First time experience, unfiltered

[threehams]

After dying the second time, I started up a new game right away, rather than getting frustrated and quitting. Learn from each death.

I was trying very hard to avoid looking up anything about the game, instead figuring it out as I went. I had to fall back on a wiki a few times, though.

First character:

- Went with male, no particular reason.

- Picked normal difficulty.

- Liked that there was no tutorial at all. Tried all the usual keys and gradually figured out the controls.

- Didn't know the tab menu existed, so I went this entire run without using it.

- Saw that other regions were locked, and wondered how to unlock them.

- Started near the dam, and went there first. Stumbled around in the dark for a while, but eventually found a lantern and fuel.

- Saw tracks and decided to follow them. I reached the derailment, but the wind picked up dramatically. Tried taking shelter in the boxcar (and found a rifle!), but I was still freezing, so I hugged the side of a hill to cut down on the wind, and ended up running in some random direction to try to escape the winds and find shelter.

- Wasted the rest of the first day wandering around the hills, nearly freezing to death (under 40% condition). Eventually I found the forestry tower - dehydrated, starving, and freezing. I found food and started a fire, but was still dehydrated. After searching the area and wondering "why can't I just melt snow", I eventually looked it up... and realized I could, using the stove UI.

- Sprained an ankle. Didn't know what to do (just saw a first aid icon) so I bandaged it and took some painkillers until it went away.

- Found the area with three trailers. This is where I figured out that I could break down clothes and repair what I had. This is also where I ended up being encumbered for the rest of the run, because I didn't want to leave anything behind!

- Wandered back to the dam now that I had a prybar. Didn't know Fluffy was a thing, didn't run into him at all.

- Decided to follow the tracks again, and found the cabin. Was feeling pretty good at that point - lots of food, wood, equipment.

- Got killed by a wolf after leaving the cabin. The interface popped up and I just started clicking wildly, having no idea what to do. Died in a few seconds. Ended up looking up what to do for next time on a wiki - otherwise I would have needed to use trial-and-error a couple more times. There's just no time to figure out what to do during the attack.

I don't have a suggestion for the wolf attack UI. It's complex and overwhelming given there's so little time to act... but a tutorial would ruin the whole experience.

Second:

- Went with female this time.

- Again, started near the dam, and had no problems - although everything went much quicker this time.

- Immediately visited the other areas I knew about. Hit the derailment first to pick up the rifle, but it wasn't there this time (this is where I learned that some placement is random).

- Fought off a wolf without a gun after failing to run away. This time, I was ready, although he got me down to 25% or so.

One problem here is that I saw a first aid icon on the HUD, but didn't know how to deal with it. I applied some bandages and took some antibiotics, but it didn't go away, so I tried to continue bandaging.

This is the point where I did a Wiki lookup, and realized there was an entire tab menu I hadn't found yet.

The game actually let me continue to apply bandages (4, 5?) even though it did nothing.

- Got the rifle from the trapper's home and killed three wolves, after trying and failing to run away each time.

- Explored most of the map and had a hoard of stuff - hides and guts tanning, full condition warm clothing, rifle, 30 rounds. Enough to last weeks at least. Set up shop in the camp cabin.

- Decided to try to find another area. Ended up back at the dam, then the ravine.

- Met my end on the Ravine level. I reached the train wreck and found a few things. Then, I walked around it, and tried crossing the area with the waterfall. From here, I ended up falling into an area I couldn't get out of... tried skirting the edge of the waterfall and dropping down a little at a time, but died from the auto-kill after a certain point. That's been reported as a bug and closed, so this is more about feedback - I felt like the level was guiding me toward the waterfall, but it actually just led me to an area where I was artificially trapped and forced to fall to my death.

I feel like starting again right away. We all get only one first experience with the game, best to share it right away.

[Bill Tarling]

Thanks for sharing... and nice detail too

Yeah, it actually becomes quite interesting when starting out because you begin to learn little things from each death...Even to the point of looking back at some of the first videos or recordings and thinking "I can't believe how I tried to play that situation before"...

So many discoveries and learning experiences ahead... and what's really nice is the game let's you find your own play style and approach that works best for you. You can see why so many of us already have between 200 to 1000+ hours just in the sandbox already... It's an addictive experience playing

[bethany]

Very cool, thanks for taking the time to type that!

Learning and adapting is part of what makes the game so much fun for me, and I'm glad that seems to be the case with you as well. It's always great fun for me to hear about players eagerly jumping into another game after a death. Succeeding really gives you a great sense of accomplishment, doesn't it?

And a big YES to sharing your first experience! So exciting. I wish I could experience it all over again for the first time.

Welcome to the forums! Can't wait to hear about more of your adventures!