Review

As Long as You’re Here: An Intimate, Interactive Portrait of Alzheimer’s

As Long as You’re Here is a short first-person narrative game that places us in the life of Annie, an older woman living with Alzheimer’s disease. Developed by independent studio Autoscopia Interactive, it proposes...

Introduction

As Long as You’re Here is a short first-person narrative game that places us in the life of Annie, an older woman living with Alzheimer’s disease. Developed by independent studio Autoscopia Interactive, it proposes an emotionally powerful experience: we witness first-hand the confusion, vulnerability and fragmented memories of its protagonist. This is not a conventional adventure built around puzzles or combat, but an interactive drama intended to raise awareness and move its audience. In approximately 50 minutes, As Long as You’re Here succeeds in leaving a deep impression, especially for anyone who has experienced this illness at close quarters in real life.

Story and Premise

The story introduces Annie, an elderly woman who must leave the home where she has spent her life as her Alzheimer’s progresses. Its premise is rooted in ordinary family life. When Annie moves in with her children, they take on the responsibilities of carers, and tensions emerge around the question of how best to look after her. The game approaches the effects of Alzheimer’s with maturity and respect, showing its impact not only on the person living with the disease, but also on those who love them. Through small conversations and memories, we learn about Annie’s past, including the story of her late brother, and watch as that past begins to blend painfully into her present.

One of the game’s greatest narrative successes is the way it represents Annie’s perspective from inside her own mind. Reality is unstable. A familiar corridor may suddenly lead into a scene from the past, or you may be completing an everyday task only to find yourself unexpectedly in another room without immediately understanding how you arrived there. These subtle shifts through time and space brilliantly communicate how fragile Annie’s perception has become. There are also heartbreaking details such as drawings from cognitive tests becoming increasingly erratic as the disease progresses.

Together, these touches make the player share in the uncertainty, disorientation and loneliness felt by the protagonist. The result is a brief but deeply affecting story, one that lingers and invites genuine empathy for people living with dementia.

Gameplay

In gameplay terms, As Long as You’re Here belongs firmly to the walking simulator, or linear narrative adventure, tradition. Do not expect puzzles or mechanical challenges. The player’s actions are limited to moving through the environments and completing simple everyday tasks. You may help Annie prepare coffee, take her medication, water plants or collect personal belongings in her new home. There are conversations with family members and small interactive details, such as reading letters or examining photographs, but there are no decisions that alter the story. This is not a branching narrative. It is a fixed account.

That simplicity is deliberate. The game wants your attention placed on its experience and message rather than your skill with a controller. Even with such basic mechanics, it remains involving because of the immersion it creates within Annie’s mind and the dramatic tension of her shifting memories.

As Long as You’re Here is designed to be played in a single short sitting, prioritising narrative over interaction. At times, it feels closer to participating in a film or an episode of television than playing a traditional game. Given its subject matter, that is not a criticism. Its straightforward gameplay means almost anyone, including people who rarely play games, can experience the story without frustration. Players looking for challenge or complex systems may be disappointed, however. The richness here lies in the details of its story, not in mechanical difficulty.

Visuals and Sound

Visually, the game chooses a simple, stylised approach. Its 3D graphics have a lightly cartoon-like appearance and a warm, melancholic colour palette. It is not technically impressive, but it serves the experience well: homes, rooms and objects are always easy to read, and they evoke the mixture of nostalgia and confusion that surrounds Annie. There are tender details, including real family photographs from the developers integrated into the game, adding authenticity to its atmosphere.

This is clearly a modest production on a technical level. There are occasional minor bugs in character movement and some slightly abrupt collision behaviour, but none of these issues significantly damages the experience.

The sound design, meanwhile, is subtle but highly effective. Characters are voiced in English, and the performances are consistently convincing. Annie’s voice communicates vulnerability and bewilderment, while her children convey concern and restrained exhaustion, adding layers to the family drama. Ambient sounds, including rain, footsteps and everyday objects being handled, work alongside the original music to underline emotional moments without intruding on them. Although the game is not dubbed into Spanish, subtitles ensure that language presents no obstacle to understanding the story.

Length and Price

One of the most debatable aspects of As Long as You’re Here is its extremely short runtime. The adventure can be completed in around 50 minutes at most, since it is intentionally designed to be brief and intense. Depending on your pace, particularly whether you explore slowly or take time to read everything, it may last between 45 minutes and an hour.

That inevitably raises questions about value for money. At the time of writing, the game costs around €9.75 on Steam, a price that may feel high given how fleeting the experience is. This is a familiar debate surrounding short narrative games, from Gone Home to What Remains of Edith Finch, where value lies less in the number of hours offered than in the emotional quality of those hours.

In this case, many players may feel that its distinctive subject and execution make it worthwhile, although it is understandable that others might wait for a sale or expect more justification for the price. Given the sensitivity of its subject, it would also have been a welcome gesture for part of its sales to support Alzheimer’s research organisations. No official reference has been found indicating that the developers will donate any of the proceeds to a related charitable cause, which may disappoint players who assumed otherwise.

Ultimately, As Long as You’re Here offers a great deal of feeling in a very small amount of time. Whether that justifies paying close to €10 will depend on how much you value a unique emotional experience over pure quantity of content.

The Good

• An authentic and respectful representation of the perspective of someone living with Alzheimer’s, creating a powerful emotional connection with the player.
• A short but intense and deeply personal story inspired by the developers’ real experiences, carrying an important human message.
• High-quality English voice performances that add credibility and emotion to its dialogue.
• Carefully crafted narrative and visual details, from real family photographs to fading text and shifting environments, strengthening immersion.

The Bad

• Extremely short, ending in under an hour and potentially feeling slight in terms of value for money.
• Minimal, linear gameplay without puzzles or meaningful choices, which may disappoint anyone seeking interactivity or replayability.
• A somewhat high price of around €10 given its limited duration.
• No mentioned charitable initiative linked to the game, such as donations towards Alzheimer’s research, which some players may have expected given its subject.

Conclusión

7/10

As Long as You’re Here is, above all else, a moving experience. Despite its simple gameplay and very short duration, it achieves something few games manage: it places you in the shoes of a person living with Alzheimer’s and makes you feel, if only briefly, the sadness and confusion of losing your memories. Its story is treated with tremendous sensitivity, humanising a devastating illness in a way that helps players understand it more deeply.

This is not a game designed primarily to entertain or challenge. It is designed to make you reflect and empathise. Anyone with a personal connection to Alzheimer’s should be prepared for an experience likely to be deeply emotional. Even for those without that connection, it offers a brief but valuable window into a reality faced by millions of families.

Community reception has been extremely positive. At the time reflected in the source article, the game held 100% positive reviews on Steam, suggesting that it had touched many players. Ultimately, As Long as You’re Here is a small but significant game: limited in length and technical ambition, but substantial in message and sincerity. It is recommended for anyone looking for a different kind of narrative experience and willing to appreciate the beauty of a brief, human story.

Final Score: 7/10

Recommended For

• Players interested in intimate, human stories.
• Fans of emotionally focused narrative walking simulators.
• Anyone whose life has been touched by Alzheimer’s and who wants to experience an empathetic representation.
• Players who value brief but meaningful experiences.
• Fans of titles such as Before I Forget, What Remains of Edith Finch or To the Moon.

Available platforms: PC.

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