Morrick

The other night I decided to continue an old saved game from 2019. I had triggered the save by going to bed after taking a herbal tea to induce the Improved Rest benefit. Unexpectedly, a fun, useful thing happened: the countdown for this benefit remained frozen at 18 minutes left. After another day of exploration, and being almost ready to go to sleep another time, I took this screenshot, and "Improved Rest" was still there. I slept 9 hours, woke up, saw the message "You woke up fully rested", went on with my surviving business, and at the end of another day the situation was still the same. Still an Improved Rest benefit with 18 minutes left. (No herbal teas were consumed in the meantime, naturally.) I have of course no way to confirm for certain that during all the nights I've slept since I resumed the save the Improved Rest benefit actually kicked in, but my survivor's initial condition (45%) surely improved really quickly. After saving the game again at the end of my session, and reloading the save, however, the Improved Rest benefit disappeared. Probably a tiny bug that solved itself… I suppose it was nice 'til it lasted!

I've been playing The Long Dark for four years now, and here's a detail I've always overlooked until now. The Hunting Lodge in Broken Railroad is called… the Mystery Lake Lodge. *raises brow*

Interesting. I've been to Blackrock Prison a few times with 3 different survivors, but never encountered a bear within the prison's premises. Two of my survivors were on Pilgrim difficulty, one on Voyageur. Is it perhaps because I was playing on easier difficulties? (By the way, the wolves trapped inside the prison's perimeter are annoying as all hell with their constant howling. I tend to avoid hunting wildlife if it's not strictly necessary, but I had to make an exception here!)

I was in the Old Spence Family Homestead, preparing to read some research books and go to bed, when I noticed that the missing planks here create an outline that looks like a hatchet (but only if looked from this angle). Fitting.

Awesome preparations! Merry Christmas and happy festivities to you all!

Nice screenshots! You made me want to return there…

A related small rant: why can't I drop/throw items off a cliff? This is a potentially useful mechanic when you have to climb down a cliff and you're encumbered (not because you're tired, but simply because you're exceeding carrying capacity). And you're encumbered because you've found resources and tools while going up and now you want to bring them down (typical example: the return trip after going to the summit in Timberwolf Mountain). I would be OK with the item losing some condition just to have this feature.

Bravo. After such amazing contribution, I don't think I can add much, but one important thing that makes me routinely return to this game is that I find it quite therapeutic. It has truly helped me manage my stress levels, which have been steadily rising for the past 3 years or so. A long session in Survival Mode is a great way of unwinding for me at the end of the day. And that's not trivial. So many games are designed to be 'entertaining' but end up making me annoyed or frustrated. I don't want to be annoyed or frustrated — there's everyday life for that, sadly. In a game I seek wonder and escapism, and that's what I find in The Long Dark, together with all the things already mentioned by @jeffpengin beautiful detail. Cheers!

Sorry for spamming the thread, but I was too happy not to share. After so many attempts gone awry, I finally reached the summit of Timberwolf Mountain! 🎉🏔️ (When I got the Steam achievement, I was frankly surprised to read that only 3.7% of users got it. I thought that percentage would be a bit higher by now.) (Previously, on LOST…)

A morning's progression in Ash Canyon. The light in this game never ceases to amaze me.

This is the worst orange soda I've ever drunk in 4 years of playing this game.

Given the title of the thread, take this as tongue-in-cheek, but here's my contribution: Into the Long Dark, a way to challenge permadeath When your survivor 'fades into the Long Dark', he/she is literally transported to a Nether-Region called The Long Dark. In this region it is of course always night. You spawn with the clothes you were wearing when you died, but your inventory is otherwise empty. Another thing that spawns randomly in this region is a journal. That journal is your savegame. You have a limited amount of time to find it. You have to explore the region and survive as usual, though it'll be more challenging. If you manage to find the journal in time, your old savegame will be loaded again and you'll have a second chance to go on with your exploration. If you don't, well, that's True Permadeath for you, and the savegame is irremediably lost. Cheers!

Yes, I want to access that locked door. But as you say, I too am starting to think that it's not possible. Unless the key is hidden in the other room that's locked with a keypad. (Haha! Wouldn't it be devilish?) By the way, I've been hanging around the prison for 9 in-game days waiting for an aurora to be able to input the code on the keypad. I went to sleep and just as I woke up the following dawn, I noticed that an aurora was fading away. Damn. I thought our survivor was supposed to wake up in case of auroras kicking in while sleeping, but I must have dreamt that. Heh.

I even tried to shoot this bastard lock… lol, sigh...

My personal objective — nay, my mission at this point — is to find a way to enter the Infirmary. No, not the door with the keypad, I have the code for that (and I'm still waiting for a damned aurora to appear after 7 in-game days). I'm talking about that other door that is simply locked. The game teases you by making you think there's another way in (from the roof of the building, for example), or that there's a key somewhere. I've searched basically everywhere in the explorable areas within the prison perimeter, and found nothing. But if this is a fool's errand and you know it, please let me know. This is driving me crazy.

When you're about to go out, put your photo equipment and other stuff in your backpack, and say out loud (even if English is not your first language): "This pack's getting kinda heavy!" When you've finished a tin of ground coffee and don't want to throw away the tin, in case you may need it later. When you eat a pack of salty crackers and you just feel your water intake indicator go down, even though you really don't have a water intake indicator in real life. When you open your car visor and there's nothing there, just like that game you're so obsessed about! And speaking of car, did you put this can of orange soda in the glove box, dear? — "No, I haven't… what's that thing doing there anyway?" — Uhhh...

I hope I haven't triggered bad memories, my friend…

The earliest screenshot I've found in my archive, from October 2018. When the water tower in Milton Town was on the other side. I have flashbacks. I remember my very first run, in Mystery Lake, spawning near the trailers at the Logging Camp, heavy snow falling down, having no idea where to go, looting the trailers and taking literally everything, then going around aimlessly until I found the railway tracks, and then managing to not encountering any other man-made building before dying of hypothermia near the tunnel that connects with Forlorn Muskeg. I remember, a few runs later, entering Forlorn Muskeg with near zero visibility due to a thick fog. I remember barely seeing the train tracks and following them, and then totally missing the open carriage at Poacher's Camp, and then the fog lifted, but weather quickly worsened and I found myself even more lost in what was my very first blizzard. I remember falling in the water through thin ice, managing to fumble my way over to Spence's, lighting a fire, drying my clothes, recuperating condition, only to fall in the water again in another spot and eventually dying of hypothermia. I remember my first time in Hushed River Valley, where I managed to get lost even while consulting a map, and accidentally falling down a ledge while I was trying to place a campfire. Never walk backwards when you're trying to do that, folks. Lol. I remember my first moose kill. It took me eleven rounds of the rifle at medium distance, and I'm still not convinced it was bad aim on my part. Either a bug in the game, or maybe ballistic vests are made from moose hide! I remember my first time being mauled by a bear. I was getting out of one of the crossroads houses in Pleasant Valley before that area became Thomson's Crossing, and I literally stumbled on this bear that was coming from my left. That was probably the biggest jumpscare I've ever got while playing The Long Dark. I survived the mauling, miraculously, but I had to quit the game and relax because my hands were still shaking, really. I remember silly errors I made even when I got more experienced. Like sleeping 12 hours outside in a bedroll but with weak clothes and at 20% condition, and fading into The Long Dark instead of waking up the next morning, because I didn't take into account that temperatures may fall dramatically during the night. Duh. Or when I experienced my first aurora the hard way, sleeping in the wrong spot of the Carter Hydro Dam (rookie mistake, I know, but in my defence I had never seen an aurora at the time, and didn't know what an aurora does when it kicks in). I love exploration, and I don't mind using the detailed maps a few awesome people have put together over time, but that early-days feeling of just being thrown in a region and not knowing where to go is priceless, and that's why every time the developers add a new region I always explore it map-less the first time. It brings me back to a time where everything was new in The Long Dark. Cheers!

Yes, you left the trailer door open again!

Pensive exploration in Blackrock, after dusk.

Ah, you're right. I didn't think about it. Thank goodness I'm not a house designer, haha! Boom boom boom!

I've always liked the view from Signal Hill in Pleasant Valley. This is just a preliminary idea, but I would raze the Radio Control Hut and have the Hunting Lodge from Broken Railroad moved here and renovated. I would also have a Prepper's Cache built under it, with a secondary emergency hatch I could access from a lower part of the hill, just in case I were to return home with the groceries in dire weather and I needed a quick shortcut to my lair. Alternatively, I'd build a similar housing solution and place it roughly where the Abandoned Lookout is located in Coastal Highway. That's another spot with a decent vista and in a region with better weather.

Some snapshots from a trip from Pleasant Valley to Blackrock.

I absolutely agree with you (and @ajb1978) on this. Now I'm once again exploring Blackrock region with another survivor, making local backups of the savegames just in case. Because after something like this happens, the next thing you're thinking is, What if there are other spots where you get insta-killed?

Okay, I read this at 4:30 AM and I laughed so loudly I woke up my wife! Man, that's one mean tough son of a bitch right there… 😆