The Long Dark - Review @ Destructoid

HiddenX · August 23, 2017

Destructoid has reviewed the exploration survival game The Long Dark:

Review: The Long Dark

Winter is here

The Long Dark is out of Early Access, and there have been some changes since it was initially released in 2014. Its world has grown bigger, its animal AI has grown smarter, and its story mode has remained a promising yet barely distinguishable figure on the edge of the horizon. Until now.

This review covers both the survival sandbox mode and the first two episodes of the story mode. I'll be back to cover more of it as I keep charting its chilly terrain and as more episodes are released.
[...]
I have to say, one of the best parts of The Long Dark is the feeling of discovery. Being unsure where I'm going as I venture off partially snow-covered roads, and then suddenly coming upon a lighthouse or a whale harvesting plant, is exciting. Since the maps are always the same, that excitement will fade once I've discovered and memorized everything each area has to offer. I have conflicting feelings about that because I want both the excitement of discovery and the comfort of knowing the world I inhabit.

New maps can always be added, and there are challenges within the sandbox mode that you can choose to partake in if you want to shake things up a bit. One of the challenges asks you to spend three days at different locations scattered across all the maps, forcing you to chart the entire world of the game. And there's enough content there that it should keep you busy exploring every nook and cranny for a while.

While the story mode leaves something to be desired, the survival mechanics of The Long Dark's sandbox make it worthwhile. We have three more episodes of Will's journey to weave a wider story throughout the alternately unforgiving and inviting Canadian terrain. In the meantime, I'll be sitting back with my coffee mug, reflecting on my own small stories within The Long Dark.

More information.

beldurax · August 23, 2017

This game is the real deal. What an experience !

wolfing · August 24, 2017

Is this another of those survival games where you punch wood and pebbles until you make stone axe to better punch trees to make a pick to punch bigger rocks to make a firepit where you eat some rabbits you punched earlier?

rune_74 · August 24, 2017

No not really.

joxer · August 24, 2017

wolfing said:
Is this another of those survival games where you punch wood and pebbles until you make stone axe to better punch trees to make a pick to punch bigger rocks to make a firepit where you eat some rabbits you punched earlier?

I thought it's Neo Scavenger 2, yes, but it's visuals are too good to be codex' goty.

ChienAboyeur · August 24, 2017

It is not neo scavenger 2.

The farming side is more about fitting into an environment than reshaping the environment. Therefore, no bottom to top crafting chain. Actually, players need to find items they cant craft by themselves.

That being said, it is another survival product in which players bathe in resources. It is a management of abundance instead of scarcity.
Everything quickly appears in excess, there is no moment of deprivation even though, contrary to other survival products, the mass production level is not that often hit.
Another tensionless product with no mishap, another survival product in which death is a distant thought not a daily life worry. Once the player is set on a course, the course is smooth and surpriseless.
Might be relaxing but yet fails in the survival department.

beldurax · August 24, 2017

ChienAboyeur said:
It is not neo scavenger 2.

The farming side is more about fitting into an environment than reshaping the environment. Therefore, no bottom to top crafting chain. Actually, players need to find items they cant craft by themselves.

That being said, it is another survival product in which players bathe in resources. It is a management of abundance instead of scarcity.
Everything quickly appears in excess, there is no moment of deprivation even though, contrary to other survival products, the mass production level is not that often hit.
Another tensionless product with no mishap, another survival product in which death is a distant thought not a daily life worry. Once the player is set on a course, the course is smooth and surpriseless.
Might be relaxing but yet fails in the survival department.

Describing The Long Dark as "tensionless" is, to be quite frank, inaccurate. Your character can be quickly dispatched by the elements, if he doesn't watch himself, or by the fauna, as well.

Hastar · August 24, 2017

Thinking of getting this game. I haven't played survival type games really. I enjoyed the hypothermia mod in Skyrim. The sandbox mode of The Long Dark seems like the kind of game I would enjoy.

rune_74 · August 24, 2017

ChienAboyeur said:
It is not neo scavenger 2.

The farming side is more about fitting into an environment than reshaping the environment. Therefore, no bottom to top crafting chain. Actually, players need to find items they cant craft by themselves.

That being said, it is another survival product in which players bathe in resources. It is a management of abundance instead of scarcity.
Everything quickly appears in excess, there is no moment of deprivation even though, contrary to other survival products, the mass production level is not that often hit.
Another tensionless product with no mishap, another survival product in which death is a distant thought not a daily life worry. Once the player is set on a course, the course is smooth and surpriseless.
Might be relaxing but yet fails in the survival department.

Have you even played this?

ChienAboyeur · August 24, 2017

beldurax said:
Describing The Long Dark as "tensionless" is, to be quite frank, inaccurate. Your character can be quickly dispatched by the elements, if he doesn't watch himself, or by the fauna, as well.

It is the same as for many other products or even activities: when things that must be done are not done, there is failure at the end of the road.

There is a huge pressure on video products so that anything that is done leads to success.
The long dark is not that kind of products: players who ignore cold, food are going to fail. There is no mechanics to bail players out of their shortcomings.

The trend is new though. In the past, in gaming, it was commonly accepted that certain ways are necessary. In football, a goalkeeper must put his body between the ball and the goal line or his team concedes.

What players take in account elements in the long dark and do not lull themselves into thinking they can endure while ignoring them, the result is tensionless. There is no glitch, no mishap, the unforeseen is little.

It is eventless, things go smoothly.

The product provides hours so it can be learned. Once it is learned, that is when gaming is supposed to start, the result is tensionless. It runs smoothly, no hiccups.

For players who enjoy learning without ever applying, TLD is a strong candidate. For gamers, it is another story.

mbuddha · August 27, 2017

I can't describe the game in its current release state. But I picked it up early in early access a couple years back, and I found little abundance among the resources. It was a high tension survival experience, one of the best out there. There's not much in the way of crafting, no base building. Your enemies are wolves, and extreme cold. Along with the usual (need water, food) Maybe the story mode has made the game more playable (survivable) via more resources.

crpgnut · August 28, 2017

Was there a point there, Chien? You didn't give any examples of game play at all; just random words meshed together that could describe any survival game. Which resources did you find too much? Show us your hours played with a screenshot. How about something from 15 hours in or later, for example.

rune_74 · August 28, 2017

crpgnut said:
Was there a point there, Chien? You didn't give any examples of game play at all; just random words meshed together that could describe any survival game. Which resources did you find too much? Show us your hours played with a screenshot. How about something from 15 hours in or later, for example.

I asked if he had played it or not...no answer.

ChienAboyeur · August 28, 2017

15 hours seem quite short to learn how to play, except maybe learning from a guide.

Considered the way played hours on this site are dealt with, that is either too few hours to substantiate a point or too many hours to support the colour of the depiction made, considered that people on this site are unable to tell outright how many hours is the right number of hours, the answer is as followed:
the number of hours spent on the product was exactly what people desire it to be for their own means.

If people desire it to be less than fifteen hours, that is the time.
If people desire it to be 222 hours, 34 minutes and 55 seconds, that is the time.
If people change their minds and now desire it to be 87 hours 00 minutes 16 seconds, that is the time.

Nothing here to thwart the pursuit of happiness as it is an unalienable human right. Everyone is happy.

crpgnut · August 28, 2017

Aha, it's never played it. That's what I figured. How does an AI actually play a game anyway? Chien, let's play global thermal nuclear war.

rune_74 · August 28, 2017

ChienAboyeur said:
15 hours seem quite short to learn how to play, except maybe learning from a guide.

Considered the way played hours on this site are dealt with, that is either too few hours to substantiate a point or too many hours to support the colour of the depiction made, considered that people on this site are unable to tell outright how many hours is the right number of hours, the answer is as followed:
the number of hours spent on the product was exactly what people desire it to be for their own means.

If people desire it to be less than fifteen hours, that is the time.
If people desire it to be 222 hours, 34 minutes and 55 seconds, that is the time.
If people change their minds and now desire it to be 87 hours 00 minutes 16 seconds, that is the time.

Nothing here to thwart the pursuit of happiness as it is an unalienable human right. Everyone is happy.

This is nonsense. Did you play the game or not.

ChienAboyeur · August 28, 2017

The question is not correct.

The question is whether players played a product. In that case, the number of hours would not matter.

The question is how many hours players played the product.

On this site, the vision is that players who express a certain kind of opinion either played too few hours or too many hours.

ChienAboyeur · August 28, 2017

crpgnut said:
Chien, let's play global thermal nuclear war.

The US president, servant to his master the US People, is keen on playing that kind of stuff.
Contrary to others, he has access to nuclear weapons.

Wisdom · August 28, 2017

I agree with Chiens assessment of the game in the post I liked. I get what he was saying there.

On the other hand Chien, stop being an obtuse dick. Answer the question, we know you didnt play it but just watched a stream. Theres nothing wrong with that, just step up and say it rather than spinning some other crap.

Steinawarjar · August 28, 2017

ChienAboyeur said:
The question is not correct.

The question is whether players played a product.

No, the question is correct. That you want to call it a product instead of a game is certainly your prerogative. But it's also irrelevant. And if you make a deal out of that, that's your problem.

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