Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dr. Langeskov.

In 2015, developer Crows Crows Crows, then-newly founded by William Pugh of The Stanley Parable fame, released an experimental project titled Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist (aka Dr. Langeskov). The fact that the game was free, as well as the refreshing transparency about its 15-minute length, got me to try it out. I remembered liking it when it first came out, though I recently decided to try it out again, partly to be able to give my own thoughts on it after five years and to try and obtain some of the achievements I missed the first time. Even after a small time gap, the game holds up really well as a worthwhile package for what it is.

You start off in a waiting room, anticipating playing Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist. However, you are unable to actually play the game yet since another player is currently going through it. As it turns out though, the developers are a bit short-staffed at the moment due to a strike, so you must assist the current player backstage with the aid of a disembodied voice.

The story is rather short, about 15-20 minutes on a first playthrough, though that’s as long as it really needed to be. Interestingly, the game presents a more “industrial” take on game development in a manner somewhat reminiscent of The Stanley Parable Demo, with whoever is playing actually traversing through something more akin to a movie set being controlled in real time. The whole time you’re backstage, you are also given hints as to what the game you can’t play is actually like, with some clever fake loading screen hints at the beginning helping to sell the premise.

Due to the game’s status as a “walking simulator”, the keyboard and mouse controls are very minimal, though this works well enough for the game. Though you are told what to do, there are various objects you can interact with, including a number of hidden coins you can collect to either spend at a vending machine for an achievement or hold onto for another achievement. You can crouch with the “C” key to help in gathering these coins, though it also comes in handy starting from a second playthrough, in which you can also eat hidden pretzels and use an audio player to play tapes featuring Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame.

Wildlife Preparation is a dangerous job.

The visuals are good, though they look slightly dated now since the game was released in 2015. Regardless, some personality is present in the level design by actually showing evidence of the aforementioned strike, along with some sticky notes and readable documents scattered about each area, making it actually feel like a real working environment. A part of the game where you’re on a catwalk also provides a small hint as to the contents of the in-universe game if you view it at the right angle, providing some additional depth to the environment.

The sound design is also minimal, though it adds to the overall ambience as needed. The disembodied voice that helps you along, provided by Simon Amstell, has some great personality to him as well. Though he tries to maintain an air of professionalism, his more casual dialogue makes moments where he is confused by the player’s actions (ex. the inability to answer a phone) come off a lot funnier than they might have otherwise, making the experience a lot more fun to play through more than once as a result.

Dr. Langeskov, The Tiger, and The Terribly Cursed Emerald: A Whirlwind Heist is a short, yet fun experience even five years after its release. The design and atmosphere present an interesting deconstruction of video game development through a more industrial lens, providing enough information to make you think about what other games might look like behind the scenes if given a similar presentation. The free price tag makes it a lot easier to recommend playing at least once, especially for fans of The Stanley Parable.