Finally an ACTUAL Survival Game

[illanthropist]

Came across this title on Steam last week as in the past the only survival titles found involved either zombie apocalypses, jurassic parks, the God Awful Sims Castaway or dare I say it Man Vs Wild starring the cringe-worthy Mr Grylls, nothing against the man personally but he'd sell you the steam of his **** if a corporate paid him and they found a way to stamp his name on it.

I've not been playing long enough to give full feedback as I've only explored less than half the game in tourist mode but thought I'd share my thoughts so far:

Graphics

It's great, not AAA 3D requiring a $2000 video card stunning but a really artistic yet immersive feel to it, the lighting, sunsets, scenery and weather effects all outstanding, some models and effects have a kind of graphic novel feel to them. OK the corpses all look the same but who cares just only rifling their pockets anyway, in fact there's only one tiny element I don't like and that's the confetti effect used in fire-lighting and dust particles indoors. I did say it was tiny!

The Audio

Wow, just wow I can't emphasise enough how much this draws me into the game, the level of detail in ambient noises from crackling fires, howling gales to soft breezes, squeaking play swings and even zipper noises when looking in your pack. I find myself listening to the game just as much as viewing it for as it's key to environmental awareness and hazard perception as much as immersion.

Gameplay

Whilst it's probably not everyone's cup of tea if they are used to fast paced fps heroes carrying a nuclear arsenal in their johnny pocket or MMO's where you spend a lifetime or pay cheque playing dress up there's a lot of depth that isn't visible from the start. Even though it seems slow paced, a "hiking simulator" I've heard it referred to as, you can't just switch off and trudge along as that can change in a heartbeat as I found out in my first playthrough.

My experience so far is only from tourist mode or Pilgrim but even then you need to plan ahead and be constantly alert my only concern is there is just TOO MUCH stuff and I find myself spending a great deal of time working out where to store everything, an ill informed opinion but definitely think loot needs tuning.

I actually preferred that in my second play through I went for nye three weeks before finding a rifle despite searching the whole of Mystery Lake, the damn and ravine yet I found my body weight in soda and candy bars.

Almost can't wait for my next death so as to move onto Pilgrim mode where I can eat my own words instead of dodgy granola bars.

Quality of Life

Not much I can think of here but navigation and logs, whilst I've resisted the urge to search online for maps and I wouldn't want a fully fledged one in game, a very rudimentary version with a fog of war would be a great asset alongside maybe a compass, I've tried using tinder plugs as way markers but they seem to vanish. The ability to export/print your journal would be awesome too.

User Interface & HUD

Not my favourite elements of the game, for the most part I've played using a keyboard and mouse and only really for a few minutes using an XBox PC Controller which I found a little unintuitive and switched back to desktop use.

Apologies if this sounds a little HCI OCD but I find myself doing way too many mouse miles and unnecessary button clicks to get through play, I feel some streamlining needs to be done.

Customisation also, as said before I was unsure what any of the controller options were so I reverted back to kbmouse but for example pressing RBumper to sprint felt uncomfortable, pressing Y to open inventory and a different button to close it.

Another example of button bloat is the survival panel taking up a keybind/action button which would be better suited to a less detailed HUD and use the key to quick deploy a bedroll, opening up the survival panel to check my level of dehydration or access the bedroll button is just grrr.

Most frustrating is stripping down for rest, OK each gear slot has it's own soundfx but swinging the mouse back and forth with 18 button presses each time I get my head down and wake up again is extremely irritating, there has to be a more elegant solution for this.

Likewise, the inventory panel I think could benefit from a place button as well as drop command, to clarify instead of running round a cabin to drop items where I want them organised I could

>place>qty>move pointer>execute

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks there's a place for everything and everything has it's place, dropping a stack of numerous curing skins on a table is currently impossible.

Final note on the HUD, some information fades out which I feel would be better served permanent such as length of torches, lamps and number of rounds loaded.

OVERALL

This is well on the way to becoming my favourite game ever and I hope to be playing it for months and years to come as new chapters and zones unfold. The team must obviously have a passion for the outdoor lifestyle to deliver this title, my only worry is that feedback regarding more of this and that could ruin the experience, no semi automatic spear launchers for hunting or TNT for fishing, just KISS, use whats there already examples perhaps rifle rounds as accelerants and birch bark as a medicinal brew

Best Regards

The Armchair Bushcrafter

PS

Whose idea was it to not let me leave the toilet seats up?

[Boston123]

LOL

The Long Dark isn't a "survival game". Sure, it has aspects of survival, but those aspects are basically very far removed from reality. Oh, and any time "reality" gets brought up on these forums, you WILL get reminded that TLD is primarily a "story" game. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, but calling it a survival game is more than a little incorrect.

Of course, this is coming from the person that considers very, VERY few games as "survival games".

[illanthropist]

LOL

The Long Dark isn't a "survival game". Sure, it has aspects of survival, but those aspects are basically very far removed from reality. Oh, and any time "reality" gets brought up on these forums, you WILL get reminded that TLD is primarily a "story" game. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, but calling it a survival game is more than a little incorrect.

Of course, this is coming from the person that considers very, VERY few games as "survival games".

Of course it's a survival game, it's NOT a survival simulator.

You have to take care of the bodies basic needs, food, water, shelter, clothing, first aid and even though only playing a short time I'm fully aware of the "reality" calorific intake, degradation of tools, weight of items etc.

Like I said survival GAME not SIM

[Boston123]

In that case, most of the games labelled "survival" on Steam are also "survival games".

TLD isn't anything particularly different, in those regards. The only real things that sets TLD apart from the others is single-player mode and the art-style.

[illanthropist]

In that case, most of the games labelled "survival" on Steam are also "survival games".

TLD isn't anything particularly different, in those regards. The only real things that sets TLD apart from the others is single-player mode and the art-style.

and the lack of zombie, terrorists, dinosaurs, post apocalyptic madmen.

Would you feel better if I mentioned the game desperately needs a spear and bow crafting is just stupid :lol:

[ChillPlayer]

In that case, most of the games labelled "survival" on Steam are also "survival games".

TLD isn't anything particularly different, in those regards. The only real things that sets TLD apart from the others is single-player mode and the art-style.

TLD is different in another very important aspect that makes it unique among other so-called survival games: it's unforgiving and mistakes are fatal. In all other survival games I know you either have saves or just get respawned when you die. This constant stress and fear for your virtual life that you will loose if you die, paired with what is a thread to your life (hunger, freezing and so on) is what makes TLD in my book THE survival game.

[nicko]

This game is indeed a unique survival game, so many things can make you survive or perish early.

You need Hunt and scavenge for food and water, find shelter and clothing are a must also. Harvest/collect wood to cook and keep warm and not freeze to death. Craft tools to make life easier. This game only seems to get better with each new update.

[LordStarwalker]

...

Would you feel better if I mentioned the game desperately needs a spear and bow crafting is just stupid :lol:

Oh, a spear weapon. I like this idea.

Also, I too am of the opinion that TLD is a survival game. A very original survival game and one that looks to soon include some very original story episodes.

[cowboymrh]

This game has very rapidly become one of my favorite games ever. One of the main reasons is the fact that there are no zombies, no wizards, no aliens, no dragons, no space ships, ............. just the eloquent unforgiving simplicity of you against the hostile elements and nature.

I've been on the internet since it was "just text - no pictures", and I've been gaming for almost 30 years back when Novalogic's first chopper game had mountains that were made from green lined triangles.

Of all the games I've played, there have been very few as enjoyable as The Long Dark.

I can easily see this game years from now, consisting of 20 connected maps, different seasons, different climates, perhaps a dozen different intriguing story modes as well as personal challenges to attempt!!!

The developers have produced a great core game to work, and start with. If done well, and kept on track, The Long Dark could become one of the great titles of all time!!