The Long Dark

I started playing this game years ago, way back when storymode is not a thing. the story for episode 1 and 2 was really cool back then, it was really good. 3 and 4 was great too, but they stopped as "personal beef" between a group of convicts and some people trying hard to survive. Then episode 5 came, it was my most waited thing, i was so hyped for it, i bought this game on steam just to pay the dev some tribute. Turns out this episode has the most ♥♥♥♥ story ive ever played, devs said they need time to polish things, trying to deliver us the greatest experience, a grand boom. nah nah they are lying. So so so many plot holes, from personal beefs all of a sudden expanded to a worldwide threat, molly and jeremiah all of a sudden appear in the scene, you yourself have a shotgun, a rifle, a revoler, a ballistic vest, basically a walking armory, then boom all of your stuff disappear in the final bits. devs really dont want us to kill the convicts, then someone we walk straight back to the lion's den to make a message that you arent sure if it will goes out or not. Reason? to have that tear jerking final scene between astrid and mackenzie (its so ass it just turned me off completely) So many bugs unfixed in the story, so many unjustified "take away your stuffs". Atp i wont even buy TLD2 or Blackfrost, so many delay just to be served slop. So much slop i have to went out of my way to write a review. PUT THE FRIES IN THE BAG ATP.

Episode 4 was genuinely some of the worst story gameplay I've ever had to slog through. Besides being narratively all over the place, obsessing over one character who they are gassing up to be hitler, and STILL NOT EXPLAINING ANY STORY, the actual gameplay is just so horrifically bad it felt like a chore to beat it. I really enjoyed the first three episodes since it gave you actual freedom to roam and explore mechanics of the game, but here comes chapter 4 with 8 canyons forcing you to take a bridge and stay on the path marked on the maps otherwise have fun either save scumming or finding the mountaineering ropes that are randomly placed on the map. If I wanted to sit around and get ♥♥♥♥ on for what felt like 30 hours I would just tell someone to step on my balls with stilettos and be done with it. I think the devs and writers took inspiration from the worst part of chapter 3 (plane section) and decided to base the entirety of chapter 4 around it and it really shows. I can't imagine that the survival mode is any better either as surviving in the story was not difficult whatsoever.

It is with a heavy heart, after following TLD for years and years, that I give this review. I've played many a survival scenario, and waited patiently and faithfully through the egregiously long development and release of the Wintermute story. Episode 5 was the worst written story and most poorly executed linear gameplay I've ever endured. There were some ups and downs with previous episodes but as they were updated and honed I mostly enjoyed them and was committed to the series. As many have said, episode 4 had me a bit nervous with the direction they were going, but I still had hope. With the release of the final episode, it left such a bad taste in my mouth that it honestly ruined much of the nostalgia I had for the series as a whole. There is so much to criticize, from the awful nonsensical writing and abysmal attempt to wrap up the lore, the down right insulting and lazy gameplay loops, or the absolutely butchered mechanics in order to force story progression. It was so bad that I don't believe Hinterland deserves any loyalty from existing fans for their future story-based releases and in fact must build our trust from scratch. Apart from Wintermute, there's survival mode... Back when this game was launched, it felt unique and intriguing and it was genuinely fun, although punishing, to survive the land alone and build up resources. Having played it again recently, I do not believe even the survival mode has aged well and in fact is no longer relevant. It was fun back in the day but has lost it's appeal, at least for myself, even without the stain of Episode 5. As I have grown older, there are simply far better survival games these days worth the precious time I have available. That all not to mention they continue to milk survival with objectively over-priced and lackluster DLCs, and the optimization is still bellow average. All in all, I think The Long Dark is a relic of it's time and I believe this series truly needs to be laid to rest for good. It's been long... too long. I honestly wish Episode 5 had never been released, as it would have at least allowed the game to die with a fond memory in my mind but instead they resurrected my interest only to kill my joyful memories and turn my back on the game for good, unable to recommend it to anyone moving forward.

День 1. Леса-леса. Как я тут оказалася? В кармане ничего кроме походной аптечки, одежка теплая, но от ветра не защитит, тихо падает снег. Куда идти? Решать только мне. День 3. Несказанно повезло. В домике лесничего нашлись сухпайки и дровишки, а самое ценное - патроны для винтовки. Но это еще не везение. Везение поджидало меня через пару километров, в уютном домике охотника на заснеженной опушке. В лице потрясающего охотничьего ружья и целого склада припасов. День 5. Начинает нравиться так жить. Из 12 пуль потратил 3. Мяса трех оленей хватит на неделю. Из кишок смастерил капканы и установил неподалеку, повезет - будет дополнительный источник питания в лице кроликов. День 10. Живеться хорошо, запасся дровами впрок, каждый вечер топлю снег и кипячу воду, ем аппетитную оленью отбивную. Это точно симулятор выживания? День 12. Смастерил себе сапоги из оленьей кожи. Греют как очаг. Проверил ловушки - вскоре сшил себе перчатки из кроличьей шкуры. Начинаю задумываться о куртке из волчьих шкур. День 20. Охота на волков оказалась простой - в отличии от оленей эти глупые животные даже не стремятся убегать - так и лезут на пулю. Новая куртка готова - теперь хоть в метель, все равно не замерзну. День 22. Совершил вылазку на Озеро. Собрал патроны, пайки а главное - пару баночек сугщёнки. Жизнь сладка. День 26. Еле успел доесть мясо, пока не испортилось. Буду пытаться выжить на одних кроликах. День 27. Многие капканы порушены, кроликов все меньше. По пути к дому подрал волк. К счастью, заражения раны удалось избежать. Аптечка заметно полегчала. День 30. Охота не удалась. Истратил 5 пуль и подстрелил всего одного оленя. Кажется, расслабился. Осталось 4 пули. День 32. Планирую поход на дамбу. Путь не близкий, но оно должно того стоить. День 33. Поход удался. Частично. Принес домой полтора литра керосина, кучу материалов для починки снаряжения а главное - десяток пуль. Правда, ночевать пишлось "в поле". На утро был погрызен волком. Скоро могут кончаться бинты. День 34. Перехожу на "кроличий рацион". День 36. Сходил в лагерь лесорубов что за перевалом. По пути домой попал в метель, заблудился, блуждал по кругу несколько часов. Чуть не подхватил обморожение. Одежки спасли. Зато притащил домой пару пачек чая. Будет чем согреться во вьюгу. День 40. Капканы снова поломаны, новых нет. Пора браться за винтовку. День 50. Ездец подкрался незаметно. Осталось 3 пули, все что можно было съесть - съедено. Пора отправлятся дальше. День 52. Подготовления завершены. Одежда заштопана, топорик и нож заточены, лапма полностью заправлена, все что можно было забрать - забрал. Прощай, мой милый дом! День 54. Путь прошел без приключений. Добрался до новых мест. Похоже на автомагистраль у бухты. Решил обустроиться в небольшом домике на островке неподалеку от берега. День 55. Разведывая окрестности и собирая припасы, нашел убежище получше. Надо будет переселиться. День 57. Усмешно переселился. Воды, еды и дров хватит на пару дней. Но стоит обыскать ближайшие дома и главное - ГЗС. Выглядит многообещающе. Правда, волков в округе многовато. Мигрируют, чтоле... День 58. Закончил обыск ГЗС. Ресурсов уйма! Как раз на "юбилей". Не дойдя до дома 20 метров, столкунлся с волком. Не испугавшись ружья он медленно двинулся на меня... Жаба задушила пулю тратить. Принял на нож. Не особо удачно, обильное кровотечение вкупе со сломанным ребром. Но волк мертв, до дома 20 метров, а там - спасительная аптечка. О том, что до паптечки я не добурсь мне сообщил низкий рык за спиной. Все было кончено. Спустя секунду клыки вцыпились мне в шею, снег окропило кровью... Видя, как волк терзает мой еще теплый труп, я горько жалел, что маленький еврей во мне зажал спасительную пулю. Жадность фраера сгубила. Именно так. А теперь... теперь пора провести работу над ошибками и попробовать выжить в этих диких лесах еще раз. 10 / 10 ✅ Рекомендую ✅

I played Survival mode and Wintermute chapters 1-4 with enjoyment. Difficult, but a good, challenging survival game. The story made it feel more real and gave surviving purpose. I was looking forward to the Long Dark 2.0 which had been announced by the time I finished chapter 4 and I was chomping at the bit for chapter 5. Then Chapter 5 came out after a long wait. I've never been so bored and annoyed at the same time. Ridiculous dialog and story beats... so bad it was comical, from "we need to split up" at a time where working together would be essential to "let's stand out in the open and discuss it while people are shooting at us". Boring, trivial game mechanics - turning on lights, cranking wheels, and little else. Not being able to rest up before the next big thing which requires rest because no beds are usable. Inventory resetting between sections - end a section fully equipped, start the next one without a weapon. Losing hours of progress loading an old save because you don't realize you've done something irreversibly out of order until it's too late. The 30-minute lore dump near the end broke my spirit. I only continued out of pride and stubbornness. This is what happens when you move your best folks to the new project and let the interns and new-hires finish up the previous one without adult supervision.

The final chapter of the story force you joining a gang of criminals who burns schools with innocent people and children inside. I do not support that writing and there is no way to justify burning kids alive.

The appeal of The Long Dark is in the management of your food, water, and clothing while travelling by landmark. When you reach shelter during a storm, the feeling is extremely cozy. Why thumbs down? This is the worst told story I've seen in my life. I play the survival mode a lot and its really good. The store page for The Long Dark is mostly about their story mode and I want you to have reasonable expectations about what that looks like. There are five chapters. Chapter 1 is very good and serves as a well-paced tutorial. Chapters 2 and 3 aren't as fun, but the gameplay is pretty close to what you'll find in survival mode. Once premise of the disaster is that electricity doesn't work unless there's an aurora making everything go haywire. Beginning in chapter 3, electricity will somehow work consistently when the plot calls for it. The wheels fall off the bus in chapter 4. All manner of electrical things will consistently work for plot reasons. [spoiler] Phones, powered doors, security cameras... [/spoiler] And the story even gives you the equivalent of a [spoiler] hacker girl [/spoiler] to help you through the dangers you face. Chapter 5 is a B-movie. Imagine a scene. There is a bad guy shooting at a protagonist who walks toward him at a slow pace. The bad guy misses every shot. The protagonist slaps the bad guy, then turns around and walks away at the same pace while the bad guy continues shooting and missing every shot until the protagonist is out of view. A similar, worse scene exists in chapter 5. If you play The Long Dark's story, you will notice from chapter 1 that every character is lobotomized and cannot give a straight answer to any question. Ever. Despite the life or death reality of the situation, no one feels any need to be understood. Your character also doesn't seem to have any need to understand why he is doing what he is doing. You're all like ant-people or something. It is also conspicuous that no character makes a calculated decision ever. Every thing a character ever does is motivated by their relationship to other people. "Oh you're my [i] blank [/i] so I'll do what you say." Or "You know, [i] blank? [/i] This changes everything. I had better do [i] blank! [/i]" The dialogue was written by aliens who have only seen humans on TV. So you should just get the survival mode, right? Well... if you start up survival mode, you'll spawn on the ground somewhere without explanation. You'll wander around in the cold until the first wolf you encounter kills you or puts you into a doom state. Without chapter 1 or 2, you will not know how to meaningfully engage with the game world. You'll have to go on Youtube and do homework. The Long Dark's appeal is just not that broad. I have three friends on Steam who have played this game. One played for 10 hours and the other two played for less than 1. If you are interested in it, I highly encourage you to watch gameplay with commentary of the survival mode in particular. Because most of this game is walking long distances and stopping to cook or sew clothes.

last chapter is a garbage. developers wasted years for ♥♥♥♥♥♥ locations. geolocation sucks. if you stay on the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rock it's a fragile ice, fcking unskipable cutscenes, scripted bear. Try to play your own game. I wish I could refund. You were in early access for years and still it feels like you don't event know how physics works.

Maybe I don't understand this but I played it for 3 hours it was extremely bored. It's like a walking simulator mixed with open world hardcore survival and it's as horrible as that sounds