What made you fall in love with TLD?

[AdamvR]

My question is not about what you like most about the game, but, if you can recall (and provided that you have fallen in love with the game;-)) were some of your first impressions, after which you felt that "this is the beginning of a beautiful..."

For me, there were two things, that I recall:
- one was how gorgeous I found the entire world, with the consistent watercolor-style artwork everywhere. I had been wondering if there actually is someone (Raph?) behind, painting actual watercolor images, that are scanned in and wrapped on all elements of the 3D modelling. Also, the aurora felt just as magical (even a bit more magical...), than the real thing.
- the second was the wind. I just felt it to be extremely realistic. How all the environment is responding to the wind, you can almost "see" it, and even more, as it affects my speed, it really felt like pressing against some strong force. Also, as it has a clear direction, thus changing your angle of walking in it, changes how much it fights you back. I live in the Netherlands IRL, and it is not difficult to have strong experience with this phenomenon here - i found TLD to be extremely realistic in this aspect.

What were your first triggers?

Edited April 5, 2023 by AdamvR
typo

[xanna]

I was already looking for a lonely survival game that wasn't based on zombies, that was a specific itch I had and TLD fit exactly what I wanted. But the one thing that made me go from loving to being in love was the light. Everything about the light: sunrises and sunsets, the glow of firelight, the way the light streams through gaps, the moonlight on clear nights... it's so beautiful and feels incredibly realistic and really invokes the outdoors to me. I'll never get tired of the Long Light.

[hozz1235]

I agree with both of you:  sights, sounds, and one of my favorites - the music.

Also, the simplicity of play - you don't need to memorize 30 key bindings/combinations to play the game effectively.

[Moosemaster]

The fact that I had nothing else to do at the time and it was a cool looking game

[Leeanda]

The feeling of peace and serenity you get walking across the.dazzling snow ,with the sound of nothing but the occasional piece of music that's always in synch with my mood.. I often stop and just look around when desolation is playing quietly in the background.   The views are simply stunning .

[elpresidente]

Definitely the moment when the aurora first appeared in Episode 2 at the Broken railroad. It was just a perfectly arranged moment, with Methuselah giving you a brief respite, the lights above you and the sound, and then walking down towards the Maintenance shed and seeing the green wolf. Excising and scary.

[ridankrad]

The music and art style, and the way they interact. For example, the sunrises and sunsets are beautifully presented in the watercolor aesthetic. But the game also has themes that play to announce both: an uplifting theme for the sunrise and an ominous theme for sunset. Another example are the blizzards being absolutely blinding and terrifying, and often prompting music to fit the tone. Basically, in a word: atmosphere.

[UpUpAway95]

Big Mass Effect fan... so, initially drawn to the game after finding out Mark Meer and Jen Hale also did the voice acting in TLD.  Their initial encounter in Wintermute Redux had me sold.  Absolutely cannot wait until the two of them get another scene together (I hope at least) in Ep. 5.

The artwork is very reminiscent of several "Group of Seven" works

Next, the ability to create a lot of variety between runs by using custom options without resorting to mods.  Once I discovered the custom menu, I was 100% hooked.

and finally, what's not to love about a game set in the wilderness I grew up with, rode kms in (trail riding on horseback) and what is now pretty close to my own backyard.

[conanjaguar]

I wasn’t really looking for TLD in particular… I hadn’t ever heard of the survival genre before that fateful day when TLD was recommended for me on Steam for no reason whatsoever (besides playing 5 minutes of Ark).

I want to say that, over time, I became enthralled with the quiet beauty of walking through a snowy landscape under a starry sky… unfortunately, the moment that really hooked me on TLD was fighting and killing that first wolf in Wintermute with that scrap of jagged metal i pulled out of Will’s hand . I never really got over how “cool” that was.

Nonetheless, I now appreciate the atmosphere and beauty of Great Bear Island much more than back then. That is the reason I come back to this game again and again.

Even so, I do enjoy the survival mechanics. Of all the survival games out there, only Subnautica and The Forest have even come close as a potential replacement.

[xanna]

6 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

one of my favorites - the music

The music in TLD is very special. For me, it's not the music itself (although it is gorgeous) is the fact that the game is silent most of the time, but plays music now and then, when more intense things are happening in the game. It works like music in a movie, and so it really adds something in a way that it wouldn't if it were all the time. I don't usually appreciate music in game at all, I always turn it off if I can. I find background music very tiring and honestly a bit strange. But in TLD it's not background music, it's proper incidental music, part of the storytelling.

[CoffeeCup]

The soundscape. Wind howling like the wolves, doors rattling, snow crunching - it's immersive. When Will complains to himself about the cold, I FEEL cold in sympathy with him; it's personal.

[CoffeeCup]

18 hours ago, conanjaguar said:

I wasn’t really looking for TLD in particular… I hadn’t ever heard of the survival genre before that fateful day when TLD was recommended for me on Steam for no reason whatsoever (besides playing 5 minutes of Ark).

I want to say that, over time, I became enthralled with the quiet beauty of walking through a snowy landscape under a starry sky… unfortunately, the moment that really hooked me on TLD was fighting and killing that first wolf in Wintermute with that scrap of jagged metal i pulled out of Will’s hand . I never really got over how “cool” that was.

Nonetheless, I now appreciate the atmosphere and beauty of Great Bear Island much more than back then. That is the reason I come back to this game again and again.

Even so, I do enjoy the survival mechanics. Of all the survival games out there, only Subnautica and The Forest have even come close as a potential replacement.

TLD is like walking through a painting. A deadly, deadly painting. Heh.

[CoffeeCup]

On 4/5/2023 at 11:33 AM, xanna said:

I was already looking for a lonely survival game that wasn't based on zombies, that was a specific itch I had and TLD fit exactly what I wanted. But the one thing that made me go from loving to being in love was the light. Everything about the light: sunrises and sunsets, the glow of firelight, the way the light streams through gaps, the moonlight on clear nights... it's so beautiful and feels incredibly realistic and really invokes the outdoors to me. I'll never get tired of the Long Light.

I'm so sick of zombies. Personally, I was hoping the developers would make sasquatch real. More cryptids, please!

[Leeanda]

And the white stag.... As rare as the moose if not rarer..

[AdamvR]

49 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

And the white stag.... As rare as the moose if not rarer..

is there a white stag??? (only having a bit more than 1000 hours in it but never met...)

[Leeanda]

1 minute ago, AdamvR said:

is there a white stag??? (only having a bit more than 1000 hours in it but never met...)

The one that's in story mode... Didn't you see that or haven't you played it yet?

[AdamvR]

1 hour ago, Leeanda said:

The one that's in story mode... Didn't you see that or haven't you played it yet?

Oh, thanks! Makes sense. I'm waiting for ep5 to be out, and only then will play storymode.

[hozz1235]

On 4/5/2023 at 6:39 PM, xanna said:

The music in TLD is very special. For me, it's not the music itself (although it is gorgeous) is the fact that the game is silent most of the time, but plays music now and then, when more intense things are happening in the game. It works like music in a movie, and so it really adds something in a way that it wouldn't if it were all the time. I don't usually appreciate music in game at all, I always turn it off if I can. I find background music very tiring and honestly a bit strange. But in TLD it's not background music, it's proper incidental music, part of the storytelling.

This!  As said, in other games, I will usually turn the background music to a very low volume, but not with TLD - it is subtle when playing and infrequent enough to not make it an annoyance.  I just wish we could turn UP the volume of radios playing that great classical music during aurorae.

[Kranium]

The artistic vision, and the great balance of exploration + some decently realistic survival mechanics. I was hooked really quick.

 

That said, I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg, in the sense that I see how this could be an alpha version of something that could be potentially massive.

[xanna]

18 hours ago, hozz1235 said:

I just wish we could turn UP the volume of radios playing that great classical music during aurorae.

Pop this in another window and crank it up. It's one of the Goldberg Variations, by JS Bach, pretty sure

 

[xanna]

Of course it's a Canadian pianist! How lovely. ❤️

[xanna]

Back on topic, the Canadianness of TLD is definitely very endearing. You can feel the love for Canada coming through the game and that's so lovely.

[JMK]

Glenn Gould is a reference for Bach, beyond the Goldberg Variations, if you appreciate it, you can go for his version Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier 😉