What is the 1 thing you enjoy most about The Long Dark?


Ryan CM

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Initially, playing a nice Pilgrim or Voyageur run and looting the entire world as quickly as I can. Then hauling everything to Coastal Highway, and stashing most of it in the Quonset garage, and some of it in one of the houses that I commandeer as my new home.  Then I just...basically play house.  Imagining what it would be like to live in a world with no real responsibilities, no commitments, apart from where my next meal comes from.  Spend dozens of days mostly passing time, watching the clouds move, occasionally hunting, fixing what needs to be fixed, and enjoying my retirement.

Then, eventually, I delete the save and do it all again.  On Pilgrim especially, TLD long-term is like a Retirement Simulator.

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Let me start with mentioning what I don't like about TLD:  It's addictive and I literally lose sleep. Getting to the summit recently was stressful, satisfying and draining.. as if I've conquered Everest for real.

Now, what do I like?

Ambience, that includes sounds (oh so important in this game) music (seriously, an indie dev with one of the best in-game music?), the feeling of being lost during a sudden pea soup fog: I think I know ML enough by looking at a tree and thinking "Okay, I know where I am";  Well, fugget about it during zero visibility!

Improvisation skills needed when caught off guard: Blizzards, close bear encounters (I don't count wolves) the pea soup, getting in unkown territory without a bedroll, finding saplings and no way to harvest them ( I don't count that as a minus, more as an "Ah, crap what stupid of me" experience..

I like that -if I choose so- can play TLD as a walking sim (Don't hate me), to some extent (not interloper, obviously).

I like hoarding, I like finding supreme clothing when you don't expect it, I like the new cooking, I like it when the sun shines in the morning just as much as I like to look at blizzards from a snow shelter while enjoying a beer. I like the caves, I like the vistas at sunset or dawn, the auroras (and Bach on the radio!), the satisfaction of reaching home base at 10% health.

I like it that TLD makes me feel alive, ironically.

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What I think Is done right:

#1 The Art/Atmosphere/World/Music

This is number one because the devs have hit it spot on with how they want their game to feel and what the world should be like. What draws me back to TLD the most is the quality of the game world and how easy it is to immerse myself into it. The desire to learn more about the world and be part of it attracts me.

#2 Meaningful game choices---> Emergent Gameplay and Permadeath

While plenty of games have dialogue choices that lead to branching campaigns with, (usually) very similar endings, a survivor's story in TLD are crafted by every action you make instead, (but all have the same ending...). Stopping to darn your socks could save your life, or it could *darn* you! Permadeath forces you to learn from your mistakes, and makes death something to be feared. As a result, TLD gives me thrills almost akin to a horror game. However, death never feels too harsh, because in The Quiet Apocalypse, death is inevitable anyways and I learn from it. Not to mention feats and keep a feeling of progress as well.

after 4 years I still can't get over how beautiful this game is...

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Like many others here, I can't pick just one thing. Without the wonderful mix of things that makes this game, it would not be as enjoyable, and addicting, as it is. 
*Like Pancakes without Real Maple Syrup*

So: 

The solitude. 
The amazingly beautiful art.
The incredible audio, (ambient/music/all of it).
The fact this game forces me to slow down, and think about what I am doing, but still lets me play in a spontaneous way. (Not many games can do both at once, and do it well...)
The community. (I have stopped playing a number of games on Steam, not because the games were bad, but the community was so toxic, the sniping, flaming, and f-bomb throwing made me not want to have anything to do with any of it. Which is sad, the games were good, The people playing them made me leave, not the game or devs.) :/
The fact that the game is slightly different each time. Not completely. But just enough to make each run unique for me.

The only thing that would make it better would b actual Pancakes with Real Maple Syrup in-game. So my survivor can eat the same thing  I am. *ahem @Raphael van Lierop ahem cough cough*  ;)

 

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I guess the quick answer is, a sense of achievement when I actually do a good job keeping my character alive:)

But there's so much to love about this game and the way the devs keep updating and listening to feedback keeps the game fresh and interesting. And a big part of that is the community. I've been playing the Long Dark for a couple of years now, but I've only recently joined the forums after reading for a while. It's a great community full of people who enjoy helping others and passing on their hard earned knowledge, so more people can enjoy the game too. So I also just want to say thanks for being such an awesome group of people. Stay awesome and stay safe out there fellow survivors:)

 

 

 

 

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Surviving another day is epic.

My colleagues: "my character finally found the Oversized sword of flamboyant titanchopping that gives vampiric strike when paired with the Armour of crimson imperviousness!"

Me: "my character managed to craft a bow, four arrows and I have enough wolf pelts for a jacket!"

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