
The Long Dark is the survival genre at its brutal best - smacktoward
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/01/09/the-long-dark-sandbox-review/
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pavel_lishin
> _I imagine the mortality rate in the first few hours is astonishingly high,
> particularly for players, like me, who have no familiarity with the map, and
> cannot rely on memory to direct them toward shelter._

Does this mean the map is always the same? That actually sounds kind of
boring, rewarding rote memorization rather than the ability to improvise in
the face of a challenge.

Also, if this sort of thing appeals to you in principle but you'd like
something a little more light-hearted, try Don't Starve (which now has a
multiplayer mode).

~~~
xiaodown
Yes, the map is always the same as in the terrain is the same and the major
buildings are in the same spot.

However, every playthrough, the resources are distributed randomly throughout
the map (in designated spawn spots; for example, there may be 4 or 5 places in
one zone that a rifle will spawn, but it'll actually spawn at most at one of
them); food resources are randomly distributed; and there are these "secret
bunkers" on a couple of the maps that are randomly done as well. There is
exactly one per map, and the potential spawn places for them are all difficult
to reach.

Also, some houses/huts/etc are generated and may not exist in all maps (i.e.
there are maybe 8 "spots" where a house could be but in any given playthrough
there could be only one or two with the other 6 being burnt down, inaccessible
shacks), and that affects the available resources - you can go into houses and
find canned goods, better clothes, etc.

The reason the map is the same is because the sandbox is only the pre-release
game - there's going to be a single player campaign with a story, so the map
corresponds to the story.

Also, trust me, the familiarity with the map is not a down side that detracts
from game play. Much like a real survival situation, you're too busy trying to
not starve or freeze to death to worry about it.

My problem with the game is the impracticality of eating as much as the game
says you have to eat. If you're hunkered down in a shelter, chilling in a warm
sleeping bag with many warm clothes on, near a fire, and your body temperature
is fully normal, you don't need to consume 4000 calories in a day. But, in the
game, it seems like 2kg of cooked deer meat will only get you through 8 hours.
In a real survival situation, that should be like several days' worth of food
at least.

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nutanc
It's in early stage right now. I've looked over its Steam reviews around
Christmas and I've bought it because they were praising it from all sides. I
haven't got to play it yet, and I recommend everybody to just wait until the
first release candidate because... why not play the even better version?

~~~
xiaodown
So, as a sandbox, it's fairly complete. The full version will include a story
campaign, but that's not been released, even in part.

In other words, there's not really a reason you couldn't play it now.

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Dowwie
The studio is based in/near Northern Vancouver Island wilderness. How cool is
that?

