Nervous Pete

Awesome! I bought the Long Dark way back in the alpha for a pitifully small amount - think it was around eight quid - so it's a good thing that I picked up a Switch at the start of lockdown back in March to see me through the isolation, and can now properly fling some more brass Hinterland's way. I'm going to enjoy playing this curled up on the sofa, or in bed, or huddled in an abandoned box-car someplace in winter with two layers of clothing wrapped around me by the flickering light of a fire-barrell. Reckon I'll stick with the PC exclusively for my story mode run, but I'm going to have fun doing more survival mode experiments on the Switch. Anyway, I sure look forward to seeing how it runs on that little wonder, and here's all the best to Hinterland for the Switch release. Hope it moves lots. I'll be back with some thoughts and impressions of the Switch release.

[Spoilers if you've not completed Chapter One...] I came home from work eager to play, and to my muttering frustration upon browsing my emails at home discovered I had to get some photo-editing done ahead of schedule for a client. That side-job might be good for the odd holiday, but it's not always terribly convenient. Still, I'd waited patiently a tidy period for Episode 3, I could wait a couple more hours. I've now played around half an hour or so of Episode 3, having just reached Chapter Two in the community centre and man oh man, was the wait worth it. When the Redux came about for Episodes 1 & 2 I was struck at how much better the story flowed and the atmosphere maintained itself with the new animations, better script, voice acting and more human characterisation. Although there were still the tutorial aspects (albeit more cleverly disguised) I felt much more wrapped up in the story. It's kind of hard to put my finger on it... but there's something subtly and magically different about Episode 3 from what I've experienced so far. I had great fun as Will Mackenzie and I loved the exploration, the mystery, the magical realism of the bear. But I felt as if it were very much my adventure, that I was striding through a game solving problems for characters who would 'unlock' the next stage of the adventure for me. With the accomplished second-pass of Redux they became problems I really wanted to solve, people I genuinely wanted to help, and a land with it's own story I was very keen on figuring out. Everything felt more human, but still a game - and the strange and wonderful 'quiet apocalypse' concept behind The Long Dark didn't shine through quite enough for me. In Episode 3, so far, I feel I'm living a great work of fiction. It feels real to me, because everything I've done so far is everything I would have done in that situation and everything I've seen and heard felt raw and immediate. Waking up in that cosy kitchen. The woman, Molly, immediately reminding me of a great Francis McDormand character-study... home-spun warmth and cutting-through-the-bullshit, shrewd, folksy... but something brittle... perhaps dangerous if cornered. She's sizing up the situation and within minutes - organically - she smoothly addresses one of the great issues of Episode 1. Why did Astrid leave Will behind? Astrid's answer is genuine but stumbling and lacking conviction, and Molly homes in on the guilt. Immediately we know that Astrid is not a perfect person... in fact, beneath her brusque competence, there's uncertainty, and perhaps even a lack of empathy. She does the right thing, sure, but there's a degree of coldness there. I get the feeling that like a fair few doctors out there Astrid's humanity has become spread too thin. And yet I like her, I enjoy being her. There's a vulnerability, she's human. Out of the house and into the howling white to find Molly. Characters you meet in Episode 3 really are no longer static points of interest but feel like roaming people with their own agency. I suspect we were all a little harsh on the first iteration of Wintermute as the characters felt a little too much like static quest dispensers. The Redux vastly improved on this, but still it was hard to imagine them leaving the place and going about their lives when we'd moved on. As I walk through Valley of Pleasant over the bridge, towards the crossroads, I feel like Molly is already stepping out of her house to chop more wood for the fire, or to better hide her secrets. And the man in the community hall, I can't help but wonder is he suffering from mild shock...? There's something very fragile about him... and yet he's doing the best he can. He's taken charge. But like Molly he's been trapped inside too long - trapped inside the valley, trapped inside the four walls with a storm raging outside. What are their breaking points? The stalled cars, the bodies, the talk of the crash. This feels like a world that's dramatically opened up to me. Pleasant Valley feels like a place. The people feel like people. And we get the first thrilling intimations of a major disaster at hand. Like a good book I can't wait for the next chapter, but I also don't want to rush myself. I'm going to be taking this slow. When I walked into the community hall I looked at the huddled folk on the floor first to see if one of them was Will. As I walked the fields, wolves howling in the distance, I felt so jittery - a city girl unused to the wild gone strange and one who was seriously out of her depth. I hope this episode, and subsequent ones, keep to this standard of storytelling because for me it blows a lot of other games clear out of the water. So far I feel both yourself and your team can all feel very proud of yourselves. This is another leap forward for Hinterland Studios, and the Long Dark. Now if only I could stop jumping a mile at every wolf bark. ... P.S: I felt kind of good figuring out why the phones were still working too. Such a thing happened before, didn't it? A long time ago, with telegraph wires.

I'll be diligently in work here in rainy Wales, but I'm looking forward to enjoying the release trailer with a cup of coffee and a muffin when it goes live!

By 'eck I can't wait to play this. The Long Dark is arguably my favourite game of all time, so having Episode 3 only a few hours away is giddy stuff. Plus a follow-up to my favourite ever camera the X-Pro 2 is being released by Fujifilm the day after, so that's exciting as well, what with me being a very keen photographer an' all. Oooh, plus-plus the BBC are shortly releasing a period mini-series of one of my favourite ever books, The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. Flibble, plus-plus-plus Utah is being released for American Truck simulator in November, a game I love for the ability to road-trip in atmospheric settings whilst chilling out to podcasts and old-timey radio. Gibber - plus-plus-plus-plus Red Dead Redemption 2 is being released on the PC in December, and I adore westerns! Finally I'll be able to pretend I'm in Lonesome Dove - but on the computer! Err, I think I've got to sit down. One thing at a time. The Long Dark first, and the rest can wait. After all, I think it's the most hauntingly beautiful and evocative setting in a game I've ever played. I'm just imaging Astrid talking to people by the campfire now, torn by worries and guilt over Will, trapped perhaps by the need to help people, but ever feeling the urgency of her mysterious mission and her fears over the missing briefcase. The poor lass is going to have a lot on her plate, and I'm really eager to see how it plays out. I wonder if we'll see more elements of magical realism?

I don't blame you for your nervousness - it's scary! Here's a tip, when you click on the spear just hit Space right away and it'll put it in your hands immediately. You also might want to make more use of the little crawl spaces on your approach if you haven't already rather than going directly for the spear after dropping from the ledge, they sneak you round to the point where you're close to the spear and can sprint across and grab while the bear is still very much shuffling about. It isn't easy but managed it on my third try! x

I think having an affectionate tiger knocking me off my feet and out of my boots every time I return home to Pleasant Valley Farmhouse would just about finish me off.

In another play through I might pull the knife and place a pack of painkillers next to him. Won't save him but would ease him out. It's going to be a pitiless new dog eat dog world, the more acts of grace you can manage, even for wretched scum like Hobbs, the less you'll succumb spiritually to this crueller, wilder world. In reality I don't think any of us know what we'd do for sure, with emotions and adrenaline pumping through us. There's a world of difference between theorising in a comfy chair and being on the spot, in the moment, and the uncertainty, fear and anger working on you. Maybe a self-proclaimed man of eye-for-an-eye justice would be moved by pity at the last. Maybe spiritual ma would be overcome with anger from what he saw at the schoolhouse. Anyway it's a great story beat, and just what I was hoping for, being in keeping with all those British 1960s catastrophe novels I love so much.

Put on hold the Airing of Grievances!

That was fixed the previous hotfix update I believe. They removed the corpse causing the trouble.

Interesting reading people's thoughts on the Hobbs situation. I don't think you saved him even if you pulled the knife out, and I think MacKenzie knows that he's a dead man either way. It's more about granting him his wish to help relieve the pain a little and die on his own terms. I'd be very surprised if we met him down the line - though not impossible, who knows if there wasn't a fellow prisoner who circled back and helped him? I pulled the knife out. Funny thing is, there's the hint that both he and his fellow inmates didn't deliberately kill the townsfolk. They just locked them in the church. Then came the sparks, the fittings and the wires catching fire. They didn't start the fire. It was always b - no, wait. I mean, the lights in the sky did it. Hobbs didn't feel like risking his neck to try and get them out, but I like to think a couple of the other inmates at least tried. Hobbs was just indulging in a dose of gallows humour, finding a small shred of fun in baiting another man before his death. And yet, Hobbs also admits that Astrid might have survived, and there's a hint of rueful admiration for her stand. Is Hobbs a murdering psychopath? Most certainly. Did he cackle like a Batman villain as he burnt the villagers alive deliberately? I somehow doubt it. Personally I'm kind of glad we didn't keep the knife, it would have added too much of a reward game mechanic as it were for something which I purely enjoyed a really well done story beat, though perhaps I would have had MacKenzie drop the knife and with a note of disgust say that it made him want to wash his hands, or something. Even then though people would want to pick up the knife, so... yeah. I didn't return to the farmhouse. I suspected he might still be alive and I didn't want to break my own immersion as I assumed he'd die within a day or two at most. Playing the Long Dark for me is partly making your own story in how you do things, and it seemed right for MacKenzie to have no desire to return to that place. I also put down a can-opener next to Grey Mother and some tins next to fire, a stack of wood by the couch and matches within easy reach. In the kitchen everything was piled and sorted for her. I doubt she'll survive winter, though I tried to give her everything I could find, but maybe MacKenzie believes.

It's downloading things! And I'm still writing my latest chapter on that post-apocalyptic inspiration article... argh, priorities!

Oh my God. Bravura stuff. And you got the Duke of Wellington to voice it too! Serious chills, can't tell if it's excitement or the lowering of body temperature through the sheer frozen atmosphere exuding from that video. Saw a thread for this on Reddit but ignored it thinking it was just referring to some fan machina, thank crikey I looked closer when I saw it was a thread here too! Also, the reason why we've all had to leave Mystery Lake's Camp Office is because Christopher Plummer's in there rummaging through our drawers and stuff.

Amazing stuff. Frost-bitten fingers crossed, but I hope this is where the world behind the Long Dark begins to feel hauntingly real, adding a new layer of atmosphere and reflection to our sandbox experiences. It's half one in the morning here, so I'm not sure what I wrote there makes sense. But anyway. So excited - and as I thought, the rocking chair blind oldster with the rifle is a woman, knew she had a cool craggy elder Patti Smith look!

All I know is it's hard to stay upset at anyone who posts a clip from Fargo. Lets make Minnesota Nice and move on. (Bonus points for imagining Steve Buscemi swearing profusely and flailing around out on Mystery Lake. In fact, that's going to be the name of the Cabin Office corpse from now on. Steve Buscemi.)

Hi Raphael, Thank you so much for the update. For me, I never doubted that you were all fully hard at work on this game, but it is nice to hear your plans, hopes and dreams along with a progress update. I think you made the right decision on taking longer on this one. I find it reassuring that although you are broadening the scope a little, everything I read about this seems to be in keeping with an intensely personal, emotional experience. I was very excited by the new teaser footage. The sparking, flaming power lines especially! The Carrington Event has fascinated me for a long time - probably down to the cool name. I'm kinda hoping it isn't a supernatural event, there's still something immensely mysterious and potentially mythic about this scientific calamity knocking us back to a primitive level. The increased detail looks very intriguing and atmospheric, without sacrificing the evocative feeling of the art style. I'm very excited to meet characters out there too. I hope they're infrequent enough to preserve the feeling loneliness in the game, but I'm certain you know what your doing. It's rare that a game engages me this much. I adore Cities Skylines, and am having a surprising amount of fun in American Truck Simulator (a game I only bought in fond memory of a Nevada road trip) - but no game has made me conjure up my own stories in daydreams as much as this one has. Not even Sunless Sea, and that was hugely atmospheric. I think you've found some sort of magical sweet-spot in world building, narrative, art style and mechanics and I for one wouldn't be surprised if you return to your office one day to find other developers rifling through your waste-paper baskets for discarded notes. I only ask that you keep in mind the ability for a player to tell their own story through journals and keepsakes and maybe the discovery of play-session diaries and stories uploaded from other players, that can be found on bodies and in cabins. I don't ask my favourite novelists, artists and film-makes to rush their works, and I'm not going to ask you. I'd rather wait for the chance of a legendary game, rather than pressure you into giving us something compromised and undercooked. Heaps of respect. Pete