My "The long dark" review


Teegan

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In this review, I will be covering what I thought of the game as a whole, as well as what I think could be improved or implemented at a later date. 

 

I have purchased "The long dark" a few months back and instantly fell in love with it. The stunning visuals and beautiful audio, all melded together in one brilliant alpha survival game. I for one, am a huge fan of winter and forests in any game, so as for that, this game took the cake. I really enjoy the slow pace this game set up, and the difficult challenge to survive. This game has almost everything I could ask for in a survival game. Now, my review isn't all praise, mind you. Let's move on to what I think should be added to the game.

 

Throughout my time exploring the vast wilderness that is "The long dark", I've come across countless wolves that were to aggressive for comfort, and I couldn't fight back. I do realize that you can pull a hunting knife when they pounce you, but why not pull a prybar out or a hatchet when it's near you and try to scare it off? I believe that in any survival situation, that'd make sense. Have a weapon drawn, ready to fend off or frighten the attacker (bears not included). They're just wolves after all, a few loud battle cries and brandishes of your weapon and they should retreat for a small amount of time. I'm not asking for much, but flares are scarce as it is, and during the whiteout challenge even more so. I also feel you should be able to craft makeshift shelters for when you're in dire need of a break or shield from the wind. I'm not asking for much, just a few branches tied together with about 10-20 cloth and bam, you have a makeshift shelter. This isn't that impossible a request I'm sure, seeing as there's one near the dam in mystery lake. Those are the two features I crave most in the upcoming updates of this game.

 

As for bugs and the like, I have yet to run into any, so good work hinterland. Though I find the wolves are very aggressive and high in numbers in the whiteout challenge after the recent update. I wonder if that's just luck or intentional, but it's made it nearly impossible to leave the gas station or return without dying.

 

For "The long dark" alpha build, even with it being an alpha, I have to rate this highly and recommend it to all who love a good challenge. It's a wonderfully crafted game and absolutely worth the purchase. I look forward to the upcoming features and hope you take my review to heart as constructive criticism. I love the game and keep up the good work!

 

-Teegan

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Hello @Teegan!

11 minutes ago, Teegan said:

I also feel you should be able to craft makeshift shelters for when you're in dire need of a break or shield from the wind. I'm not asking for much, just a few branches tied together with about 10-20 cloth and bam, you have a makeshift shelter.

You can build a Snow Shelter by bringing up the radial menu, selecting Camp Craft and then selecting the Snow Shelter icon.  I think you need 15 sticks and 5 cloth to build one.

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I've yet to be able to fight a wolf ever, but as for the snow shelter, I never got it to work. Though I haven't tried it in the recent update, assuming it was a teaser for what was to come. Thank you so much for your help!

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Welcome to the forums, @Teegan! :)

19 hours ago, Teegan said:

Throughout my time exploring the vast wilderness that is "The long dark", I've come across countless wolves that were to aggressive for comfort, and I couldn't fight back. I do realize that you can pull a hunting knife when they pounce you, but why not pull a prybar out or a hatchet when it's near you and try to scare it off? I believe that in any survival situation, that'd make sense. Have a weapon drawn, ready to fend off or frighten the attacker (bears not included). They're just wolves after all, a few loud battle cries and brandishes of your weapon and they should retreat for a small amount of time.

You should be able to fight back when you are attacked by wolf, even if you have nothing but your bare hands as weapons.  However, you must also spam your left-mouse key to struggle and fight back, which fills the "struggle meter" that appears on screen during an attack; the fuller the bar, the more likely the wolf will give up and flee.

Also, the best way to not get attacked by a wolf that is stalking you is just back away until you are either near a wolf-proof shelter (e.g. houses, ice fishing shacks, caves) or have positioned yourself so you're out of the wolf's direct line of sight, then turn back around and bolt it as fast you can!  It is surprisingly easy to keep your distance from a wolf just as long as you don't turn your back on him for too long and he just keeps snarling at you; when you hear him do a snarl-bark, that's when you need to start running!

Oh, and I've heard somewhere on the forums that if you find yourself cornered with your back against a wall, there is a strategy with a small chance of scaring off the wolf before he attacks, though it seems to work only about 25% of the time.  Here's how I think it works:

  1. Press your back against a wall while facing the wolf
  2. Sprint at him for about 2 steps or so
  3. Either watch the wolf scuttle away in fear or ready your trigger finger for some left-mouse spamming!  :insanity_fluffy:

I hope this advice helps you endure and enjoy the challenges and wonders this game has to offer!

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While certain points of this review have, well, a point(swinging crowbat at wolf in melee), others not so much.

Yes, its just a wolf, a bit overagressive, but a wolf. They are not puppies, or something on a level of chihuahua in terms of danger, as often portrait in most games, where they are fairly weak average mob. Wolves are strong, for their size, fast and smart. Generally speaking, in 1on1, irl, human have extremely low chance of surviving wolf attack.

Fire used to scare away wolves and bears, but firstly, its not realistic and secondly it was widely exploited, by making fires practically under animal and then killing it from complete safety. Wild animals fear fire, as any normal being should, but its "practical" fear, if person is waving some ridiculous branch, then they will just go for it.

Event somehow enhanced wildlife aggressiveness, plus, were dealing with area where human presence is fairly common, allowing animals to get used to humans. So conventional methods of jumping and making loud noises may not work.

In general wolves are not actually hard, once you figure out how to deal with them. They are actually quite easy on that part. They are easy to avoid and run away from as long as player keeps his load low. In addition to that, when attack do occur, i have macro cloned action key to Ctrl(tapping that is waaay faster than mouse key) and usually fight them off with little to no effort.

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