The Long Dark

[Jaepheth]

Anyone pick this up? It's 50% off right now ($10) on Steam.

Probably the best/most realistic survival game I've played yet; just you against nature, no monsters other than over-aggressive wildlife.
I'm only 3 game days into sandbox mode so far. Just now found a hatchet and hunting knife right on time to fend off a wolf attack.

It's early access though, so still a work in progress.

[Purple]

Yea... I basically have a hard rule not to pay money for anything that's not a completed product. And yes, in case you were wondering with proper games, even the AAA stuff that means waiting years for everything to be patched. So no. But since you have so readily offered your self up as our test subject feel free to tell us more.

[Jaepheth]

It's pretty brutal.
You have to stay warm, rested, hydrated, fed, and healthy; it's a constant juggling act to stay alive.
Scavenged supplies are few and far between, and basically only there to facilitate bootstrapping yourself to self sufficiency.

It's day 6 and I've made base camp at a lakeside cabin, there's plenty of ice fishing shacks out on the lake. First priority of each day is finding food; ideally 3,000 Calories or so, but usually only half that because between avoid the wolves and bears searching for food outside takes a massive toll on your warmth, so then you have to find wood to burn which costs more Calories, and if there's a blizzard out you can forget going out at all. Fire's also needed to melt and boil snow to drink; I try to keep 2L of potable water and I use about that much each day. You can't really move very fast, so just getting to/from my base and doing something useful in between is a challenge... and this is the easy map.

Found that wolf I fought off the other day; it succumbed to it's wounds not far from where it attacked me. I harvested its skin to repair my shoes, meat to eat, and intestines to make line. The meat provided a much needed Calorie boost, but now I'm at risk for intestinal parasites (only 6% since I cooked the meat). I don't even know what to do if I get sick.

[Jaepheth]

In addition to the sandbox mode there are currently two challenge modes.
One where you have 7 days to trek across several maps to get a flare gun and shoot it off at a rescue zone, and another with no time limit, but you have to survive a bear attack and then get to a cabin with a gun two maps over before the bear tracks you down to finish the job.

Almost beat the bear one, but a wolf got me a few hundred yards from the gun cabin because it suddenly decided a flare wasn't very scary when being waved around by an exhausted, freshly mauled human. (They usually run away and keep their distance when a lit flare or torch is involved)

I'll need to know the maps better before I have a shot at the time trial one.

[Purple]

Given that is not finished yet how buggy is it?

[Jaepheth]

Only one crash so far.
I walked away leaving it on the death splash screen for a few hours; when I came back it crashed when I tried to start a new game.

I've had a very bug free experience otherwise.

The save game system isn't what I'd call user friendly. There's no load option, so for awhile during my first run I was wondering if games were savable at all. What it does is it autosaves at certain points (not sure where/when) and allows you to resume a save file from the main menu. So I guess it's a feature in that there are no quick mulligans ala Bethesda quickloads.
Near as I can tell there are no redos. If you die it's a new game for you.

[Purple]

Does it at least save when you shut the game down? Or do you just lose all progress from the last checkpoint?
Also, does it work on 32 bit windows? (just curious)

[Jaepheth]

Yeah, it's saved through shutdowns. It's got multiple save slots too.

32bit is fine; I think it's running on the Unity engine.

[Jaepheth]

Sorry, misread your question.

I think it saves on significant events, but not necessarily on exit (Gives an unsaved progress will be lost warning).

From the Wikipedia article:
"The save game system enforces careful decision making by the player as they are only allowed to save when they enter a building or go to sleep in the game. When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game."

[Jaepheth]

Blast, too late to edit.

I get the feeling that a lot of this game's appeal is in discovery, and once you know the ins and outs it'll become a lot less appealing. but we'll see.

For example, I found a rifle for the first time, and soon after a bear started coming after me; I got ready, aimed carefully, waited till he got close so I wouldn't miss, lined up a head shot...
*click*
Panic! Did it jam? does this game do jams? What's the key to unjam! No, wait...
I forgot to load the rifle! I frantically tried to get away as I tried to load the gun; got it loaded and aimed again, but too late; got mauled. still alive, I picked the gun back up and shot the bear dead, but then bled out soon after.

[Purple]

When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game."

Yea, that's a complete deal breaker for me.

[TheFeniX]

For example, I found a rifle for the first time, and soon after a bear started coming after me; I got ready, aimed carefully, waited till he got close so I wouldn't miss, lined up a head shot...
*click*

Damn son, that's like firearms 101. In real life and video games.

When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game."

Yea, that's a complete deal breaker for me.

It's a cool concept. Like Ark "hardcore" mode. But it's better for me when it's optional. Though I respect the dev for sticking with a vision: no easy mode to figure out everything untii you decide to play "for real." However, the monotony can get boring.

It's like Nazi Zombies for CoD: early waves are just boring. It doesn't even get interesting until 10-15 minutes in. 7 days to die was big on this: die die die die, get established and it's almost easy mode unless you get stupid. Single-player only does has it's own difficulty, but that's also why I have to pass on the game specifically.

[Alferd Packer]

When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game."

Yea, that's a complete deal breaker for me.

It has a "Voyageur" difficulty setting, wherein no animals will attack you, you can't freeze or starve to death(or you need to be deliberately obtuse to do it), and you can simply explore the world, which is about 40 square kilometers at the moment. I've had this game for at least a year now, and I love the style of the game. I go back every once in a while to see what features they've added.

[Purple]

When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game."

Yea, that's a complete deal breaker for me.

It has a "Voyageur" difficulty setting, wherein no animals will attack you, you can't freeze or starve to death(or you need to be deliberately obtuse to do it), and you can simply explore the world, which is about 40 square kilometers at the moment. I've had this game for at least a year now, and I love the style of the game. I go back every once in a while to see what features they've added.

But that would be boring. Basically I want a game mode where I can go get mauled, reload and go "well now I know not to go up against bears". As opposed to having to start from scratch.

[Stormin]

I just got the game and so far it has been worth the price even if development stopped, which it hasn't. Being worried about losing progress is not that fitting for this game though, almost all resources are non-renewable so in an in-game week you can gather up an absurd stash then after that it's just a case of managing it to last as long as possible. The only respawning stuff is sticks/branches and animals, leading to people at day 1000 apparently having to survive naked, rushing out of the shelter to harvest from snares and collect as many sticks as possible then resting off the condition damage from freezing.

One of the game quotes when starting a new playthrough is “On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” which is entirely accurate.

Edit: Also best strategy is to get naked and then stab wolves with a knife. Definitely an accurate simulation of being a Canadian.

[Zaune]

That's the problem with having no defined endgame, I guess.

Speaking of which, has anything more been heard about the campaign?

[Stormin]

Looks like ~8 episodes a season, each episode follows one of the two chars and focuses on one map which will be expanded and changed from sandbox for Story Mode. Since Spring is being added as well the first set of episodes could be surviving the winter then spring. The second season of episodes may or may not use an entirely new game. They must be hitting a lot of limitations already with the current engine as feature creep sets in.

I've found quite a few locations that look to be readied set pieces for scripted encounters, though some of that could just be unimportant locations.