What makes the long dark special to you.

[Choppy]

.

[Leeanda]

The beautiful scenery,the music, the fact it can change from peaceful to chaos in the blink of an eye and no two journeys are ever the same.

[UpUpAway95]

The art style, for sure; and the custom settings menu (i.e. being able to tweak the game difficulties in a hundred different ways is what keeps the game interesting for me).  Finally, the little historical touches that take me back to my childhood (e.g. my dad had a hatchet that looked almost exactly like the one in the game and a WWII surplus Lee Enfield.  I'm sure I had a brown ski sweater that looked very much like the one in the game and red nylon mittens.  The list just goes on and on.)  For me, it's a great romp into the past - growing up in Canada.

[hozz1235]

Not in any particular order...

1. The simple UI
2. The artistic landscape
3. That sense of safety and security when you are well stocked, fed and warm.  Knowing that could end any moment.
4. Music!!

There is also something that's hard to put your finger on that keeps me coming back and playing for thousands of hours.  No other game has even come close to the hours played.

Welcome to the forums, @Choppy!  What do you like about TLD?

[xanna]

No zombies 😁

Welcome survivor @Choppy! Happy to have you here.

[hozz1235]

Just now, xanna said:

No zombies 😁

Oh, the dead bodies are there, they just haven't arisen yet!  I heard that was the secret project Raph was working on...JUST KIDDING!

[xanna]

My serious answer: the light. Obsessed with the lighting in this game.

[Third Try]

The fact that it's so brutally difficult and that it takes actual skill, experience and knowledge to be able to play the game at higher difficulties.  I love that it has permanent death, such extreme inventory limits, realistic crafting times, good story... few survival games come close.

  It can be really pretty too, and the music is awesome.  Like the game Firewatch, it feels like you're in a painting half the time.

  That it is so relaxing and peaceful, yet can keep you on edge and make you panic.

[ManicManiac]

My thoughts on what makes this game so special for me:  

On 10/4/2023 at 6:03 AM, ManicManiac said:

I like that this game isn't afraid to punish the player for poor choices/mistakes.

On 7/14/2023 at 9:32 PM, ManicManiac said:

I've always really loved that this game is willing to punish us for mistakes.  I love this game because of the struggle.  It's much the same reason that I've never really used feats; I'm just not interested in things that make life easier for my survivor.   
[text removed for brevity]
Anyway, this is just how I approach it.  I see a game that just requires us to be careful and deliberate... so when I run into things like this, I don't see something that needs to be changed.  I see something that I need to get better at.

On 7/15/2020 at 3:09 PM, ManicManiac said:

I love the struggle...

  

[xanna]

How customisable the game is. I've never played a game where I could tweak so many aspects to my personal preference. And it still is balanced, too! In fact, the careful balancing of game play is another things that feels special about TLD.