The Long Dark Official Release Aug 1st

Riverhound777

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2003
3,363
61
91
I don't see any thread on The Long Dark at all, so long overdue. Love this game, and the story mode will be coming out with the official release next month. I picked it up for $10 on the summer sale, but still worth the regular price if you ask me.

 

hoorah

Senior member
Dec 8, 2005
755
18
81
Yes, I picked this game up awhile back and got my $10 out of it already. Interested to see what the story mode is.

I do have to say though that its a bit hard to get in the correct mindset to play this game considering I have lived in a tropical climate my entire life.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
Bought this game over a year ago in early access.

It is a very good game. I consider the mechanics to be very much like roguelikes. Obviously not in the graphics department, the graphics are pretty nice... not Rise of the Tomb Raider quality, but pretty nice. More in the fact that the learning curve is steep, and you will die, and death is permanent. If you learn from those deaths, and make better decisions with your next try, you will be rewarded with the ability to survive consistently. Initially the game will feel unfair and brutal, but once you learn what you're doing, survival is actually fairly trivial if you can avoid getting surprise attacked by wolves or a bear.

It's pretty fun to learn those mechanics, but once you learn them, the game becomes a bit monotonous in the sandbox mode that's available now. Story mode should break up some of this, or it could just be a sort of a tutorial for what people who have been playing in the sandbox already know... who knows? Currently you struggle a lot in the beginning of a game to scrounge up a necessary set of tools and resources, but once you do, you reach this plateau where you can easily stockpile a couple weeks of food and water and just have nothing that you really NEED to do. You have the necessary tools to survive for a hundred more days in-game, you can do anything you want, but there's nothing actually to do other than stockpile even more resources or just explore for the sake of exploring.

If you're into learning all the various ins and outs of a game, then the game will keep you entertained for a while, as the world is pretty large, there's lots of stuff to explore, and there are a lot of details about what can spawn where in the highest difficulty (interloper). If that's your thing, the game will last you hundreds of hours. If that's not your thing, it'll still give 40-60 hours of gameplay as you learn how to consistently get a foothold in the world to survive for a while. The game rewards not running and being careful where you walk, sometimes taking a 5-10 minute real time slow walking detour to avoid bears / wolves. If you're a fast paced action person, this is not the game for you it has a 'run' key with a limited amount of stamina for running, but usually this is more likely to harm you than just walking, as it increases your calorie usage and really screw up your need for sleeping.
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
2,173
15
81
I've been following this game for a while and looked in on it within the past month.

August 1 ?

That seems a bit rushed to me, I thought there were a few issues they needed to get sorted out yet - I hate to see something like this get pushed out just to meet a deadline.

Though this will be nowhere near the fiasco No Mans Sky was/is, rushing this could result in an unwarranted Black Eye to and otherwise really good looking game.

Really hoping this one works out well, they've done a good job to this point.

.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
I've been following this game for a while and looked in on it within the past month.

August 1 ?

That seems a bit rushed to me, I thought there were a few issues they needed to get sorted out yet - I hate to see something like this get pushed out just to meet a deadline.

Though this will be nowhere near the fiasco No Mans Sky was/is, rushing this could result in an unwarranted Black Eye to and otherwise really good looking game.

Really hoping this one works out well, they've done a good job to this point.

.

Rushed? It's been in Early Access since 2014 and they moved the story mode release date several times. I don't think they're afraid to move the release date in order to polish things up.

Not sure what needs sorted out. There was some grumbling in the latest update because there was a UI change, but I feel like that's what people do whenever you change things around in the UI. The sandbox available now is in pretty good shape, is it perfect? I dunno, probably not, but it certainly doesn't feel like it's in a bad place.
 

wanderer27

Platinum Member
Aug 6, 2005
2,173
15
81
Rushed? It's been in Early Access since 2014 and they moved the story mode release date several times. I don't think they're afraid to move the release date in order to polish things up.

Not sure what needs sorted out. There was some grumbling in the latest update because there was a UI change, but I feel like that's what people do whenever you change things around in the UI. The sandbox available now is in pretty good shape, is it perfect? I dunno, probably not, but it certainly doesn't feel like it's in a bad place.

Don't misunderstand me, I really like this game.

I would just like to see a few of the bigger issue bugs I've read about (a few crashes and Controller support, not that I really care about Controllers) taken care of first - may happen before August 1, but there are a few other items I'd like to see cleared up as well.

Overall, I think it's a great game, I just wouldn't mind seeing a couple more months polish put on it versus popping it out in two weeks.
I think this game deserves the extra effort, they've done good so far, don't blemish it with a rough release.



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shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
I think its coming along nicely, and assuming the campaign mode is decent, its definitely going to be a proper, well-made game by August 1st.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
I'm downloading right now. Its 2.7 gis if you already have the pre-release installed. Will let you know how the campaign is.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
OK then, the campaign mode is quite restrictive, but theres an actual story and so far it seems pretty good.

Will the Pilot and Astrid the Doctor go out on a little adventure to treat some sick people up in the great white north. Weird electrical storm. Plane crashes. Will has to save himself and figure out what the heck happened.
 

Riverhound777

Diamond Member
Aug 13, 2003
3,363
61
91
I made it through the first 5 days I think yesterday. Good start, though they changed a few things from the last time I played. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to make the healing tea, finally found a post saying you had to go into the crafting area and prepare the rose hips first.
 

Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
I made it through the first 5 days I think yesterday. Good start, though they changed a few things from the last time I played. I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to make the healing tea, finally found a post saying you had to go into the crafting area and prepare the rose hips first.

This is different from the way the game worked previously, but if you go to the story / quest section it actually tells you that you need to prepare the rose hips from the crafting menu. This is more of a problem for the people who played in early access and who are used to how it worked before than it is for those playing for the first time.