Survival simulators are different. In some, the player has to survive in a devastated world, fighting off zombies and mutants, and in some he finds himself face to face with the wild. In such games, there is only one task - to survive. However, playing any game of this genre is much more interesting if it has a plot. The long dark is one such game. Minimum rules, minimum laws. Only cold Canada, wolves and bears.
Cold, wolves and bears
Players are the most fastidious people in the world. They already managed to play in impassable forests, mountains, abandoned and destroyed megacities, and even in space. Game developers can rarely surprise you. So in this case, the level designers went the non-standard way. They turned the plot of The long dark into a true story.
There are no bloodthirsty monsters or stupid zombies in this game world. There is winter Canada and a lonely man, who turned into the wilderness. For many kilometers around there is not a single living soul who would be ready to help the player. The only partner - the ex-wife of the protagonist, who disappeared after the crash, so you have to look for her.
It is a very cold winter, so much so that wild animals do not mind having lunch with the main character. Wolves and bears are tough opponents, but there is something that this game will make you even more afraid of - unstable winter weather.
Even the methodical passage of the plot of The long dark will not give a guaranteed victory. In this game, collecting everything that is bad is not enough. This is not enough. When playing, you need to think with your head. Eating raw meat, even in case of fasting, is not recommended. Of course, there is a chance for a positive outcome. However, most likely, the main character will recover, become ill, and will soon die. Moreover, no one will spare the player: if you get lost at a location in a snowstorm, you can no longer return. On locations, there may be only a few houses located in an unknown place. First you have to find them.
Fall from heaven
The passage of the plot of The long dark begins with a small cozy office. The main character appears to be a man of about 45 years of age in deep depression. The story begins with a visit to the office of the character’s ex-wife. Of course, this is a touching story. Family reunion - a cliche battered in cinema. This time, the girl brings with her not happiness, but big problems.
Having literally imposed on the hero the need to fly a plane in a snowstorm, and even to an unknown point, the girl also does not want to disclose the reasons. Already at this point it is clear that something is wrong here. In the middle of the path, the heavens suddenly light up with the light of aurora. The event does not pass without a trace and de-energizes the electronics of the aircraft. A plane is not a glider, it will not fly without engines. A crash occurs in the Canadian mountains.
A geomagnetic storm has caused enormous damage to the entire infrastructure of the islands. All settlements lost their electricity and communication with the mainland. There was chaos and robbery. De-energized and doomed handfuls of survivors tried to get to the mainland, but died from cold or fangs of wild animals. Wolves and bears, under the influence of a geomagnetic storm, began to attack everything that looked edible.
The entire plot of the game The long dark is monotonous. The hero has one task - to stay alive. He does not have warm clothes, food and water, communication and medicine. His wife disappeared, and he is completely alone. The storyline is developing sluggishly. Met survivors give the hero incredibly monotonous resource-gathering quests. You can’t pass them, but in order to complete it, you will have to move around all the nooks and crannies of the locations, because the survivors ask a lot. It is impossible to fulfill the conditions of the assignment in one settlement. The mechanics of the game will not allow this, which means that you have to take risks.
Like in life
The maximum severity and realism of the plot of The long dark is manifested in the consequences of the falls. If you just dislocate your ankle or stretch your wrist - the game will make you rush to look for a medicine throughout the location. In this case, all the indicators of the hero will be reduced. Such injuries will cause significant inconvenience when moving. Even if you can find a medicine, there is a chance that it will not have a positive effect. Unfortunately, the physical engine of the game has not received proper optimization. You can get injured even on a flat road.
The bite of a wolf does not heal instantly. Bleeding does not stop on its own, and the player, having survived the attacks of the wolf, is deprived of the possibility of normal movement. A bite or blow from a bear will almost certainly kill the character. To cope with a wolf or a bear with bare hands or with an ax is almost impossible. Only a gun will save, for which ammunition is considered a shortage. Find a weapon just does not work. This is part of the storyline. You don’t have to look for it, you have to fix it, moving around the entire location. So for a long time, every wolf encountered will become a problem. A bear will always be a problem. Killing clubfoot is very problematic.
Darkness
There is darkness in the game, and there is a lot of it. She really is in the way. Without a flashlight, a player will not even be able to repair torn clothes and will freeze. In addition, in some rooms nothing will be visible. The lantern consumes fuel, which may well end at the most inopportune moment for this.
Different versions of the game
The latest The long dark - version with a plot, was released recently. There are many versions on torrent trackers where there is no plot at all. They present only pure survival without meaning and purpose. Death in this mode will return the player not to the checkpoint, but to the beginning of the game.
The current version is recommended to buy. The story company comes out of the seasons. The official version of the game will be constantly updated. It fixes minor bugs and finalizes the plot.