MashMash

Hi, I've been taking my first non-story mode steps out into the wilderness and, unable to cope without any kind of structure, I quickly reached for the reassuring checklist of the Nomad challenge and regarded it as a larger guided tour around some new locations and new transition areas. As indicated elsewhere, I'm not rushing - I'll get to a spot, poke around inside, dump all my gear, try some new recipes and pop out to explore the surrounding area and so on. I had intended day 3 in any sport as a gentle indication that I could move on whenever rather than a starting gun for a sprint to the next location. Having said this, I'm seeing some very inflated numbers in my "Nomad Checklist", given that I'm only on about day 35 in-game. In the earlier Pleasant Valley areas, like the Radio Control Hut, I wondered if the game had somehow folded in the time I had spent there in Wintermute, but by the time I got to Coastal Highway (not in Story Mode, obviously) for a couple of nights, I was a little alarmed to see "120 days" in my log after a particularly refreshing mid-afternoon nap. Don't get me wrong: I'm not complaining and would be quite happy for you guys to leave off addressing this issue until I've finished the Nomad challenge and collected my 500 day challenge rewards on day 46 😄 but I still thought you should maybe know what I'm seeing. Cheers, I'm playing on the PS5 if that's of any consequence.

Nomad is my first challenge after having gone through Wintermute - I'm about halfway through having done all the Pleasant Valley and Mystery Lake spots, but rather than having to spend too long in locations for the "Location Complete" notification pop, I'm sometimes spending one night in, say Quonset Gas Station for example and the game will tell me I've been there for 23 days, give me the checkmark and I'm free to move on. Look I'm not complaining - my approach to this challenge has been rather than to just plop myself down in the location and Pass Time/Sleep to get the check mark & dash to the next spot, I'll spend a while in the vicinity exploring and looting the surrounding area and repairing and trying new recipes and just generally hanging out. Having only done Wintermute previously, I'm finding the transition areas fun and I must say Coastal Highway at dawn is just stunning (see pic). It's more like a self-guided tour at this stage. I can't remember what difficulty I did Wintermute on - mostly like Capable Survivor - but I am finding Nomad seems to have very few wolves in spots I'd come to expect packs previously. Again my guess is that this is because the challenge is about extended exploration more than dealing with wildlife.

Both TLD and Dredge have graphical styles that are not a million miles apart - I like how "less photographic" often sticks more firmly in the mind Also both games have dangers that lurk in the darkness...

Hi Leanda, I mostly Twitch on Monday nights Australia time but do need to get into the habit of putting my VODs on YouTube - thank you for the reminder 🙂 https://www.twitch.tv/mashmashgames

Molly's Pleasant Valley Farmstead and the crash site at dawn from Signal Hill

that's very kind of you 🙂

Hi I stream on Monday nights (Sydney time) under the name MashMashGames and even though I bought the game when it came out forever ago, I have only been playing The Long Dark since it got cold here in Sydney a few months ago - I have been totally loving the Wintermute story mode as a bit of a hand-holding exercise, an introduction to some of the game's regions and mechanics. It will be interesting to see if climbing temperatures in the southern hemisphere cool my enthusiasm at all. Last night's stream was honestly the best yet - with 3 or 4 chatters all very passionate about The Long Dark and all very eager to offer help and encouragement & to talk about what the game meant to them. Thanks to all who stopped by and made the stream so much fun. My PS5 says I have 120-ish hours in TLD but honestly I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface of what this game has to offer and can do. I'm by no means a survival game nut, having spent too many hours this year in Marvel Midnight Suns, Dredge and Jedi Survivor - and here comes Baldur's Gate 3...