ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER Feedback and Discussion

[Makex]

38 minutes ago, Randomanufacturing said:

So here is my success so far. This is my 3rd run. For those that are having a hard time, I suggest starting in Mountain Town so you have the strength to climb the ropes early.

That's not bad at all. Thumbs up!

 

[Makex]

I didn't find green fire at mystery lake. Fog came up and i had to run to next region.. FAST! Only getting consumed by DW a few moments later.

[Randomanufacturing]

55 minutes ago, Makex said:

I didn't find green fire at mystery lake. Fog came up and i had to run to next region.. FAST! Only getting consumed by DW a few moments later.

The green fire in ML is next to the two red train cars past the camp office if coming from FM. If you keep moving areas, then the fog has a hard time catching up. Also the fog doesn't seem to increase very much while sleeping, so I sleep in the caves. Spray a ward andit lasts for 3 hours of sleeping.

[Makex]

9 minutes ago, Randomanufacturing said:

The green fire in ML is next to the two red train cars past the camp office if coming from FM. If you keep moving areas, then the fog has a hard time catching up. Also the fog doesn't seem to increase very much while sleeping, so I sleep in the caves. Spray a ward andit lasts for 3 hours of sleeping.

FFS... it was too close for me  I thought it is somewhere "more hidden" than that. Fog came up because i searched the fire in mystery lake for so long and slept 10 hours in a row at camp office. I think i had to give it a new shot tomorrow. Thanks.

[piddy3825]

Can somebody clarify how these wards are supposed to work?  

So if I spray one on the outside of a building for example and then go inside is it still working or has it been deactivated?
Conversely, if I spray one inside a building that I've just entered does it still work if I exit the building before the time is up?

And, If I'm by a green fire and the 3 hour ward expires, can I paint another in the snow there and start another 3 hours?  

[stratvox]

I've been sleeping for twelve hours next to the green fires, going to bed shortly before they expire. I have not yet been taken by the darkwalker either during or immediately after doing this. Could be a loophole to permit catching up on the fatigue scenario.

[Randomanufacturing]

45 minutes ago, piddy3825 said:

Can somebody clarify how these wards are supposed to work?  

So if I spray one on the outside of a building for example and then go inside is it still working or has it been deactivated?
Conversely, if I spray one inside a building that I've just entered does it still work if I exit the building before the time is up?

And, If I'm by a green fire and the 3 hour ward expires, can I paint another in the snow there and start another 3 hours?  

I have been respraying the ward every three hours while sleeping next to it and have not been attacked. I have had it once where I woke up and the DW was out slightly over 200 meters so when I moved it popped up.

[Themadlad94]

19 hours ago, PurpleWolf13 said:

Getting stalked by someone/something wanting to kill you is out of place for The Long Dark? Hinterland stated that they wanted to try something different this year, something that they normally wouldn't be able to do with the game. The Long Dark IS a survival game and can have a few horror elements? to it, depending who you ask. 

And a malevolent entity already was a thing in The Long Dark; it was in the form of the Old Bear in Wintermute and The Hunted Challenges. 

I get you may not care for the challenge, not as much as 4 Days of Night, I respect that.But this event does make somewhat sense in terms of taking place within The Long Dark universe.

First off, the old bear is, well, a bear. The darkwalker is a Wendigo deer skull shadow thing that brings toxic fog with it. The bear could technically survive some of the damage that was done to it if it was really really REALLY strong (which, I’m not a zoologist, but that is one big bear). Maybe the reason that the bear spear could kill it was because it was the only thing sharp enough to pierce its tough hide and damage internal organs, and it might have gotten lucky with the arrows in its back and the gunshots wounds may have hit somewhere where their wasn’t many organs or blood flow. Second off, The long Dark is a survival game. Horror survival would be Dead by Daylight, the Amnesia series, and Phasmophobia to name a few. The long dark is about solar particles messing up the worlds electronics, not a malevolent being chasing you. The only horror elements of this game I can think of are getting caught off guard by a wolf or something.

[ajb1978]

5 hours ago, Dascomb said:

you dont even have to carry weapons

It's not a bad idea to have a revolver plus ammo for wolf maintenance.  Even if all you use it for is a noisemaker to scare them away.  A flare gun is a viable alternative, but the ammo is significantly heavier.  I advise a loaded revolver plus at least a couple dozen backup rounds, and a flare pistol with no more than 3 backup flare shells for emergency bear/moose management.  It's doubtful you'll encounter more than 3 bears/moose during the DW event.  (In my 8.25 hour run I needed to use the flare gun 3 times, and I was playing very aggressively, so I figure 3+1 in the chamber is good for all situations.)

[PurpleWolf13]

1 hour ago, Themadlad94 said:

First off, the old bear is, well, a bear. The darkwalker is a Wendigo deer skull shadow thing that brings toxic fog with it. The bear could technically survive some of the damage that was done to it if it was really really REALLY strong (which, I’m not a zoologist, but that is one big bear). Maybe the reason that the bear spear could kill it was because it was the only thing sharp enough to pierce its tough hide and damage internal organs, and it might have gotten lucky with the arrows in its back and the gunshots wounds may have hit somewhere where their wasn’t many organs or blood flow. Second off, The long Dark is a survival game. Horror survival would be Dead by Daylight, the Amnesia series, and Phasmophobia to name a few. The long dark is about solar particles messing up the worlds electronics, not a malevolent being chasing you. 

The Old Bear actually isn't just any bear. In Episode Two of Wintermute, you learn the lore behind it, how it's an evil demonic spirit inside the creature. Now that itself may not be true, just folk legend inside the game, but it most likely is.

And yes, The Long Dark is not normally a horror survival, but considering that they are having a event during the Halloween season, makes sense that the event (Escape the Darkwalker) has a horror survival feel to it.  

P.S Apologies if I come off as blunt or something, I just want to explain my reasons for why I personally think that the Escape the Darkwalker event makes sense within The Long Dark itself. Completely understand and respect that you feel differently, and prefer 4 Days of Night. Sadly I never got to try out that Halloween event myself. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by PurpleWolf13

[Themadlad94]

1 hour ago, PurpleWolf13 said:

The Old Bear actually isn't just any bear. In Episode Two of Wintermute, you learn the lore behind it, how it's an evil demonic spirit inside the creature. Now that itself may not be true, just folk legend inside the game, but it most likely is.

And yes, The Long Dark is not normally a horror survival, but considering that they are having a event during the Halloween season, makes sense that the event (Escape the Darkwalker) has a horror survival feel to it.  

P.S Apologies if I come off as blunt or something, I just want to explain my reasons for why I personally think that the Escape the Darkwalker event makes sense within The Long Dark itself. Completely understand and respect that you feel differently, and prefer 4 Days of Night. Sadly I never got to try out that Halloween event myself. 

I’m sorry if I came off rude too. 4DON had a much calmer feel to it and wasn’t so “demonic” which is why I liked it. The darkwalker is very fast paced and I play the game to explore (I’ve gotten to the summit of Timberwolf mountain 3 times in custom games) so it wasn’t my kind of game mode. I’m also very interested in lore which is another reason I dislike the new event.

[Kohleria]

I made an account just to comment on this thread 

First of all, the amount of effort that went into this event must have been massive. The atmosphere, especially the sound design, is really freaky. Obviously a lot went into crafting a really scary experience. It's unsettling, just as intended, and I really really appreciate that the devs didn't take the easy and cheap "jumpscare" approach that so many other games tend to do for Halloween. The actual Darkwalker creature itself looks amazing and is thoroughly terrifying with its sound and behavior. Having it approach and seeing just how close it is, without actually seeing it, is very scary. It's a bone-chilling environment overall and I think that got nailed really well as a whole. The glyphs mechanic is especially brilliant and fits with the modern-paranormal style of the event. I think the glyphs came across as the most creative aspect to me.

That said, I think it has too much of a horror-speedrun focus and not enough of a TLD-style survival focus for me personally. I LOVE Halloween and I also like horror games... but when I sign up to play a horror game, that's what I'm signing up for; when I'm signing up for a survival game, that's what I'm expecting. I really want to get both badges for this event (and have gotten 1 on my first try) but it mostly just feels stressful, like I'm just speedrunning the game and figuring out the best way to get from point A to B really quickly, over and over.

I can see how the speedrunning aspect might be appealing to people primarily playing on interloper, considering how many of them basically have to do that for a lot of their gameplay already. The Darkwalker and toxic fog is maybe an extra challenge for them that way. For me personally though this event removed a lot of the exploration and general survival mechanics that I really enjoy and look forward to in TLD. I would have liked if there was some additional focus on that, rather than on just speedrunning. For example maybe the player has to collect items to craft traps (spirit snares?) that they then lead the Darkwalker to, and after it gets caught in enough of them it gets sent to a spirit world or is otherwise "defeated." Maybe the fog rolls in 10 minutes after it gets caught in a region's trap. Just something that still creates the need to avoid it but without quite so much time pressure.

Happy Halloween, thanks for your hard work! I'll keep working on getting the 6 notes for the second badge (made it to 3 so far.)

EDIT: One last comment, it doesn't feel fair that to earn the "Endless Night" option you have to participate in this event, considering how many people would probably really enjoy that but might not be able to earn it (maybe they purchase the game after the event ends...) Hopefully it's able to be earned via some permanent Darkwalker challenge or a future event.

Edited November 1, 2020 by Kohleria
clarification of gameplay idea

[Even Dark]

# Darkwalker 8H21M

I load my complete  100% run up on my channel so you can see how this works, a video says more then a screenshot, but it takes a bit time.

finally i would say play a bit with more risk 8H30M+ are possible but for the 2nd run it is ok. 8H is a time if you leave the regions directly the rest is another story.
 

there are 2 bugs

1st. no Acid timer in Milton on the main map. timer start run down that works.

2nd. if you loot with a red flare in the hand, astrid drops the flare and switch to a weapon

Edited November 1, 2020 by Even Dark

[wilky]

3 hours ago, Kohleria said:

I made an account just to comment on this thread 

First of all, the amount of effort that went into this event must have been massive. The atmosphere, especially the sound design, is really freaky. Obviously a lot went into crafting a really scary experience. It's unsettling, just as intended, and I really really appreciate that the devs didn't take the easy and cheap "jumpscare" approach that so many other games tend to do for Halloween. The actual Darkwalker creature itself looks amazing and is thoroughly terrifying with its sound and behavior. Having it approach and seeing just how close it is, without actually seeing it, is very scary. It's a bone-chilling environment overall and I think that got nailed really well as a whole. The glyphs mechanic is especially brilliant and fits with the modern-paranormal style of the event. I think the glyphs came across as the most creative aspect to me.

That said, I think it has too much of a horror-speedrun focus and not enough of a TLD-style survival focus for me personally. I LOVE Halloween and I also like horror games... but when I sign up to play a horror game, that's what I'm signing up for; when I'm signing up for a survival game, that's what I'm expecting. I really want to get both badges for this event (and have gotten 1 on my first try) but it mostly just feels stressful, like I'm just speedrunning the game and figuring out the best way to get from point A to B really quickly, over and over.

I can see how the speedrunning aspect might be appealing to people primarily playing on interloper, considering how many of them basically have to do that for a lot of their gameplay already. The Darkwalker and toxic fog is maybe an extra challenge for them that way. For me personally though this event removed a lot of the exploration and general survival mechanics that I really enjoy and look forward to in TLD. I would have liked if there was some additional focus on that, rather than on just speedrunning. For example maybe the player has to collect items to craft traps (spirit snares?) that they then lead the Darkwalker to, and after it gets caught in enough of them it gets sent to a spirit world or is otherwise "defeated." Maybe the fog rolls in 10 minutes after it gets caught in a region's trap. Just something that still creates the need to avoid it but without quite so much time pressure.

Happy Halloween, thanks for your hard work! I'll keep working on getting the 6 notes for the second badge (made it to 3 so far.)

EDIT: One last comment, it doesn't feel fair that to earn the "Endless Night" option you have to participate in this event, considering how many people would probably really enjoy that but might not be able to earn it (maybe they purchase the game after the event ends...) Hopefully it's able to be earned via some permanent Darkwalker challenge or a future event.

Also made an account to post here. I want to reply both to ^this well-written post + give feedback @Hinterland.

First off, I like the acknowledgement to Hinterland for their work to put on this Halloween event. I have to admit that I didn't like the sound of it at first, but it turned out to exceed my expectations, and I agree with you the sound design is impressive & spooky. I also enjoyed the new lines voiced by Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale. This was fun for what it was, a little holiday side-excursion.

I agree that my initial reluctance toward this Challenge mode is that it seems so contra- TLD. You're right, this is exactly a horror/speedrun. Which I found fun, I've actually been in a speedrunning games mood lately, and even some of the other challenges in this game (Hopeless Rescue, Archivist, Faithful Cartographer) have a similar speedrun feel to them, and prepared me to have an easy time in this challenge.

I actually have never played on Loper; I tend to be more of a Custom Stalker kinda guy. But I always find these "challenge" modes to be very easy because of what you described: Hinterland always removes the survival aspect from the Challenge modes. Almost all of them use like a Voyager template, so the weather is friendly and food/clothing is easy to come by. You don't even have to hunt or ration or etc. because you can just grab stuff as you go. It's even easier in this challenge with all of the loot already at the green signal fires. But the addition of the Darkwalker did not make this any more challenging, no, because his speed is so slow that I never ran into him. The spray paint is so prevalent (and allows too many uses per can) so you can always keep Lure glyphs active while you're on the move, and Ward glyphs active while you're stationary.

I also found the requirement for only 6/10 journal pages to be a low threshold for all badges. If it had been raised to 8/10, then we would've been forced to double back through at least one region (or visit BI). But as it stands at 6/10, I ran quickly & easily thru DP > CrH > CH > PV > WR/Dam > ML > FM > BR in about 1h30m and was done with the challenge in one shot.

Edited November 1, 2020 by wilky

[Dan_]

Hmmm, I've looked through the forums and nobody seems to share my frustration. I can't open the game at all on steam since the DW update, it gets stuck on the splash screen that tells you to not use TLD as a survival guide. Is there anybody else with this issue? I don't want to put on a support ticket if I don't need to. 

Edited November 1, 2020 by Dan_

[Sweetish1]

Help! I do not see the update on my switch, how can I play?

[Screenshot Pilgrim]

Been having a busy weekend outside, but had time to be there for opening night.  Chose to start in Broken Railroad because I figured the Muskeg would be a really creepy place to see.  It didn't disappoint.  As expected though, I bought it on the Mystery Lake ice, investigating the scenery.

I knew I was in trouble when the timer disappeared..

So, thanks to Hinterland for the two weeks.  I've been tempted to read everyone's posts (I admit, I peeked a bit), and am looking forward to it.

Edited November 1, 2020 by Screenshot Pilgrim

[StandardFare]

Quote

• Those that manage to find six of the ten diary pages from the EVENT CAMPS will win the Deadly Dreamer Badge.

...in one single game or using any number of tries throughout the event?

[TFA303]

-I'm enjoying this a ton. 

-Some of the Toxic Fog aspects are buggy. It didn't display the % at all on one map (FM, if I remember correctly). 

-Don't bother carrying the rifle.

- This is a perfect fit for TLD as an AU , even if it isn't what I'd want to play long-term.

-The shift from worrying about cold, food and water to managing sleep and time is a neat change-up.

[Dragonfall17]

I get a feeling darkwalker is going to be mentioned in wintermute

 

[DarKube]

2 minutes ago, Dragonfall17 said:

I get a feeling darkwalker is going to be mentioned in wintermute

 

Oh that would be nice ! It could be linked with the aurora and the fall of the civilisations !

[ManicManiac]

You know, I didn't even think to check the maps (since we can't map in the dark)... silly me.  The maps provided would definitely help to plan navigation.

Edited November 1, 2020 by ManicManiac

[tulkawen]

I don't understand what's going on with the toxic fog glyph. Is it bugged? I had several sprays 25% to 100% and none of them were working. I could do the other two glyphs, but not the fog one. Are we allowed to use it only once per game? I had successfully used it once during a run and then it stopped working I couldn't use it no matter what.

I ran into wolves in hurshed river valley and milton.

After I found 6 notes, I feel the pressure from death walker went overboard. He was literally back on my butt as soon as the lure marks were running out.

[vidholf]

On 10/30/2020 at 1:33 PM, Captain Ford said:

Is there a separate darkwalker for each region? Or is there something wrong with the way the cinder hills coal mine is oriented with respect to Pleasant Valley?

I'm currently trapped at the Pleasant Valley side of the Cinder Hills Coal Mine. If I move into Pleasant Valley from the coal mine, it takes me closer to the Darkwalker. If I enter the mine and travel deeper into it, it also takes me closer to the Darkwalker.

In my 3 play-thrus, it seems the smaller the area, the faster the DW can find you - and going through a tunnel or the dam often means the DW is near the exit you must take. I don't it's a bug, per se; more like how it handled restricted space from when you first enter. Key seems to be to get in and out asap.

[ManicManiac]

29 minutes ago, tulkawen said:

I don't understand what's going on with the toxic fog glyph. Is it bugged?...
...Are we allowed to use it only once per game?

That is what the initial loading screen and the first note we find by the burned out campfire specifically state.
 

Edited November 1, 2020 by ManicManiac