My Two Attempts at Darkwalker and my thoughts. (Spoilers for the event)

[Smellyfries]

Yesterday I attempted my very first game on Escape The Darkwalker, and I must say, this new event is extravagant!

On my first Attempt I lasted 2 hours and 4 minutes, and got 3 pages. This unlocked me the first badge which I was so glad for!

This event is something I've always secretly wanted in TLD, a mode where you are stalked by an unkillable beast and all you can do is survive.

Yes we've got the challenge with the old  bear, but that has a win scenario, Escape The Darkwalker doesn't. 

On my Second Attempt, I quickly took all the information I received from my first attempt, and then read the Update Page for  the first time before starting again, and this time,

On my second attempt, I lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes, and got 8 out of 10 pages, giving me my second badge, and unlocking the Endless night custom, and the Darkwalker feat. 

My thoughts on the Event:

This event is amazing! I love the over all feel for the environment now that it has the green mist, I love the Darkwalker, the fact that you can't see it (till it eats you that is...) and the fact that you can hear it, even if your seemingly two regions away from it. The sounds of its booming steps, the growling it makes as it gets closer, the anger you can hear as it breaks one of your runes, and the music that follows it, with it slightly creepy when it's far away, and with it being extremely distorted, and fear inducing as it stands only 650 feet away.

I like the implementation of the fog, it is a perfect mechanic to prevent a player from hiding in the same cave for as long as possible, and I like how the fog acts. At the start of  a new game, you can see almost clearly, the fog isn't that bad, you can see your surroundings, and you get a good feeling for where you are. Then, the fog begins to grow, it grows larger, grows closer, and as it begins to get hard to see, you hear it stomping far behind you, you may be faster than it, but every turn you make, it gets closer, every hill you climb, it gets closer, and as you strive to make it to the next campfire, the wind starts, and it becomes faster.

I must say, the wind is the one thing that annoyed me, and after a while I realized it was a ability of the Darkwalker to try and slow you down, and every campfire I strived to reach, the wind picked up with it, and slowed me down further. I think this is the one time that the wind was programed to always be in your face in the direction your heading, and the only time the wind made you faster, was when you were walking towards the Darkwalker, which made it more nerve-racking.

So to sum up, I love this event, and I'm giving my greatest thanks to Hinterland for making this event a thing, and making it so amazingly, it gives a great challenge, that can be overcome using strategy, and smarts, but also provides the fear, and constantly puts you on edge during the entire time, simply because you don't know where it is. Thank you Hinterland, and thank you to anyone who reads this!

[TFA303]

16 hours ago, Smellyfries said:

 

I must say, the wind is the one thing that annoyed me, and after a while I realized it was a ability of the Darkwalker to try and slow you down, and every campfire I strived to reach, the wind picked up with it, and slowed me down further. I think this is the one time that the wind was programed to always be in your face in the direction your heading, and the only time the wind made you faster, was when you were walking towards the Darkwalker, which made it more nerve-racking.

 

I thought the same thing about the wind. Glad someone else noticed it, too. 

[Smellyfries]

I actually love the wind feature to be honest, and now I'm not annoyed at it anymore due to the fact that's an actually feature, not just bad luck which I always seem to have. It's a hidden trick of the Darkwalker that many may pass as "Bad luck," glad others thought of this too!

[mfuegemann]

I completed the dark walker at the second try too, but man, was it close. After my first run ending in the Ravine because of a missing rope to go down to BI, I wanted to have a look and started the next try at BI. As this start turned out good, I just continued with some close passings with the dark walker at the return from Broken Railroad and Desolatoin Point. I found the last page at Hushed River and almost gave up. I had too few coffee and spray cans and no green campfires on my way to the ritual circle.
I gave it a try, though and managed to pass some of the maps with only 1 or 2 minutes of breathable air left. I had to use the fog clear sign at Paradise Meadows and then bad luck struck. Just before the climb to Timberwolf, I got food poisoning from a 52% fish can, with no medication left despite of one stim.
I was down to one spray can on re-entering Timberwolf and had only 2 spray shots and 10% condition left entering Ash Canyon. 
I arrived at the circle with about 5% condition left and got lucky at last.

By the way, I had no time to notice any strange behaviour about the wind. I was too scared. Thank You for the explanation.

 

[Smellyfries]

mfuegemann, I understand your fear towards the end. I was originally talking about the 4days of night version, but in response to the official challenge, It is even more terrifying in my opinion. I found that the small changes I realized at the start were scary, the Darkwalker now moves in game time, he gets faster the more pages you collect, and ultimately gaining enough speed to easily outrun you in the end. It is terrifying, and somehow I beat the official challenge on my first try, and I must say, I love the tension as soon as you get the  last note and need to reach the circle. When I heard that roar after you get the 10th page, I knew that I had to be perfect from then on, and I was everything but perfect. I literally almost died, by falling down a valley in Timberwolf, and crawled to the circle with only 3% condition. I knew that you take damage when he is nearby, so I placed down the banish rune, used all three of my emergency stims, and  took a 3 hour nap, before waiting for the inevitable to arrive.

I give the new official Challenge a 10/10 

I give the 4days of Night challenge a 10/10 for snoopiness 

[Glflegolas]

Currently on my second attempt (my first one got cut off by a run-in with a pack of Timberwolves), and have collected all the diary pages except the one at Timberwolf Mountain. Fortunately, I have plenty of coffee (I found two cans by rummaging around, having a total of eight cups in my inventory) and I'm going to need every last one, methinks. I'm not looking forward to climbing the rope into Timberwolf Mountain, but I don't see getting to Ash Canyon from Timberwolf to be too bad.

[conanjaguar]

I have tried Darkwalker one or two times. However, I am such a scaredy-cat that I will make a beeline for the nearest green fire and just sleep there until it eats me. Yeah. Pathetic.

[Bearimpaler101]

I've tried once or twice but got lost in hushed river valley

[conanjaguar]

My brother tried Darkwalker yesterday. He started in Milton and grabbed the diary page at Paradise Meadows, then dropped everything, including his meds. That proved to be a fatal mistake when he sprained everything trying to get to Mystery Lake, and the Darkwalker devoured him.

[hozz1235]

I need to play this again - don't think I've touched it since it first came out.

[Sgt Socks]

On 5/23/2022 at 7:48 PM, conanjaguar said:

I have tried Darkwalker one or two times. However, I am such a scaredy-cat that I will make a beeline for the nearest green fire and just sleep there until it eats me. Yeah. Pathetic.

And I'm such a scaredy cat that I won't even try it! 😄