A beautifully illustrated RPG about the grim realities of life during war? Sign us up!

One of the great things about video games is that they can cover so much territory. Take RPGs for example. You've got high fantasy escapism in series like Final Fantasy, epic sci-fi dreams of the future in stuff like Mass Effect, and strange musings on philosophy and politics in a game like Disco Elysium.

Long Gone Days doesn't quite fit into any of those categories, though it's closest to the last one. This ambitious RPG follows a young man named Rourke who's been trained from birth to be a living weapon of war. Once Rourke is actually sent into battle, though, he finds himself conflicted as he comes face-to-face with disturbing realities of wartime.

It's pretty intense subject matter, but it's supported by lovely anime-inspired art and handcrafted, never-randomized combat encounters. Long Gone Days has been in early access since 2018 and has received a lot of positive buzz. It currently has a "Very Positive" rating on Steam. But the final version is about to be released.

Long Gone Days launches tomorrow, October 10, 2023, on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S. It will cost $24.99, though the Steam version will have a twenty percent discount during the launch period. One of TapTap's editors has been checking out the release version of the game for himself, so check back for a quick review in the near future.