The Long Dark - 29/12/14

Today I gave The Long Dark a go for the first time. I purchased it about a month ago with the intention of playing it that day, but upon getting distracted I forgot all about it. So today I gave that a go and played it for about 30 minutes and I have to say, I am impressed. The game feels super official and polished for an early access game it looks like it has a LOT of potential.

7 seconds into my first game. (Hinderland's The Long Dark.)

After getting into the game I decide to turn my light off to further increase the immersion I'm potentially about to experience, I get back around 7 seconds later to this screen. I'm immediately intrigued. What the hell happened? I start a new game and load into the game and quickly look around to see if I'm about to die again. There's nothing around me except snow. I appear to be on the top of a small hill. Upon looking down the hill I notice a small village of houses then the beauty of the game strikes me. Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

7 seconds into my first game. (Hinderland's The Long Dark.)

After this, I check out each of the houses I can see and gather some supplies, the inventory looks very complicated and I'm not particularly sure what most of it does yet, but knowing that I will have to figure it out makes me feel even more immersed in the game. I venture out of the houses and pick a direction to walk. I walk for a few minutes and I see some birds circling above. When I explored the area beneath them I found corpses on the ground which each had some food and water in them. I find a railroad and I hear barking. I turn around and see a wolf heading towards me. Shit. 

The second map I just loaded into. (Hinderland's The Long Dark.)

I spring in the other direction but after running into a dead end I turn around and decide to "fight," whatever that might mean. The dog leaps on me instantly and a small event appears where I have to charge up my attack and then use it. I do it a few times and eventually scare the small wolf away, but I'm bleeding and I'm about to die. I stumble around for a few minutes with bandages but I do not have the medicine I require to fix the wound and after walking around a few more minutes, my character dies and I am left wanting more. So I went ahead and started a new game on another map that looks insanely different. I see a house out on some ice and I notice a wolf sneaking around behind it. Then I tab out to write this blog. This is gonna be fun.