As Long As You're Here Review: A Story of the Strength and Fragility of the Human Mind

I lost my grandfather to Alzheimer’s disease but my family lost him many years before that.

Growing up without a father, my grandfather (or bampa as we say here in Wales) was the first man I ever loved and set the precedent for every man I would meet afterwards.

Before the disease took over, he was kind, gentle, soft-spoken and introverted and yet was the man who taught me how to skip with a rope after being a semi-professional boxer in his youth, he helped me with crosswords and we would spend endless afternoons watching his favourite black-and-white movies and quiz shows.

Not long after the death of my grandmother and his wife of 50-years, Alzheimer's disease began to take hold. He would forget to take saucepans off of the stove, he would forget routes he had been driving for decades and he would say that people he had seen on TV that day were in his house at night.

Over just a few years, and subsequently his move into a nursing home, by bampa lost his life to the disease and in the days before his death, he was a shell of who he had been, both physically and mentally but we as a family had said our goodbyes to him long before that sad day.

It is this lead up to the moment that is explored in As Long As You’re Here, a brand-new story-rich narrative title from Denmark-based developers Autoscopia Interactive.

Released today, As Long As You’re Here takes the developer’s own experiences with Alzheimer’s and turns it into a heartwrenching story which follows the disease through the eyes of one living with it.

In this short yet impactful game, we follow Annie as she battles with the effects of the disease as well as seeing how her family deals with her diagnosis.

Of course, none of us know what it may be like to live with Alzheimer’s, certainly not enough to turn it into a video game showing it in its late stages. However, it is clear that Autoscopia Interactive handled this topic with care and brought us a very realistic look at what it could look like based on what we know about it.

Autoscopia Interactive

Although we know that our memories are affected by it, we also know that it can lead to a lot of confusion, whether that is getting lost in our own homes, forgetting to eat or drink, or even losing our mobility over time.

As the seasons pass, Annie’s health deteriorates and each day, we navigate her to take her medication, water the plants, make coffee and put together her very own family tree.

Our goals are told to both us and Annie via post-it notes left by her daughter Elisabeth and so gameplay is very simple. However, you soon notice how much of Annie’s new flat changes throughout the course of the game as she slips in and out of consciousness.

Her favourite pink mug and watering can can be found in random locations and rooms shift in and out of the past and present as Annie remembers her previous home in which she brought up her children.

Time can only be determined by a calendar that sits upon Annie’s fridge and the snow and rain that patters against the windows as she relaxes on her armchair and knits, the clatter of the needles the only sound against the breeze that whips at the glass panes.

However, following her diagnosis, Annie made a goal to make a family tree and throughout the game, you are able to talk to her children and grandson who help her with this endeavour.

The family tree requires photographs of each of her loved ones and in a heartfelt touch, the developers have provided images of their own family, many of whom also died of Alzheimer's disease and so it feels all the more impactful to put it together in-game.

As we all know, many people with Alzheimer’s begin to live in the past as their past and present memories begin to merge and throughout the game, Annie begins to fixate on her brother Christoffer who went away to travel the world and died before the pair could see each other again.

Autoscopia Interactive

Christoffer is still very much alive in Annie’s mind with the latter regretting how their final conversation went. However, through a series of barely-retained memories, we learn about the sibling’s bond and through this, Annie is able to get closure.

As Madeline Miller wrote in her bestselling novel The Song of Achilles, “I am made of memories” and that is something that each human being is. When all else fades, we still have our memories and through that, we are able to experience the past at will. However, this basic human right is taken away with Alzheimer’s and that is what As Long As You’re Here explores fully in such a short yet impactful tale.

Every person who has known somebody with Alzheimer’s will recognise the pattern recognition tests, the post-it notes with simple reminders, the doctor’s notes and all of this comes to life in As Long As You’re Here.

Gameplay may be simple - choosing dialogue, pottering around the house doing simple tasks, getting lost in the past - but it is all carefully chosen by its developers so that the player can focus on what the most important topic is: Annie’s fleeting memories.

As Long As You’re Here is a heartfelt and emotional reminder of both the fragility and the resilience of the human mind, the importance of family, and the stories we are capable of telling through the medium of art.

Coming in at just around an hour of playtime, this is one which you can easily finish in one sitting and yet it will stay with you long afterwards.

Pros: Heartwarming tale, beautiful real-life touches, short but sweet

Cons: Simple, slow gameplay won’t appeal to all

For fans of: What Remains of Edith Finch

9/10: Exceptional

As Long As You’re Here launches on 28 October on PC (Steam version tested). A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.