Ooof, think I have enough of "scary games" for like... ten years

[Mroz4k]

I dont handle scary games too well. Its a bit better with scary movies but not all that much. I blame it on a trauma of watching Star infantry at the age of 8. Thanks, dad!

Anyways, I started the event when it came out, but only played about 40 mins (Desolation point bit), determined to "try it out". But then, work came across, the epidemic and such keeps me busy and extremely tired after work... so I havent really played this amazing game mode event for the entirety of the event.

Finally, 2 days before the event ends, oppurtunity to play for a couple of hours presents itself! (I cant blame it on work entirely, in my free time I also raid competitively on World of Warcraft classic, and as it just so happens, its a speedrun week. That is a good thing, cuz it actually means I dont need to play the game until the speedrun raid happens, which is tommorow, and all preparations are done)

Back to the land of nightmarish Canada!

So, I started out in Desolation point. Reading ahead of the time what the event is about, I decided to plan my route: Desolation point, Broken highway, coastal highway, transition mine, Pleasant Valley speedrun, Timberwolf mountain, back through Pleasant Valley to Mystery Lake, then speedrun through Forlorn Muskeg, Broken railroad. I was sure that at this point, I would die, get caught or just not find it challenging enough. Yea, what cheerful thoughts!

Anyways, here I am, I spawn right before the Zone Coal mine - the one that acts like a convenient tunnel from one side to the other of the zone. I decide that I have enough time, Darkwalker aint here, and I got enough warm to get to the ruined church. I hike up there, and find my first ever can of glyphs, besides the one I got at the start. Off to a good start! Im sure these cans are very rare!

Time to enter the mine. I am determined to load my pockets with coal - afterall, early on, my clothes were just better looking rags - and its constant night, it will be pretty darn cold! So, I burn a couple of twigs I collected and turned it into a bunch of torches, using accelerant I found in the church. I link the torches and come out of the other end of the tunnel. I am very, very affraid of bumping into a bear, but it seems there are no wolves, no predators around... didnt realize I had a predator grace period! Time to take advantage of it. Thought for a moment of visiting wolf-cave, but saner mind prevailed. Off to Hibernia I go! 

I loot it fairly quickly, but stop by the trailers as well to get some clothes. Pretty meager finds. Well, except for safe, which yeilded almost destroyed Mukluks! Im to worried with how real time movement of darkwalker works, that I didnt try to fix em, or tried to sleep at all... I figured I would have to conserve energy as much as I could, and regen it via carefully boiled coffees and energy drinks... 

Leaving Hibernia and timer runs out. Pretty damn cold, bad clothes didnt get better. Found some uncooked coffee, and some energy drinks. Not much worth. Well, one more can of glyphs. 

Next stop, Rikken ship. I think for a moment, I hear Darkwalker coming from the other end of Desolation, from where I unltimately have to go. Hmm, I think this is a good time to use Lure glyph, lure it to this end of the map as I walk around it in a wide arch, looting. I pop it down, and move towards the Rikken ship. I try map - ooh, I can see maps, no markers tho - except for... campfire? OOOH, those campfires! I chart it after Rikken. My poisonous gas says 12 mins... plenty of time, right?

Found campfire. First note! Picked it up, didnt think too much about it... I guess these are collectibles, cool. I knew there were two badges, wanted to earn em both on first run, prove I am still pretty decent at this game! 

Reflecting back -  very glad I picked it up. 

8 mins... plenty of time to loot the desolation lighthouse, right? Lighthouse yielded another can, some actual clothes, but no prybars so no way to force open the real nice goodies. 

4 mins for gas... ok, time to go. Actually very encumbered. Worried to stop to lighten up, but I do it. Darkwalker is after me, getting closer - broke my lure a while ago. I pop another one down. I am walking when 1 min on a gas I realize, there is no way Im making it ot the mine. Using dispell fog at the first location... not a good start... but I made it through to the mine with 8 mins left, still very encumbered, and since I had the time, I stopped by Katias and looted there. No weapon! Not what Im used to. Ouch. Another lure down, and its time to leave.

This concluded my first run, then comes 12 days of responsibilities, till I could get into Darkwalker again!

-------------------------------
Its 8 PM, pitch black outside and inside as well. Time to play some spooky games! Darkwalker, fight me!

Logged in. Crumbling Highway. I dont like wolves here. Darkwalker stands in my way, another lure goes down. Gotta throw out cans that are used, they are pretty heavy. Lots of cans tho - thats a good thing! Coal paid off, and since this was more of a trial run, I use some lantern oil I found in a mine to light a fire quickly, and pop 8 hours of fuel on it. Loads of coal, and very encumbered, need ot lighten up. Risked sleeping for 8 hours. Darkwalker is very close, but I am fully rested again! Lure goes down, and I decide to go in an arch over the ice.

It must still be grace period because its quiet, besides the Darkwalker, crunching metal in the distance. Found a firestarter on a dead guy. Not bad, another fire, 2 hours, sleep to heat up mostly. I decided not to go for the basement, it would put me close to the Darkwalker with potentially not having a way out. Time to leave. I spent some time fooling around, popped a few more hours of firewood on fire (got loads, no harm done!) to make some 8 torches, and to use the 2 pcs of cloth to fix up some of my items. Failed, what a surprise! I used safehouse glyph just in case while fixing the items. Now, with Darkwalker on my heels again, and 8 mins left or so on a gas, its time to leave the Crumbling highway, and never return! (in this lifetime).

Coastal Highway... we meet again! But that story will come some other time!

[Mroz4k]

Before I continue on the story, I would like to put down some review of this event!

I finally got to play Halloween event for "The Long dark!" I usually miss them bcs of isues like exams, work or other engagements! This one is significantly longer, so happy to play it! I love that it is not so time-restricted like the 4DON!

Now, Darkwalker is pretty, pretty damn unsettling. Being hunted by a malevolent entity, it was so surreal!

But, if you use your tools a lot, it is not that difficult to avoid him! Its more about planning the route through it, not screwing up with the planning for gas, and just being able to plan your loot route well enough to make things efficient. I META* the crap out of this game, so I am overal pretty good at knowing where the best goodies are, and how to loot them fast and efficiently. 

As you will see later on in my walkthrough, putting down Lures a lot and often keeps a very serious distance between Darkwalker and the player. If I can suggest one thing, it would be that once Darkwalker finds and breaks the Lure glyph, he becomes pissed off, and moves faster for a short period of time. This would make it pretty suicidal to pop lures down when he is kinda close, as it would mean he breaks them and then beelines for the player. 

Of course, when Lure breaks, and you are in a position where it makes Darkwalker have some distance from you, its always the time to put down another Lure. Lure, Lure, Lure! The safehouse glyph is useful here and there, but you can use Lure fairly well to be able to sleep for 8 hours and regain the precious energy simply by luring the Darkwalker out of the way away. It usually is best to use it when you enter the region. I would use the dispell fog when you are in a huge region like Coastal, or better yet, huge transition region like Pleasant valley. Or, keeping it for the rainy day! 

Almost died once. Dont understimate the survival elements of the base game.

Overall, it was so much fun! And stressful too. I think I had enough of scary for a long time. I actually stopped after reaching my two badges - in a first game I tried, and one I messed up quite a bit at the start! Now I am stopping there, gotta work tommorow... but I might still give it a try after the raid I have tommorow. 

Without much embelishment, one of the best gaming experiences I had this year, and the year before that! This could,  no joke, be a standalone game on its own, and I believe it would be a huge hit once it becomes popularized between the YouTube famous. It is not that original, but it was so originally made, and so seamless with the actual game, while delivering an entirely different experience then the standard game!  

 

[Mroz4k]

Had a bit more time today, and the event ends! Had to give it another shot! Going big this time!

Hmmm... time to speedrun this puppy! I aim high, for the 10 pages run. Desolation point spawn. No dawdling now, looted church, mine, hibernia - got really lucky! Safe had a ragged expedition parka, which I promptly repaired to 70%. Got the best-in-slot gloves in one of the trailers, and made it to the fire by rikken. Oh, also decently quality revolver. And some gas, and lots of coal. Basically I was pretty set. Entered Rikken just to check the room with the corpse - nothing of interest. Balaclave by campfire. Got my first campfire page... This is going so well! Made it to the coal mine with 2 mins of gas left - didnt waste my Dispell fog this time! This is going great!

The plan: Desolation point, Coastal, PV, Timberwolf mountain. PV again going for Radio tower. Winding river and ML - where i would instantly go Ravine. Billy-goat down the ravine, grab the bearkiller pistol, and billy-goat down the slope of Echo hill 8 to Bleak Inlet. Going straight for the campfire and out of BI. Crossing into FM, then going straight for BR. Get a campfire in BR, then going back to FM. passing thru FM to ML. Picking ML Campfire now and direct to Mountain town. After going straight for the campfire, navigating to Hushed river valley. There, the run would end. 

Back to the run. CHighway went well - went for the campfire, didnt go for Quenset this time as that almost killed me last time (Spoilers for the above story!). After looting a Fishing hut with a skull inside (spoopy), and campfire (ammo, coffee, was able to repair some of the clothes as I cooked all 5 cups of coffee) I went for log sort then went up the trailer path towards Connector mine. Tried to find the abandonned lookout but after shooting 3 rounds to scare the same wolf away, I could not find it in the mist. 

Went thru the mine, rested, topped off, got probably a 3rd stimpac (these will be super useful if I need to do a lot of climbing on TWM) and topped off on coal I burned reheating and sleeping outside. Darkwalker never even made it close to me, as I always lured him to the edges of where I took a big turn in my pathing. 

PV started well, too. Dropped lure, and drank a coffee while sprinting towards the birch forest campfire. Gotta be fast here if I dont want to waste dispell fog here, later. As I make it to the campfire, I sleep 1 hr to boil 1l of water in two cans. I loot the place (another revolver! Time to live out my Wild West fantasies!) I do some mending on items and prepare to move out. I take my note.

I check my notes. 3 notes picked up.

REST IN PIECES
(you loot one note at the start of the game, then one at each campfire. Turns out, I read the CH one, but never picked it up. RIP perfect run)