The Longest Five Minutes

There really isn’t that much more to The Longest Five Minutes. It’s a clever mix of sentimentality and satire, structured in a way that’s quite unusual for JRPGs. With most games in the genre, the end boss is the goal and triumph. The Longest Five Minutes is a love letter to the genre that wants you to remember that you’re meant to enjoy the journey in a JRPG, too, and I certainly walked away from this game with a renewed appreciation for the spirit of adventure in these games itself.

Nintendo World ReportDonald Theriault

8/10

The Switch has had a surprisingly large RPG library in its first year; already it feels like there’s more RPGs on Switch than were on its predecessor and they just keep coming. Where The Longest Five Minutes stands out is that despite the name, it is fast. I did a lot of exploring in the environments looking for treasure and still managed to roll credits in under 12 hours. Given the Switch’s propensity for roguelikes and exceedingly long, story-driven games, this is a minor miracle. Not every game has to be a seven-course meal; sometimes you just want a light snack. On that front, Longest…

WCCFtechKai Tatsumoto

7.6/10

Have you ever walked through a door and forgot why you came into the next room? Sure, we all have at one time, but how about forgetting you were on a lifelong adventure to face off against a true evil that’s plaguing the land? NIS America’s newest portable RPG (if you take the Nintendo Switch off the dock once in a while) tries to answer that question with The Longest Five Minutes, an RPG focused around temporary amnesia in the most significant battle of your life and trying to remember *cue record scratch noise* just how you ended up in this situation.

RPGSiteElizabeth Henges

7/10

The Longest Five Minutes sports an interesting presentation to a basic RPG plot, and despite some shortcomings is worth a look.

DualShockersLou Contaldi

7/10

The Longest Five Minutes is almost the standard definition of an RPG, brought to life with one of the most exciting storytelling techniques for any Switch game. It's a good entry point for those looking to try out NIS America games or RPGs, and interesting enough to keep the attention of more hardcore fans. But without leaning too heavily into the novel flashback dynamic, The Longest Five Minutes doesn't bring much more to the RPG table.

Video ChumsA.J. Maciejewski

5.9/10

There are so many retro-inspired JRPGs nowadays that it's hard to tell which ones are worthwhile. The Longest Five Minutes definitely has a unique story premise but does it offer a satisfying flashback-filled adventure?

MonsterVineSamantha Lienhard

The final two hours of The Longest Five Minutes feel like they are what the game was designed for. They bring in some genuinely interesting plot points that finally use the flashback structure to their advantage. Nevertheless, after the bland combat and generic storytelling along the way, my enjoyment of the final revelations just left me wondering why the entire game couldn’t have been more like that.

VGChartzStephen LaGioia

5/10

A small platter of bite-sized appetizers.What would it be like to experience a game that started you at the end boss? And what [...]

GameSpewBecca Smith

5/10

The Longest Five Minutes isn’t quite all bad, though. The dialogue is written well and the music is reminiscent of old classic RPGs, but there’s simply not enough difficulty or uniqueness to keep players interested for the full duration. If you’re the most casual of gamers, then you may find the difficulty level suitable, but anyone who’s ever touched any kind of RPG before will undoubtedly find it too easy and not worth the ten or so hours of gameplay.

KotakuMike Fahey

Unscored

The Longest Five Minutes presents its basic fantasy tale as a series of flashbacks experienced by its amnesiac main character during the game’s final battle. It takes an otherwise generic retro turn-based RPG and turns it into something special. Wait, I’m already at the end of the review? How did I get here?