort of a secret, but then I found that these files also contains the word “didgeridoo”. If you google “didgeridoo”, you will find out that this is some Australian wind instrument. So, I guess, these are the parts of a musical instrument you can build at your home. Also, now we know it’s called “Didgeridoo”.

Happy family

Level 59 is a happy ending there you get to the surface. Judging by the game files, it’s called “happyfamily” ending. There are also words “king dead”, so it proves that the king does die if you leave the caves. Also, this file contains some information I couldn’t actually find in the game: about the soundtracks. For instance, this https://erang.bandcamp.com/track/the-one-who-comes-back-from-another-realm and

. This file is really huge, and there is a bunch of other things, which I will probably update later. Also, the game credits called “credits_laura”. Probably that is their creator, but I am not sure.

King ending

level 79 is a King ending, according to the game files (when you wait for 400 days). It also contains this text:

my trusty shade…
you awakened me
and I have kept my promises

I have created a world
without longing
by destroying time itself

all life has perished
but we will no longer need it

we shall forever rule
this eternal kingdom

Now. If you know the actual king’s ending, you may notice the ending monologue is slightly different.

my faithful shade…
you have awakened me
and I have kept my promises

I have created a world
without longing
by destroying everything in it

all life has perished
but we need it no longer

we shall forever rule
this eternal kingdom

So what could this mean? Probably it’s some sort of a beta draft of the ending text because not all of the game text can be found at these files (probably they are either encrypted or hidden somewhere else, I have not found them yet). Or maybe another ending?

Also, two other endings (suicide and fall in the well) called a “tragedy ending”.

Grab lehm

Level 47 have an entry “grab lehm”, “lehm” is a German for “clay”. I’m not sure that it is and there is level 47.

Happyfamily… again?

Level13 looks exactly like level 59. It also tells about end titles, “happyfamily” etc. But there is no entry “king dead”, only “king sliced”, that didn’t appear at the level 59. What could it mean?

Also, in the middle of this level it suddenly goes to the intro of the game. It is the only place where the king’s intro monologue appears. So, you might wanna take a closer look at this file, probably I am missing something.

Treasure room

So, level 8 is a treasure room. But I haven’t found anything interesting in it yet.

Stalagtit

Level 16 is a level before the face, with stalactite. Strangely, it also has an entry “stalagtit”. Probably, some of the developers didn’t know how to spell “stalactite”, or maybe there is some other explanation.

RANDOM INFORMATION

Level 69 is a level just before the surface. For instance, there is an entry about the “old troll grave” (you can see it after 400 days without awakening the king).
Level68 is a big mushroom level before the darkness.
Levels 66 and 65 is a coal and sulfur mines. These are a small rooms (judging by the file size), and apparently they do not contain anything secret, you can only mine rocks.
Level 60 is apparently a mystery tower. It has entries about a crystal, mattock, books, “mountains.png”, “audio_tower”, etc…
Levels 58, level 4 and 3 in different parts of your home.
Level 54 is the map room.
Level 50 is a library.
Level 48 is an animation-dream sequences.
Level 45 is a halls of eternity, level44 is an entrance.
Level 17 is a face room.
Level 12 is a fountain with white crystals.
Level 8 is a treasure room.

LUPUS LAZULI AND OTHER…

…disappointments

For each of the levels, there is an entry for anything grabbable at this level. For every book, coal, mattock, etc. So, I know why all of you are here. You probably want to know how to create that blue fire or where to find this ‘lupus lazuli’. Soooo…

There is only one ‘lupus lazuli’ in an entire game. Period. This is probably just some funny joke creators wanted to do to the gamers. I’ve never found anything about this stones, I’ve also never found anything about the “blue fire” except for two entries at the home level (for instance, ‘smelly fire’ appears at some other places). There are also no entries for the burning blue fire (there is ones for sulfur/smelly and coal/regular fire).
There is nothing at the mystery towers except for mattock, several books, and crystal. There is nothing about birds or some other secrets.
The fountain level (level 12) does not contain anything but the white crystals and a mattock.
The treasure room probably does not have any secrets too. Gold coins you can pick doesn’t even have a proper name and doesn’t appear anywhere else in the game, not that I have found.

By Ralsei