FA+
Shop
The Long Dark
3 years ago
General
Over the past several months, I've been fascinated with a very no-frills straight-to-the-point post-apocalyptic survivalist game called the Long Dark set in the frozen wilderness of Canada. It came out a few years prior but continues to get updates as recently as last month, and has a story mode that's still having chapters added on occasion. The main, "Survival" mode however has no specific goal or narrative. You're simply plopped into the snow and told to survive for as long as you can, however you can, against the elements and the wildlife. Almost no advice is given, and the only way it ends is with your eventual death. In my ongoing fruitless endeavors to earnestly talk about my interests here, I'll share a few clips I posted to Twitter, along with gameplay mechanics. In a futile effort to hold your attention, I'll start with the violence:
As a member of this fandom, I've long offered this core message: fuck wolves. And in Long Dark, that point stands more than ever. Wolves won't hesitate to attack you in this game and there's a few ways you can deal with the situation. Tossing rocks at them might scare them off briefly. A lit flare is even better. But if you're as loaded with ammunition as I am at this point in my third and longest run in the game, you take the direct approach.
Of course, if I'm gonna spend the bullets, I'm gonna get something in return, so don't be shy about harvesting some of that wolf meat and maybe get yourself a nice hide to go with it, if you've got the room. Makes a hell of a coat:
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....93852685910019
With a keen eye and a steady aim, the bow and arrow is an economical way to take down your attackers, as arrows are reusable, at least a few times, and much easier to craft, while bullets are rare and cannot be recovered. Aim for the head. A shot to the shoulder might not stop them, and even if it successfully scares them off, you'll be down 1 arrow, unless you follow the blood trail, either to finish it off, or find its corpse if the wound was grave.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....08530279710720
Let them get too close however, and you'll have to fight them off with melee attacks, suffering damaging to your clothing and body along the way.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....98865403367425
Timberwolves are another matter. They're larger and they attack in packs. To fend them off for a while, you need to break their morale, as shown by the meter below. Throwing objects at them such as torches and flares can do it, but the thing they understand most is pain.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....73407897411584
Of course not all of your weapons have to be fatal, and if you're lucky enough to find one, the Flare Gun is essentialy the BFG of animal-scaring. When you're a wild animal, a lot of things will happen to you out in the wilderness, but one thing that's probably NEVER happened to you is a loud, blinding fireball screaming through the air at you. It's so startling that it'll reliably stop a charging bear. And that's a good thing, because as this clip shows, sometimes just straight up shooting a bear just pisses it off.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....35664053960705
And of course, there are plenty of deer around for when you want a meal that won't try and kill you back.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....68810707681290
Fire starting is one of the most essential parts of the game and your success of starting a fire depends on a number of factors, including what you're using as an igniter, what you're using as fuel, and your own, inherent skills. Using accelerant pretty much guarantees the fire will start, and fast, but is very rare and should be saved for emergencies, IE you've got one match left and it simply HAS to light.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....16033617522691
If you're starting a fire outdoors, you want to try and position the fire near a surface which blocks the wind. With proper placement, even a blizzard won't put it out, as seen here, where in the middle of a horrific storm, I stand against a tree to shield the wind from myself and the fire, as I desperately try to boil some snow-water for my poor, dehydrated gal before retreating into my makeshift snow-shelter for the night.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....62562310582275
You need to eat of course, and there are a number of options to choose from, if you can find them. Various snacks and canned goods are strewn about the island, some of which will last quite a long time. Be careful eating food with very low condition, as you could suffer food poisoning which is no joke, and will likely kill you if you don't have anything to treat it with. Cans are best opened with a can-opener to get the most out of their calories, though can be smashed open if you don't have one. Meat can be obtained from animals, with the general rule being, the harder it is to kill, the more filling the meat. Rabbit meat is more of a light snack. Bear meat is a god damn feast. You can also fish in ice-fishing holes if you have the tackle for it. Raw meat will, unsurprisingly spoil very quickly while cooked meat lasts a bit longer. Both will last much, much longer if you store them in an outdoor container, such as the trunk of a car. Raw meat virtually always make you sick. Those who survive long enough to achieve the Master level of cooking ability will enjoy a perk which makes it impossible to get sick on any food they cook, regardless of its condition (and this also applies to snacks and stuff you find laying around!). A rare but extremely effective food item you can find are military rations, otherwise known as MRE's. The most filling item in the game, these are best saved for when times get rough. Keep one on you when setting out for a long expedition, but try to save it as a last resort if possible. Staying well-fed for 72 consecutive hours will provide the "Well Fed" benefit which will give you more overall health and also allow you to carry more items comfortably.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....72913293008902
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....74107009458176
You'll die without shelter. Simple as that. But finding a decent place to bed down isn't always easy. One thing the game does very well is create a situation where it's a genuine thrill to find a new shelter, especially if it's a good one. Shelters could be something as modest as a dilapidated cabin, too crumbled to qualify for being truly 'indoors' and as extravagant as a fully intact farm house with a kitchen, upstairs bedrooms, and a workbench in the basement. With the right materials you can also craft a snow shelter, which may not be much but it'll get you out of the wind and, with the aid of a sleeping bag, just may get you through the night without succumbing to hypothermia or frostbite. Here's a few examples of shelters which range from 'barely counts as shelter at all' to 'welcome to your new forever home.'
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....43388362035203
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....26833933938693
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....34450495516675
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....47468676431880
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....82096726450179 (Ignore the Discord sound effects)
One of the easiest ways to get yourself killed is to simply get lost on the way back home. Spray paint is a readily available commodity which you can use to mark the environment with various symbols, depending on what you're trying to denote to yourself. A simple arrow helps guide you back toward salvation, even if you don't entirely remember what it's pointing to, later. In addition to this, charcoal can be collected from fire pits to be used to draw your own map. Each piece of charcoal can be used to survey the surrounding area and mark down its layout and items of interest within a limited area. For best effect, try to do it from high ground. But keep in mind, this isn't your standard video game map. There is no 'you are here' indicator. Using the map, your surroundings, your memory, and whatever markings you leave for yourself, it's up to you to deduce your current location.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....94419001016322
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....58765528412167
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....17879357628418
Weather is yet another thing to keep track of in the game. Some days are sunny and clear, despite the otherwise frigid temperatures, and with high quality clothing, you may find your body temperature remaining steady. But in high winds, that tends to change, and before making any long journeys from one place to another, you'd do best to wait for agreeable weather before setting out. Unseasonable warmth (relatively speaking) might seem like a good thing, and while it'll certainly let you stay outside longer, it often comes with an adverse side effect: fog. Fog is no joke, and you'll quickly find out in a hurry how easy it is to get yourself completely lost in it. Of course, when it comes to weather, there's nothing worse than a blizzard. They're unmistakable with their howling winds, blinding snow and deathly temperatures, and getting caught outside in one is nothing short of a grave error on your part. Do whatever it takes to get out of the wind if you can't get inside. Take shelter under a ledge, hide inside of a cave, or even crawl inside of one of the big, industrial tubes lying around, anything is better than exposing yourself directly to the frozen death that are blizzard conditions.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....18861100544003
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....26129841577988 (This image shows view from the exact same spot, in good weather versus Blizzard weather)
Despite its appearances, the game isn't a straight up simulation, and at times, flirts with the mystical. Enter: Aurora Borealis. More than just a hypnotizing, natural light show, Aurora has some pretty significant effects around Great Bear island. Animals grow more agitated, an otherwise black night is now bright enough to read by, and most curiously, intermittent electricity functions throughout the buildings, cars, and mines for the duration of the aurora. You can use this electricity to do chores you couldn't otherwise do in the dark and you may also find that certain objects that appeared dormant before have no returned to their before-times functionality. Aurora happens randomly and you never know how long it's going to last so, if you should happen to want to see it for yourself, then don't sleep for too long at once, or you just might miss it.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....22095789735938
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....36986988244992
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....66597008384007
Your clothing items are of course a major factor in your survival. Clothing varies in its usefulness and some of it is better off used as crafting cloth. Clothing comes with differing parameters of warmth, windproofing, and weight. Clothing which blocks the wind is best worn on the outside. Of course, if it's wet or worse yet, frozen, it won't do you much good. Clothing crafted from animal hides tends to be rather potent but it's not easier to come by and takes more complicated materials to repair. Repairs can be frustrating as, like fire, it comes with a certain chance of success or failure and, in the event of a failure, all materials you were using on the attempted repair are simply lost, no matter how rare. It's a gameplay mechanic I could honestly do without but, it is what it is. Clothing can be severely damaged by animal attacks, a result I tend to find much more irritating than even straight up life-threatening injuries, depending on what clothing was damaged, so be sure not to let those wolves get too close.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....24502325899264
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....67010594426883
Well that was a lot of work for something only I'm gonna care about but in a nutshell, that's the game. I recently picked it back up after about a 2-month break and have gotten hooked on it all over again, traveling to a previously unexplored region and seeing what it has for me.
The game is available on Steam, Playstation, Switch, and maybe Xbox. I suggest the Steam version because I tried to live without mouse-aiming and decided it was no way to live at all.
As a member of this fandom, I've long offered this core message: fuck wolves. And in Long Dark, that point stands more than ever. Wolves won't hesitate to attack you in this game and there's a few ways you can deal with the situation. Tossing rocks at them might scare them off briefly. A lit flare is even better. But if you're as loaded with ammunition as I am at this point in my third and longest run in the game, you take the direct approach.
Of course, if I'm gonna spend the bullets, I'm gonna get something in return, so don't be shy about harvesting some of that wolf meat and maybe get yourself a nice hide to go with it, if you've got the room. Makes a hell of a coat:
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....93852685910019
With a keen eye and a steady aim, the bow and arrow is an economical way to take down your attackers, as arrows are reusable, at least a few times, and much easier to craft, while bullets are rare and cannot be recovered. Aim for the head. A shot to the shoulder might not stop them, and even if it successfully scares them off, you'll be down 1 arrow, unless you follow the blood trail, either to finish it off, or find its corpse if the wound was grave.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....08530279710720
Let them get too close however, and you'll have to fight them off with melee attacks, suffering damaging to your clothing and body along the way.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....98865403367425
Timberwolves are another matter. They're larger and they attack in packs. To fend them off for a while, you need to break their morale, as shown by the meter below. Throwing objects at them such as torches and flares can do it, but the thing they understand most is pain.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....73407897411584
Of course not all of your weapons have to be fatal, and if you're lucky enough to find one, the Flare Gun is essentialy the BFG of animal-scaring. When you're a wild animal, a lot of things will happen to you out in the wilderness, but one thing that's probably NEVER happened to you is a loud, blinding fireball screaming through the air at you. It's so startling that it'll reliably stop a charging bear. And that's a good thing, because as this clip shows, sometimes just straight up shooting a bear just pisses it off.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....35664053960705
And of course, there are plenty of deer around for when you want a meal that won't try and kill you back.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....68810707681290
Fire starting is one of the most essential parts of the game and your success of starting a fire depends on a number of factors, including what you're using as an igniter, what you're using as fuel, and your own, inherent skills. Using accelerant pretty much guarantees the fire will start, and fast, but is very rare and should be saved for emergencies, IE you've got one match left and it simply HAS to light.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....16033617522691
If you're starting a fire outdoors, you want to try and position the fire near a surface which blocks the wind. With proper placement, even a blizzard won't put it out, as seen here, where in the middle of a horrific storm, I stand against a tree to shield the wind from myself and the fire, as I desperately try to boil some snow-water for my poor, dehydrated gal before retreating into my makeshift snow-shelter for the night.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....62562310582275
You need to eat of course, and there are a number of options to choose from, if you can find them. Various snacks and canned goods are strewn about the island, some of which will last quite a long time. Be careful eating food with very low condition, as you could suffer food poisoning which is no joke, and will likely kill you if you don't have anything to treat it with. Cans are best opened with a can-opener to get the most out of their calories, though can be smashed open if you don't have one. Meat can be obtained from animals, with the general rule being, the harder it is to kill, the more filling the meat. Rabbit meat is more of a light snack. Bear meat is a god damn feast. You can also fish in ice-fishing holes if you have the tackle for it. Raw meat will, unsurprisingly spoil very quickly while cooked meat lasts a bit longer. Both will last much, much longer if you store them in an outdoor container, such as the trunk of a car. Raw meat virtually always make you sick. Those who survive long enough to achieve the Master level of cooking ability will enjoy a perk which makes it impossible to get sick on any food they cook, regardless of its condition (and this also applies to snacks and stuff you find laying around!). A rare but extremely effective food item you can find are military rations, otherwise known as MRE's. The most filling item in the game, these are best saved for when times get rough. Keep one on you when setting out for a long expedition, but try to save it as a last resort if possible. Staying well-fed for 72 consecutive hours will provide the "Well Fed" benefit which will give you more overall health and also allow you to carry more items comfortably.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....72913293008902
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....74107009458176
You'll die without shelter. Simple as that. But finding a decent place to bed down isn't always easy. One thing the game does very well is create a situation where it's a genuine thrill to find a new shelter, especially if it's a good one. Shelters could be something as modest as a dilapidated cabin, too crumbled to qualify for being truly 'indoors' and as extravagant as a fully intact farm house with a kitchen, upstairs bedrooms, and a workbench in the basement. With the right materials you can also craft a snow shelter, which may not be much but it'll get you out of the wind and, with the aid of a sleeping bag, just may get you through the night without succumbing to hypothermia or frostbite. Here's a few examples of shelters which range from 'barely counts as shelter at all' to 'welcome to your new forever home.'
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....43388362035203
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....26833933938693
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....34450495516675
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....47468676431880
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....82096726450179 (Ignore the Discord sound effects)
One of the easiest ways to get yourself killed is to simply get lost on the way back home. Spray paint is a readily available commodity which you can use to mark the environment with various symbols, depending on what you're trying to denote to yourself. A simple arrow helps guide you back toward salvation, even if you don't entirely remember what it's pointing to, later. In addition to this, charcoal can be collected from fire pits to be used to draw your own map. Each piece of charcoal can be used to survey the surrounding area and mark down its layout and items of interest within a limited area. For best effect, try to do it from high ground. But keep in mind, this isn't your standard video game map. There is no 'you are here' indicator. Using the map, your surroundings, your memory, and whatever markings you leave for yourself, it's up to you to deduce your current location.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....94419001016322
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....58765528412167
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....17879357628418
Weather is yet another thing to keep track of in the game. Some days are sunny and clear, despite the otherwise frigid temperatures, and with high quality clothing, you may find your body temperature remaining steady. But in high winds, that tends to change, and before making any long journeys from one place to another, you'd do best to wait for agreeable weather before setting out. Unseasonable warmth (relatively speaking) might seem like a good thing, and while it'll certainly let you stay outside longer, it often comes with an adverse side effect: fog. Fog is no joke, and you'll quickly find out in a hurry how easy it is to get yourself completely lost in it. Of course, when it comes to weather, there's nothing worse than a blizzard. They're unmistakable with their howling winds, blinding snow and deathly temperatures, and getting caught outside in one is nothing short of a grave error on your part. Do whatever it takes to get out of the wind if you can't get inside. Take shelter under a ledge, hide inside of a cave, or even crawl inside of one of the big, industrial tubes lying around, anything is better than exposing yourself directly to the frozen death that are blizzard conditions.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....18861100544003
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....26129841577988 (This image shows view from the exact same spot, in good weather versus Blizzard weather)
Despite its appearances, the game isn't a straight up simulation, and at times, flirts with the mystical. Enter: Aurora Borealis. More than just a hypnotizing, natural light show, Aurora has some pretty significant effects around Great Bear island. Animals grow more agitated, an otherwise black night is now bright enough to read by, and most curiously, intermittent electricity functions throughout the buildings, cars, and mines for the duration of the aurora. You can use this electricity to do chores you couldn't otherwise do in the dark and you may also find that certain objects that appeared dormant before have no returned to their before-times functionality. Aurora happens randomly and you never know how long it's going to last so, if you should happen to want to see it for yourself, then don't sleep for too long at once, or you just might miss it.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....22095789735938
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....36986988244992
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....66597008384007
Your clothing items are of course a major factor in your survival. Clothing varies in its usefulness and some of it is better off used as crafting cloth. Clothing comes with differing parameters of warmth, windproofing, and weight. Clothing which blocks the wind is best worn on the outside. Of course, if it's wet or worse yet, frozen, it won't do you much good. Clothing crafted from animal hides tends to be rather potent but it's not easier to come by and takes more complicated materials to repair. Repairs can be frustrating as, like fire, it comes with a certain chance of success or failure and, in the event of a failure, all materials you were using on the attempted repair are simply lost, no matter how rare. It's a gameplay mechanic I could honestly do without but, it is what it is. Clothing can be severely damaged by animal attacks, a result I tend to find much more irritating than even straight up life-threatening injuries, depending on what clothing was damaged, so be sure not to let those wolves get too close.
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....24502325899264
https://twitter.com/MasterMofeto/st.....67010594426883
Well that was a lot of work for something only I'm gonna care about but in a nutshell, that's the game. I recently picked it back up after about a 2-month break and have gotten hooked on it all over again, traveling to a previously unexplored region and seeing what it has for me.
The game is available on Steam, Playstation, Switch, and maybe Xbox. I suggest the Steam version because I tried to live without mouse-aiming and decided it was no way to live at all.
