Disappointing story mode

[Ehsan]

I've played this game for an embarrassing amount of time. Let's just say I've survived over 150 days in the Interloper difficulty and leave it at that. You know what I'm talking about!
I immensely enjoyed the sandbox. The graphics, sound effects, the mechanics of the game, the sense of solitude, the harsh survival struggle... all were very great and endearing. I never bought TDL for the story mode, but for the sandbox and couldn't care less about all the hype (including a countdown timer for a countdown...). But as according to developers, the focus was on the story mode (and robbing my dear sandbox of all the goods it could get), I expected to at least have a memorable experience with it. But almost everything is wrong with the story mode IMO.

First, it's tailored to the newcomers of the game. There is no option to adjust difficulty for experienced TLD players to have a challenge.  The story mode, as it suggest, is about the story. The only real threats are the wolves, which makes the game like an adventure game, not a survival one.

Second, the developers said that choices mattered in the game. There is no choice of importance in the story. It is linear. No real consequences of what you do. With all the hype about the story mode, I was expected a more engaging, morally gray choices and real consequences.

Third, the game was not polished before release. Too many bugs. Even after 6 patches, when I approach sticks in the game, they disappear. I encountered many bugs that weren't there in the sandbox. Most of the dialogues are without voice acting which is an incredibly stupid decision when a game is about "story" and "immersion".  I never saw a patch note for the Wintermute, which I find to be offensive towards such  an active and supporting community that the TLD has.

Unfortunately, compared to other alpha access games that I have, TLD fell down to the bottom of the list. Not only very little content was added within the past year (unlike many other early access games that I could mention) but the overhyped story mode was a bland cliche story with unbelievable characters and boring mechanics. Maybe a new player will find it fun, but certainly not for a second time. I had to drag myself through the story just to get it over with. Hinterlands, please divide your attention equally between the sandbox and the story mode. I get it, story mode is your pet project and you have to finish it. But the sandbox will cause TLD to continue to sell in the years to come. Thank you for a great sandbox game, and good luck with your story.

[henroe32]

Can't comment on the actual story (haven't played it yet) but for me personally the story is really the most exciting part of the game as although the sandbox is amazing on its own I find that stories are much more memorable for their passion and art of adventure which I really enjoy. The Portal games (at lest the first one) are just long collections of puzzling levels and could easily be played without a story but the addition of GlaDOS's jokes and dialogue keep you going and keep you hooked and add a subtle humour and emotion turning the linear movement of levels into a twisting adventurous story while maintaining that sandbox style. And, guess what, this linear game is one of the best puzzle stories of all time despite the stories cliche style endings. 

This is episodic gaming which means that the game will be very linear. It's nice to have a slight bit of input but not quite to the level of other games. Skyrim for example has an incredibly linear storyline but allows you to make little choices along the way which keep you feeling like you have some control over what is happening. I hope TLD does the same.