Sherri

This x 100. I've never doubted for a second that Hinterland will deliver on their promises. More than any other game I've played... Hinterland is forthright with their players and unwilling to compromise their ethics and vision. Thank you Raphael and Admin for the excellent info, exciting hints for the future and reassurance for those who need it.

@starlinI really like your post here and agree fully with your points about fans developing an unhealthy need for constant attention. For a small company this can result in a HUGE burden. Those of us who use this forum look for updates here. But don't forget there are also the Steam Forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc communities that revolve around this and other games. How much time, & energy must a studio spend on giving news, feedback, attention to all these different communities? A huge company like Blizzard can have an entire paid department whose job it is to engage players on all these platforms... a smaller studio doesn't have the manpower to do so. And players getting angry because there isn't a steady IV drip of updates/news is burdensome and unreasonable. I personally don't engage in player communities almost at all. This TLD forum is the first and only I've been involved in for many, many years. And even then just to pop in and see what's new. My post was targeted at the players who bemoan the lack of updates and offered one possible theory. Just to say, don't freak out folks, there could be business reasons for delays and those would be legit reasons (ie, they aren't betraying original promises, there's more to it than just "where's my game, what's taking so long boohoo"). In fact I was originally posting as a reply on the Milton Mailbag thread specifically to a user upset that the Mailbag had not yet been replaced, then moved it here. Where I disagree is the idea that my post was anything like defamation or harm. To say "Hey I love your game, if income stream is an issue, I and many others would happily give you more money for small things," is not a negative post. Heck I'd like that kind of post targeted at my own company and game. LOL. I started off by offering one possible reason for slow updates... and evolved into daydreaming about paying for more awesome TLD stuff. This is very different than spreading rumors. I also was very sure to post this (now debunked) theory here on official forums where official responses can be made... rather than whispering about it in non-official communities like fan groups on Facebook or whatever where a theory could grow without being seen by Hinterland official people. I am well aware that these are official, moderated forums - I actually prefer official communities like these because nonsense and false info is less likely to be there. I was bitten by false rumors of HalfLife 2 Episode 3 ... many many years ago... I prefer my info straight from the source after that fiasco.

I want to clarify... I didn't mean this as a criticism in any way. This is my favourite game of the last ... hm almost decade... I just get bothered by the impatience and complaints and wanted to offer one possible theory. The long and the short is that I feel like I somehow got this game for a steal (Steam Summer Sale) and wasn't expecting to get so much fun out of it. Just wanted to offer an opinion that more paid "stuff" would not be out of line and I'd be happy to invest more money in TLD *if* money was a possible roadblock. Since @Raphael van Lieropassures us that money is not an issue... I rest assured.

Oh I'm not asking these Qs. I'm happy to wait. And I know progress is being made. I just see a lot of impatience. lol

Lots of players questioning things like: Where is episode 4&5? Why don't they answer the Mailbag anymore and they haven't replaced it yet. Why no news when we were promised news? My business-person perspective on this, is that Hinterland might have had to drop their devs to part-time or layed people off, but not wanted to make this widely known. The pandemic made in-person working a no-go and added a lot of personal strain on employees esp. if they have children. Hinterland AFAIK has no other games on market. Long Dark... while AMAZING, peaked its sales long ago I'd assume. And is probably just providing a trickle of income now - usually spurned by sales. But games sold on sale earn less profit. I can't fathom how you pay several developers, designers, voice actors, motion capture people, Ralph and any other managers, testers, etc... on the trickle of income from a popular yet several years old game. The market for people who love open world, peaceful, survival games must be pretty close to saturated. They are located in Victoria and Vancouver, BC... two of the most expensive places in Canada so salaries must be competitive aka high. They do a lot of donating... which is cool, but costs more $. They don't sell addons and no longer sell swag. If they had to switch folks to part-time or lay people off... I wouldn't be surprised or upset. It happens. But it's also not a surprise if they want to keep it on the down low so there isn't a freak out of people crying for episodes 4 & 5. That would hurt any potential future sales. I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't make a bunch of 'semi-official' sandbox level packs and release them as paid expansions. They don't have to be QUITE as huge and detailed as regular levels, but they would keep sandbox players interested in fresh content and generate more income. Once you have a cool game engine that people love playing in... adding level packs should in theory be easy-ish. Heck, I'd pay for some of these. They could be in a new survival mode "Beyond Great Bear" and give you other real and made up environments to explore in. They could make it so these levels don't connect to the main Great Bear levels, so that the 'real' survival mode is kept pure. Maybe disable achievements in these levels. The only restriction is they have to be cold regions of course. But that doesn't HAVE to mean snowy Canada. Since Ash Canyon introduced those awesome rope bridges... imagine a whole level set in the tops of great redwood trees with networks of bridges and ropes. Or a whole level of ice caverns. An entire level of densely packed forest like the birch area in PV. A crowded town like a full map of Milton. A large indoor complex. Etc. Heck, I know this is unpopular... but I would PAY for episodes 4 & 5. At this point I have played so many hours of this game and bought it on sale... my entertainment value is a few cents per hour played. I feel like I owe them more money. I would have bought swag if it was still available. LOL. Even a $5 addon with a pack of unique clothing items would be neat. There is a reason so many game studios monetize the heck out of their games, running a game studio is expensive. I get wanting to not be like the other greedy, crunch-loving, pay-to-win, 500 cosmetic items to buy.... type of game companies... but you do need to be a little bit greedy in monetizing your amazing work, if you want to stay healthy as a company. You don't have to be jerks about it, it can be done WELL to benefit both players and company. Even a Patreon or another Kickstarter is better than NOT getting the final episodes. I want to give them more $ but have no way to do so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Just my 2-cents. EDIT: Did the math... I've now gotten under 5 cents per hour of entertainment value from this game. Currently the CHEAPEST form of entertainment available to me beyond reading free books. HAHA. Holy smokes Hinterland. Sell some expansions.

I've upgraded the Seamoth to 300m and started exploring the glowing mushroom cave. Very exciting!

I definitely have to look away. The sound effects are brutal too.

I think I'm still going to wait on playing TLD until another patch comes out. Too many issues still happening.

One pod was located x distance from the rear of the ship. So I went over to the engines to drop a waypoint and I got chomped by a reaper and almost destroyed my seamoth. LOL. I haven't gone close to there again... but I almost have to board the ship soon because I now have the tools to explore inside. I have a location to visit that is apparently 500m deep and I'm trying to figure out how to get that deep. Pretty damn fun... and a lot of tension when exploring!

That was fast. Awesome work Hinterland!

Some gentle tips from a dev, for anyone submitting bugs. It might help to include: - Operating system. - System stats if it's a performance issue. - Steps to reproduce the problem if you can. - Before and after situation (Ie, I had X, Y, Z badges before, then I did ABC and I gained badge D.)

So there's now a 'foot accessory' slot?

@ahmyin I absolutely love this story and the framed map! I've also enjoyed playing single-player games with someone else sitting shotgun! It's a fun way to turn a solo game into co-op. My husband and I do this with some of the Telltale games. When I was younger, my mom and I would play the very old Hugo's House Of Horrors games. You had to do a lot of typing so she would take the keyboard, and we'd try to solve the puzzles together. Good memories! <3

Well done!

@Grignard_TN & @ManicManiac... I must extend my sincere thanks for the recommendation of Subnautica, I bought it on sale last week and hooo boy is it ever fun. It feels like the spiritual sister to TLD with the added bonus of base construction. I am really loving it so far. @BlinkMoFried absolutely give Subnautica a try. It's hitting all the same feels as TLD ... it's almost an underwater clone. Caveat that the new player onboarding is pretty sparse in that game, you might need some new player tips/guides to get rolling. lol

100% restart now. I made this mistake, got all the way through Ep 3 on Pilgrim and it's stupidly easy.

I started my first challenge ever with Whiteout this week. It's a ton of fun. You find a stupid amount of supplies everywhere, but getting a hatchet was the big difficulty for me. I really love having a Quest tab again since I finished Wintermute a while ago. I'm almost done the challenge and I think I'll be able to do it without leaving Coastal Highway. Bagging a bear really helped the food task item. XD

lol sounds... interesting.

Took me AGES, but finally got it. Whew that archery skill was a pain.

Posted by Raphel on Twitter.

Yes, you can get in there. Walk along the angled piece of floor on the right. I hope the latest update didn't introduce a bug there. But you should definitely be able to get in. I think there's also a door in there on the other end. All the bulkhead compartments are searchable too.

Do you mean This WAR of mine?

Cool thank you!

I've got all the complainers beat.... I'm still waiting on the further Half-Life episodes that Valve promised us. LOL

New maps for Survival is so great, I'd happily pay for expansions to the game that just provide more maps that don't even appear in the Story mode. Heck they could probably hire a 2nd team that just pumps out map-only expansion packs, as another revenue stream.