Buckle in. It's cold. You are alone and no electronics are functioning.
The snow is starting to fall. You realize you don't have enough food, let alone any warm clothes to get you through the encroaching blizzard. You must press on. Scrounge, scavenge, and craft. At this point, your survival counts on it.
The Long Dark is a beautiful game with a unique style. It's one of those games where you can feel the love, sweat, and tears poured into it. The dev team did a fantastic job. Truly nailing what I imagine it would be like to have to suddenly start surviving in the middle of a brutal winter.
If I were into handing out numerical ratings this one would get a 10/10.
There is so much to this game, I am so excited to share it. I hope I can cover it all (they are still updating it!) and do it some justice. The world they have artfully crafted is so immersive. From the crunch of the snow when you walk to the howl of the wind as you hide in a cave. You can't help but get sucked in.
On the other hand, there are also some incredibly useful features meticulously incorporated to provide the player with a customizable experience to fit their preferred playstyle. This is predominately displayed in the time spent developing various modes (including a story mode).
I will say, the majority of my hours are in sandbox mode but I have played some bits of the story. It was very enjoyable, but I enjoy the freedom of exploration the sandbox modes gives me. I always just end up getting distracted and focusing on survival, completely ignoring the progression of the story. So, sandbox mode is a perfect fit for me.
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| Setting the stage for our survival adventure by choosing our difficulty. Pilgrim (easiest), Voyageur, Stalker, Interloper (most difficult), and an additional option to customize things even further. I do suggest that if you are new to start with Voyageur. The injury system can kick your butt when you aren't sure of all the ailments. | Here is an image of the 12 maps that are available for exploration. Each map has its difficulty. Some have more shelter options while others you can go for a full-in game-day without seeing a human structure. Additionally, you can travel in between maps as you work your way across the landscape. |
So it begins...
After choosing the Stalker difficulty, I felt spontaneous and ended up using the randomize feature for my starting location. I ended up getting plopped right on the Coastal Highway. Not a bad draw. There are lots of abandoned vehicles to search and a few buildings and cabins. Time to start working my way down this mountain.
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Traversing down the highway went smoothly enough but I didn't find enough food. I found an old lantern and some upgraded clothes. But hardly any food. Lack of supplies could mean that getting caught in a blizzard would be devastating. Sometimes the storms could last a few in-game days of pure a snowstorm "white-out". Not wanting any part of that, I decided to push onwards towards Pleasant Valley (spoiler: it wasn't very pleasant).
The Valley
This map is generally good scavenging but has a severe wolf problem. I think it's the trade-off for having all these abandoned human houses to hide in. The goal was a small town, which was finally reached before sundown. Some real shelters with indoor fireplaces and plenty of scavenging.
This was the plan:
Step 1: Find a house in the center of town. Can easily walk back and forth without much effort.
Step 2: Drop off some things at the house from Step 1.
Step 3: Head out to clear the other houses of their food while I could still see. [important]
Step 4: Retreat to base house, organize loot, craft anything I could, and catch some rest.
Upon arrival, most of the food found from the coastal highway fishing huts had been eaten. There were only 2 cans of soda, a bag of beef jerky, and a fruit and nut bar left in my bag. I wasn't in dire straights, but tomorrow morning I would have to head out right away and hope I find some food immediately.
I hastily got started on steps 1 and 2. Sweet. Good to go.
As I head out the door to start on step 3, I hear it. A wolf howl. I can't see it at first. But it was close. Quickly trying to get eyes on it, trying to analyze how close it was and what the options were I walked forward. Wrong move! The wolf was right in front of me.
I'm not ashamed to say I retreated. I backpedaled back to the house I came from. The wolf followed me the whole way. Snarling. If I had let it get any closer it would have probably started sprinting and I had no deterrent. It would have been a bad night.
Once safely inside back inside I took a moment to ponder the option. Letting go of the battle plan was the best move. The sun wasn't going to be up much longer and that wolf most likely wasn't going to go anywhere soon. Time to focus my energy on clearing the house I was hiding in. It, fortunately, did end up having a decent amount of food in it. So I could rest easy.
I did try to go out in the night to see if the beast was still around. Tossing a flare out some distance to get a line of sight. I couldn't see it. But I heard it howl. I 'noped' back into the house. It was time to wait till morning so we live to survive another day!
The Craft
The Long Dark, is just wonderful. Keeps me coming booting it up every year. The crafting/affliction system are just a few of the high notes for me. Initially, getting started can be a little confusing. I do promise that if you take some time to learn it, you can save your bacon! Sometimes it just takes trying a few combinations of things.
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Craft tools, weapons, clothing. Break down resources and repurpose. It's what will get you from barely getting through the day to thriving through blizzards.
This does have a cost though. Every time you break a resource down or build something, game time is lost. Tools can help to decrease this cost but not with all things. Something as simple as breaking down a large tree branch for firewood can take 10 minutes. That is a full 10 minutes of exposure to the elements, potential predators, and the burning of precious calories. Now, with a hatchet, it could be as little as 5 minutes.
Still, the best option is to just pick up a smaller stick. Having to weigh the time spent on essential tasks like food, boiling water, resting, traveling, and scavenging forces you to prioritize.
I recall one playthrough where I had found a nice shelter to base out of. I was pretty comfortable. Not worried. Went out to collect firewood. The simple task wasn't going to be away from camp long. I had come across a cedar branch that I wanted to break down. It was going to take 45 in-game minutes. I had been walking away from camp for about 2 in-game hours this was my last grab before I turned around to head back. A momentary warning flashed in my mind. Something to the effect: don't waste your time, just look for smaller sticks. I ignored this advice. Instead of smashing the enter button to approve of my choice.
It's important to note that when breaking down or crafting it takes you into a screen where you can't do anything. Once the task is complete or if you hit cancel the game would return you to your spot in the world. Well, when I came out of the menu it was a snowstorm. I couldn't see anything. Snow raining down, the wind blowing, and me not being able to see the footprint that was going to lead me back to camp. I froze. Unable to light a fire, no shelter, and having left my heavy-duty supplies back at the camp.
Don't Get Sick
Afflictions are a whole other ball game. You need to stay on top of your well-being and status. Cold, tiredness, hunger, even cabin fever, are all things that can happen to you. Pushing things too far or waiting too long can be costly and even game-ending. Adding a whole different type of difficulty to the game. Which I like.
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| Proceed with caution. One false move. Sprinting down a slope, having an encounter with a wild animal, or having too high of an encumbrance. You can also get frostbite, infections, food poisoning, and even lose your sanity. | If you find yourself afflicted with the aforementioned ailments make sure to manage it using your supplies. You may get lucky and have everything you need to repair yourself. Or just to even make yourself some tea to get warm. |
Final Thoughts
This game is worth it. The effort gone into the development and improvement of this game is exactly how a game studio should do it. I pick this game up every winter and am never disappointed. This game may not be for everyone, but it is right up my alley.
In closing, I did want to take some time to draw some attention to the lovely charity work that the Long Dark Team (Hinterland Studios) has contributed to with some of the game's proceeds. Paying their successes forward. Knowing that the money I used to purchase this game was used to plant trees is just another flower in the cap! Well done!
All screenshots were taken by me, Huzzah, and are from the game: The Long Dark
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