Terrifying wolves - make them happen

So right now wolves are pretty much boring.

First of all, they can be seen from miles away, because they just randomly wander on a white background. This makes avoiding them really easy.

Second, they don't look "alive", they just stand somewhere or walk aimlessly, they don't have "nests" that they would protect or anything that would indicate that they are "living creatures", and not just "spawned wolves". Also the day and night cycle doesn't influence them in a visible way - they just always seem to wander around railorad or houses. How come there is almost no wolves in woods?

Third, they lack animations, either they don't see you, or they see you and will attack - the point is, by the lack of animations they are VERY predictable - I know exactly when wolf can be outrun, when he's stalking and when he's not etc.

I could give a lot of reasons why I don't like wolves in their current state.

What's the solution? I would love to see wolves as scary and unpredictable as Alien or some other horror creature.

Check this out (not my footage):

[bBvideo 560,340:34lo19tx]

What can help achieve this?

- more animations! They could run close and circle around player and then run off, they could hide and observe player from behind tree, or furiously whipp tail while running around

- make 'em smarter! What are the odds of outrunning wolf in real life? Cause in TLD it's 99% success. Maybe the wolf would stay in place and look on us when we slowly back away, and run and attack if we turn our back on him? Why they loose the trail so easily? It's sooooo easy to loose the wolf! There should be less of them, but it should be damn hard to shake them off - we could see that one wolf that's stalking us waiting on the hill as we enter the trailer, then upon exiting see him on the other side, still circling, still getting closer.

- make them patient - either they attack or they don't - they should be able to follow us on larger distances (basing on our scent), and cutting the distance when we're not looking on them or when we are sleeping.

- make them unpredictable - circle, run off, stalk, run closer, howl and run back, you name it, they can do all kinds of crazy stuff in various combinations, and with this every encounter would be thrilling.

- make them form pack as they stalk - I could be stalked by one wolf on day 1, and as I wake up on day two and open my doors I would see three wolves watching me from woods nearby - I'd sh*t my pants.

There's a lot that can be done, but what I'd love to see is three terrifying wolves instead of 100 silly. I hope you share my view and will try to achieve this

Yeah! Its way too easy to escape from a wolf. I think it shuold be possible but lack of challenge makes it boring. There should be the feeling of running for your life implemented. or atleast make them follow players trails patiently.

Also I suggest to make wolves grey instead of black. Because now they can be seen from miles away. And in real life they are rather grey. Also random color variation would be nice.

Animations shuold include gnawing those human corpses. I'd love to see that. Even though player can harvest meat from them.

Also digging holes, sit and scratch them selves, 2 wolves circling each other and fighting over a carcass or territory or just in playfull manner. etc.

I love what OP is saying here. Fewer wolves, but much scarier wolves!

I've fought off two wolves in a row and came out with over 20% health. After getting used to the combat system, wolf attacks have come down to whether or not I have bandages and antiseptic on me versus if I'm going to survive the wolf.

Because of their predictability, I've started seeing them as food that walks toward me when I have a rifle on me.

It'd be great if their strength was not the sheer number of them in the game.

I agree with calicokat, the wolves are predictable and when you get a rifle you'll just see them as food. I think they should have caves where they would go in bad weather, which would of course also make it more dangerous for a player to be caught in bad weather, because in low visibility he could end up near one of these caves.

Make them act more wolf like, which means move and hunt in packs.

Right now, you can get pretty close to them without anything happening. It should be so, that if you come within eyesight, hearing or smell range of these wolves, they would stop and take notice of you and either be interested/curious, aggressive or run away.

What I think is really cool about them at this point, is the glowing eyes in the dark if they find you at night. Gives me the chills, so good job.

I think wolves are scary enough. Look at the reviews from people who haven't played the game for 100 hours.

Besides, it's going to get pretty boring if every single game end with getting killed by a wolf. Games should end by starvation, freezing, and disease too. Personally I'd like to see wolves returned to realistic behavior, where you only have to worry about them if you're incapacitated in some way.

The wolf behavior seems good enough already, as evidence by my constantly trying to avoid them or dying whenever one attacks me. I think more pack behavior could be good, following and circling prey instead of going directly for the kill.

Yeah I agree with OP. In stalker mode it just becomes a nuisance when there is 3 wolves around every corner rather than being something scary. It would be so intense if you get stalked by them for days, while they wait for you to make a mistake like spraining your ankle. Would be cool if a wolf came up to you curiously and then gets spooked and runs off, only to keep watching you for hours as you walk through the wilderness.

I agree to some extent. I do think the wolves are far too predictable in their routes. They fill the role of standard enemy soldier guards at times. But on the other hand, they help keep the voyageur and stalker modes interesting and the game does need a standard level enemy. Making them uberwolves a la Alien Isolation would change the nature of the game pretty dramatically.

Also, part of the ability to outwit them comes from learning about them. At first, most of us got nailed and eaten by them.

I do agree that they stand out far too much on the white snow. Make them a lighter color or the same color as the rocks.

As far as an uber enemy, I think a rarer creature--prematurely woken and enraged brown bear--should fill that role. You need the pups to fill out the scenery and give the player a standard enemy. But there should be something who's sound and sight sends terror into every player. And I think a gigantic, insane bear wandering randomly around would fill that role nicely.

And to fill out the menu, add moose to serve as a prey species that can also fight back and charge after you.

Here's a vid of a bear from south of here, hauling a 1,000 pound moose around like a sack of garbage. Note where the sow reaches through the ribcage and eats the heart like a kid digging to the bottom of a cereal bowl for the prize! I've had to use a gransfors axe to get through moose ribs, and this beast just snaps right through them. Their strength is off the scale, and thankfully they're not terribly aggressive with us. But if they were, god help us.

I would like there to be less wolves, that have a loooot bigger territory and are far more dangerous. They are supposed to move an average of 30 miles per day and can run 50-60 km/h if they are chasing. Let's say for the sake of the game environment being limited in size and they move less far and less quick, they still should move a lot more than they currently do. Yet constantly you seem them catch up to deer in seconds with 100% success rate, but they can for some reason never catch up to a player and you can always outrun them. Also they should avoid players a lot more in general. As they would usually never attack a human, unless you happen to be close to their den or they'd really been without food for weeks. I know, geomanetic disaster. Apocalype. Change in behaviour.... Just make them faster. And add a few packs to each map.