Let's Survive: The Long Dark

I have the updates for Starbound in the queue (and the next one actually written), but I want to exploit the hype around The Long Dark while it lasts, so enjoy!

Let's Survive: The Long Dark

Recently a game was released titled The Long Dark. It was presented as a "pure" survival game; no zombies, no mutants, no bandits, only you alone in the middle of nowhere trying to survive in a frozen winter wonderland. A good friend of mine jokingly called it "Canada Simulator 2014", which I found funny until I found out that the game takes place in Northern Canada. Huh.

Anyway, when I heard it was a survival simulator, I immediately grabbed it - I'm a sucker for survival games - and immediately thought to make a Let's Play of it. Now, I played around in it a few times to get a feel for the controls, but didn't allow myself to get very far; I wanted to make this playthrough feel authentic, truly discovering the game as I go.

Before I started, I decided to raise the stakes on this Let's Play. Since this would not be very interesting if I just die right away, I decide to give myself a penalty to force myself to perform well. If I die within 7 days, I'll uninstall the game and never play again. Now there's no way for you to know whether or not I'll respect this vow, so you'll have to take my word for it. My spouse (hi sweetie!) is probably going to read this and will be able to attest to my vow. You're just going to have to trust me, I guess.

So, without further ado, let's get started. I'm confident I'll make it to 7 days if I'm careful and plan things out. After all, how hard can it be?

A long time, I bet!

So as the game loads, our hero - let's call him, um, Wolf Grylls - finds himself exactly where the caption put him: in the middle of nowhere.

Let's take a look at what our current situation is, shall we?

Ok, so he's cold and hungry, and it feels like -19C outside. Wonderful! With that in mind, we need to find shelter ASAP, and hopefully find a semi-permanent settlement to use as a base of operations. My first priority will be to get Wolf out of that cold. Looking around, I spot some kind of cabin far away.

Yes, that small speck far off between the trees.

I start making my way over there, but I know it's going to be a long trek. Along the way, I find a few wolves and successfully evade them as there's no way I can defend myself from them. Yet.

Further along I find a small cabin on a frozen lake.

I make my way there only to find it completely devoid of supplies.

It has exactly two things in it: jack and shit.

Moving on, I stumble upon a deer carcass. It would have been useful if I had the tools to take its hide or meat for myself, but I'll just have to leave it there for now.

Walking further I find a small cabin off in the distance, hopefully containing some useful supplies.

Next to the cabin I find some poor unfortunate soul who didn't survive the winter and has succumbed to the Long Dark (see what I did there? I'm so clever).

After searching him (it) and finding some grape drank, I make my way inside the cabin.

It's dark as... something dark, uh, in here. Luckily I have some matches! I light up, and...

HOLY BALLS there's a CORPSE in here! I guess I can't really stay, then, as there's no way I'm moving a frozen corpse out of here. I rummage around and find a flare before making my way out.

I finally find myself up against the slope on which I hope the cabin I spotted earlier is resting.

I have Wolf make his way upwards as he's starting to freeze out there. Once he reaches the top, I realize that his way is blocked by a series of tall rocks and see no way around. Depressed, I have Wolf drink the grape drank for sustenance before slowly making his way back down.

As he makes his way down, I see too late that the slope suddenly gives out, sending Wolf sprawling off a small cliff. He lets out a grunt of pain upon landing; he sprained his ankle.

Great. We're only an hour and a half in (which is about 15 minutes of play) and Wolf is freezing to death with a broken ankle. For the first time, I'm starting to doubt my ability to survive in this game despite my real-world survival "training". To make matters worse, after my fall I am completely lost and surrounded by hills. Surrounded by hills, with a sprained ankle. Great.

I have him eat the energy bar he found earlier in the cabin before moving on.

I have Wolf walk around for about an in-game hour without any real progress, so I attempt to make a fire to alleviate the freezing problem for a bit, as it's slowly killing him.

Great, I don't have the necessary fuel to start it up. I guess you need wood to start a fire. I would have Wolf spend some time gathering firewood (you can do that), but I'm worried he'll freeze to death during that time. Plus, I don't know how much good this will do.

Ya no shit, Wolf.

I finally get him over one of the hills surrounding him and start to descend other side - slowly and carefully this time.

Wolf reaches the bottom without incident and takes a look around. Not far off I see what seems to be a logging camp.

Hopefully I'll find some first aid supplies to mend the sprained ankle, or at the very least I'll be able to find some way to warm him up. As Wolf makes his way over there I spot an empty backpack along the way - hey, you never know what you can find.

As you can see above, there is a pair of portable toilets here. Oh yeah, it also began slowing, increasing the temperature and reducing wind-chill quite a bit. Before exploring inside I see what I can find outside.

Some poor soul (aww...) and some firewood (YAY!). Now I'll at least be able to make a fire to warm Wolf up. With that done, I make my way inside to scavenge whatever supplies I can find, and hopefully find some first aid kits.

I light up a flare to help me see, and find that the trailers aren't warm enough to keep Wolf safe, as he is in fact still getting colder. At least, I find some useful supplies.

Some more firewood.

A few empty containers.

A shirt that's too damaged to be useful.

A can opener. This'll come in handy if I find some canned food.

A wool sweater to keep him warm. This will slow down the rate at which he'll die of frost, but not stop it completely.

The second trailer ends up being empty, so I start exploring the third, and last, one. Really, this is my last chance to find some supplies to set Wolf's ankle.

I find a storm lantern, which will be very useful if it gets too dark to see outside.

So basically, I find nothing that can help his poor ankle. The cold meter seems to have settled a bit, but it's still high enough to be a problem.

I start to panic a little: I barely have any food, Wolf can't walk for shit, and he's slowly freezing to death.

With my new supplies, I make a fire outside. At the very least, if I can make him warm enough we may be able to survive to find some help.

OK, THIS IS BAD.

I'm so Goddamned stupid. Once started, the fire wasn't warming Wolf up enough, so I crouch down closer. It helps, but not enough, so I inch slowly closer... AND STUMBLE INTO THE FIRE. Even if I move back quickly enough, Wolf has sustained some really bad burns, and is now near death.

So that's how it's going to end, huh? Due to my own damned stupidity. There's nothing left to do, really. I get up and start stumbling forward.

Ok, let's not panic. Let's take a look at our condition.

Are you serious? Only 4 hours???

At least it's warmer out, but Wolf is still getting colder at the same rate. In other words, despite it being warmer out there, and despite the sweater I found, Wolf is still dying at the same rate. I'm a little baffled as to why, but then I take a look at his clothes.

Apparently the fall earlier completely broke his boots, and that seems to negate any warmth they provided previously.

I guess this is it, then. I'm not fooling myself; the odds of me finding something useful to his survival is almost nil. That being said, I move on; there's nothing left to do but to advance. I have Wolf eat and drink the last of his meagre portions - a last supper, I guess - and start walking.

The journey ahead is slow, painful, and sad.

My thoughts exactly, Wolf, my thoughts exactly...

I think that's a wolf over there. I consider a quick suicide over a long, cold death, but eventually decide against it.

In the distance there is what appears to be a bridge of some kind, but I know I won't get there in time. I guess I'll never know what it is.

Straight ahead I find a nice, rocky alcove in which to die. At least Wolf will be sheltered from the wind there.

On the way there, Wolf speaks his last words:

It's far too late for that, pal.

I prop Wolf against a rock and make a fire; there's no reason I can't give Wolf a final bit of comfort before he succumbs to the cold. In the end, I think about the journey, finished before it really began. I think about how this will be the last time I play this game, about the fact that I'll finish before ever really starting.

I think about the possibilities missed, all because of my own stupidity. The mistakes I made, I could have prevented them. I should have looked before moving forward off a cliff, and I should have been careful with the fire. Huh, that last thing is something you learn as a child, is it not? I'm frustrated about the game I'll never get to play, sad about the experiences I won't

Thanks for reading!