How to Speed Up the 400 Day Wait in The Longing

Last Updated on 22 December, 2025

Solitude defines the experience of The Longing. You play as a solitary Shade, tasked by a gargantuan stone King to wait for 400 days until he awakens. This is not a typical game where you rush to the finish line. Instead, you must learn the art of patience. The cavernous world beneath the earth offers a somber and atmospheric journey through time itself. Whether you choose to fill your home with art, explore the deepest reaches of the library, or seek a way to the surface, your choices shape the long wait.

This comprehensive guide provides the tools you need to master your surroundings. You will learn how to accelerate the clock and find every hidden treasure. Turn your isolation into an adventure as you navigate the quiet shadows of this underground realm!

Understanding Time and the Endings

The central mechanic of the game revolves around a real-time countdown of 400 days. You do not actually need to wait for 400 literal days if you find ways to make the timer run faster. The game continues to count down even when you close the program. You can technically open the game on day one, close it, and return 400 days later to see an ending. However, you might miss certain events like your birthday if you stay away too long. Every ending requires a specific action from you. Simply walking through doors or exploring does not trigger an ending. You must actively interact with the world to finish the story.

There are four primary endings.

1. You can wait the full duration and wake the King after 400 days pass.
2. You can choose to commit suicide, which provides the fastest way to end the game.
3. You can also reach the surface and live by solving the final puzzle correctly.
4. Alternatively, you can reach the surface and die if you fail to solve the final puzzle.

A very obscure fifth ending exists after a game update, but it remains difficult to find without external help. If you finish the game and want to play again, wait at the end screen to unlock a second playthrough. You can also use the code 399d-23h-59m-59s while the game is open to reset the clock to the first day.

Mastering Navigation and Movement

The Shade moves slowly and cannot run. This reinforces the theme of patience throughout your journey. You can double click anywhere on the screen to make the Shade walk to that specific point. The space key performs the same function as a left click for movement. Automated walking helps you manage the vast distances of the cave system. Click the crown icon on the top bar to send the Shade back to his home automatically. This saves you the effort of manual trekking after long expeditions.

Near the crown, you will see a small arrow that opens a memory menu. The downward arrow saves your current spot as a remembered location. The right arrow sends the Shade to a saved location of your choosing. The system uses a screenshot of the area to help you identify your destinations. Keep in mind that the Shade walks to the exact coordinates where you saved the location, not just the general entrance of the room. This system makes recurring trips to resource areas much more efficient.

The Royal Decrees: Dealing with the King

The King remains stationary for the duration of the 400 days. You must wait until the timer hits zero before you can awaken him. If you try to wake him early, the Shade simply notes that more time must pass. You do not need to wake him the second the timer ends. You can wake him whenever you feel ready. Do not fear that exploring will disobey the King. While he tells you to stay, you can explore every corner of the cave without penalty. Only specific interactions at the very edge of the world, such as using items on the well at the surface, will trigger a disobedience ending. Walking alone is always safe and encouraged for finding materials.

Deciphering the Map of the Caves

Navigating the labyrinthine tunnels often feels overwhelming without a guide. You should draw your own map on physical paper to track your progress and take notes. You can find a large map inside the cave, but you cannot take it with you. When you find this map, the Shade will comment that it requires time to decipher. To use it, simply stand still in front of it for several minutes. Eventually, the camera will slowly zoom out to reveal the whole cave. This action triggers a specific achievement and provides you with a much clearer understanding of the world layout.

The Power of Literature: Reading Books

Reading acts as the most effective way to pass the time in the underground. For every page you read, the game timer advances by one minute. A page counts as read the moment it appears on your screen. You can skip through pages rapidly to reduce the timer quickly. However, this time reduction only works once per page. Re-reading a book does not provide further time bonuses. The idle reading feature allows the Shade to turn a page once per minute automatically. This works even when the game is closed. If you read books backwards, you can actually reverse the flow of the game timer. This serves as a useful tool if you miss a time sensitive event like your birthday.

Interior Design: Paintings and Art

Decorating your home serves a practical purpose beyond aesthetics. Having paintings on your walls makes the timer advance faster while the Shade remains at home. You can move these items by hovering your cursor over them until it turns into a hand. If you wish to remove a painting, you can burn it in your fireplace. Do not worry about running out of paper for drawings. You can always find more paper in the Halls of Eternity. To earn the My Favourite Painting achievement, you must draw a picture of lice five separate times and display them in your home.

Assembling the Musical Instrument

You can find four pieces of a musical instrument hidden throughout the cave. These pieces sit in plain sight if you know where to look.

1. Piece 1: Located inside your home.
2. Piece 2: Found at the bottom of the room with the blocked library door.
3. Piece 3: Located on a shortcut walkway. To find this, go to the screen above the library door. Walk past the staircase that goes up and right, then continue walking right off-screen.
4. Piece 4: Located in a room with two stairs and a door that leads out of the palace.

Playing the four notes from the highest pitch to the lowest pitch advances the game timer by ten minutes.

Resource Gathering: Stones and Materials

Shiny colored stones sit scattered across the cave floors. Most are easy to spot, but they are tiny. You must pay close attention to the ground to find them all. One specific stone requires extra effort to obtain. The yellow stone is actually a piece of sulfur. You must visit the mines and find the room with yellow walls. Use your mattock to mine the sulfur directly from the environment. These materials allow the Shade to create different types of drawings and paintings to decorate his living space.

Harnessing the Power of Crystals

Crystals are vital decorations that influence the passage of time. You need a mattock to mine them from the cave walls. There are five common colors and a sixth color that remains extremely difficult to obtain. These crystals significantly boost the speed of time within your living quarters. You can rearrange them in your room just like paintings. On your birthday, a special green crystal emerges from the water in the crystal cave. You must be there at the exact time to grab it. If you miss this event, you can use blue fire or read books backwards to rewind time and try again.

Major Puzzles: Doors and Stalactites

Some doors in the cave take a long time to open. The Shade will comment on this when you interact with them. You do not need to wait in front of these doors as they move. You can leave and return later once the door opens. Another obstacle is the stalactite. To cross certain gaps, you need a stalactite to fall and create a bridge. Attempt to jump near the stalactite so the Shade says it will fall in about a week. Return seven days later to find your new bridge. You do not need to spend any time waiting in that room for the event to trigger.

Infiltrating the Secret Library

The library is a major area of interest, but the main door is permanently blocked. To enter, you must find a different way. Locate the library on the map to find its position relative to the moss area. You must wait one real-time month for water to fill a hole in the moss area. Once the month passes and the hole fills, you can walk across the water and enter the library from the alternative entrance. This area contains many books that will help you pass the 400 days more quickly.

The Infinite Halls of Eternity

The Halls of Eternity offer an endless space for exploration where time stops counting down. To find them, follow this path from the hall above the King’s room:

1. Take the door to the left.
2. Enter the first door from the left.
3. Use the bottom door.
4. Enter the first door from the left with the sign.
5. Enter the middle door.
6. Advance until you exit a middle door, then enter the door to the left.
7. Enter the door to the right and walk right until you find the white entrance.

As you walk forward, items like books and decorations appear randomly. After roughly two hours of walking, only paper will appear from time to time. You must walk all the way back to the exit manually if you want to leave.

The Treasure Room Barrier

You will eventually find a room filled with treasure behind a thick glass pane. While the treasure is not required for the main endings or achievements, you can break the glass with persistence. You must use three separate mattocks to crack the glass. Eventually, the glass shatters and coins spill out for you to collect. You can use these coins to answer additional questions from the Face later in the game. Since there are four mattocks in the game, you will still have one left for other mining tasks after breaking the glass.

The Quest for the Mattock

The mattock is your most important tool for resource gathering. You find the first one in the mines, which you reach through the door above the map. Follow the path to an area down and to the left. To get the tool, look for a crooked support structure that forms the ceiling of the mattock area. Stand over it and wait until it breaks. This drops you into the room with the tool. There are four mattocks in total throughout the cave. If you lose one or break it on the treasure glass, you can find others in areas that unlock later in your journey.

Expanding Your Home

You can use your mattock on the left wall of your home to dig new rooms. This process involves mining in different directions when the Shade hits hard rock. A fully expanded home includes a bedroom for the bed, a room for cultivating mushrooms, and a bathroom. You will know you have finished the expansion once you have completed all three rooms. This provides much more space for your growing collection of crystals and paintings, which in turn speeds up your countdown timer.

Securing Running Water

The Shade eventually desires running water for his bath. To provide this, you must find a hidden room in the labyrinth. Follow the path to the Halls of Eternity but stop after you exit the second middle door. Instead of going left, enter the door to the right and then the door on the bottom. You will find a large round rock here. Push it as far as possible to divert a stream of water directly into your home. This makes the Shade much happier in his expanded living quarters.

Crafting the Perfect Bed

Once you expand your house, you can build a bed. You need 20 pieces of moss and 10 pieces of wood. Moss grows in an area up and to the left from the hall above the King. It takes several days to grow back after you pick it. Wood sits scattered throughout various parts of the cave, and you will likely need to unlock several areas before you find all 10 pieces. Sleeping in the bed makes time pass roughly 50 percent faster. While the Shade sleeps, he might experience dreams that offer clues or lore.

Igniting Elemental Fires: Coal, Sulfur, and Lapis Lazuli

The fireplace in your home serves multiple functions depending on what you burn. You need two pieces of flint to start a fire. Flint is a permanent tool and does not disappear after use.

1. Coal Fire: Burning coal, which falls from the cave ceilings, makes time run faster.

2. Sulfur Fire: This creates a foul smelling fire. The Shade will automatically leave the house to escape the smell. While walking automatically, the Shade will try to find a place he hasn’t been yet. If you have explored everything else, the sulfur fire will lead the Shade directly to the Secret Tower.

3. Lapis Lazuli Fire: You can only find Lapis Lazuli after your birthday. Once the crystal cave dries up, you can collect the blue stones. Burning them makes time run backward for about a minute. You can extend this effect by playing the instrument while the blue fire burns.

The Spider and its Web

A spider resides in a specific part of the cave. If you break its web, the spider moves to a new location down and to the left. It then begins to spin a new web that you can use as a ladder to reach higher areas. This process takes a couple of days to complete. You do not need to wait in the room while the spider works. Simply check back after the Shade notes that the web should be finished. This allows you to bypass obstacles that were previously impassable.

Cultivating and Eating Mushrooms

You can pick and plant two types of mushrooms: green and pale-pink. After planting, they take ten hours to grow back. Eating three pink mushrooms allows the Shade to have one of three unique dreams. Mushrooms grow faster if you plant them in the green glowing cave. You can also influence their growth by planting them near each other. If you plant a pink mushroom next to a green mushroom, the pink one grows much larger than normal. This mechanic is essential for solving environmental puzzles.

Solving the Cliff Puzzle

To climb the cliff near the spider, you must use the mushroom growth mechanic. Plant a pink mushroom on the spot closest to the cliff. Then, plant a green mushroom in the nearest spot to that one, which is a bit to the left. Wait ten hours for the pink mushroom to become huge. You can then use it to climb the cliff. If you return later and the Shade refuses to climb, break the green mushroom with your mattock and plant a new one to reset the path.

Conquering the Darkness and Angst

A corridor of total darkness lies beyond the mushroom caves. To pass through it, you must follow the advice of the Face: learn to become darkness. Walk through the darkness until you reach the suicide cliff. Wait there for several minutes until a dialogue box appears. Choose the answers that show your desire to escape the caves and go outside. This unlocks the ability to close your eyes. You can now walk through the darkness with your eyes closed manually. While walking with closed eyes, you can bypass Angst. Angst is a pair of glowing eyes that will chase you and send you back home if they see you. Close your eyes before you get too close and walk past her safely.

The Choice of Suicide

The game offers a real option to commit suicide at a specific cliff. This is not a test or a trick within the narrative. If you choose this option, the Shade dies and the game ends immediately. Use this only if you are certain you want to end your journey through the caves permanently. It is the fastest way to trigger a game over and reach an ending, but it prevents you from seeing the rest of the underground world or reaching the surface.

Reaching the Surface World

You can find a way to the surface through a well. To reach it, walk past the blocked exit into a dark corridor. You must time your escape perfectly. Watch from the blocked exit to see who is at the well during the day. Trust the advice of the Face: only trust the old and blind. If you try to use the bucket while the child is there, she will get scared and let you fall to your death. Wait for the old man to appear and then quickly walk to the bucket to be pulled up to safety. This triggers one of the successful endings of the game.

The Mystery of the Secret Tower

The Secret Tower is an elusive location on the surface. You can find it by following the Shade during a sulfur fire or by searching the dark tunnel between the suicide cliff and the surface exit. Listen for the sound of your footsteps as you walk. When the sound changes from rock to soil, walk up and to the right. The Shade will soon comment that you have found a secret path leading to the tower. This path is almost impossible to find by looking for it normally, so the sulfur fire remains the most reliable method.

Editing the Neverending Notebook

The Neverending Notebook is a special item found in the library, tower, or Halls of Eternity. To make the book live up to its name, you must edit it outside of the game interface. Close the game and find your local files via Steam. Navigate to the folder The Longing_Data > StreamingAssets > books_plaintext and open the file notebook.txt . You can paste any text you want into this file. When you return to the game, the notebook will contain all the text you added, making it as long as you desire.

Technical Notes: Birthdays and Cheating

The Shade’s birthday occurs exactly 365 days after his creation. This happens when the timer shows 34 days left in the countdown. You must open the game on this specific date to receive the achievement. After your birthday, the crystal cave dries up, which allows you to collect lapis lazuli for blue fires. The game also checks your computer clock via the internet on startup to prevent cheating. If the game detects that you have altered your clock, it places you in a prison cell. You must click a button 400 times to restart the game from day one as a penalty.

Final Summary

The Longing offers a deep and meditative journey for those willing to endure the slow march of time. By mastering the mechanics of the cave, you can transform the Shade’s solitude into a period of growth and discovery. Whether you stay underground or seek the sun, your patience defines your legacy. Take your time to explore every secret and enjoy the quiet moments within the shadows. The King will eventually wake, but the story you write in the meantime belongs entirely to you.