I have only just discovered this game (still in development), which means that I started playing with all the extra design and possibilities that came along with the development through the years. As a teenager I played the game 'Ultima Underworld', which can be found here on gog.com as well. Exploring dungeons with strange tribes and magical creatures. Gathering enough food and gaining enough sleep to survive. It had a magic atmosphere to it, that I never really felt afterwards (could be my selection of games). Then came The Long Dark on Gog's Summer Sale. What a surprise! The game might be a bit of a struggle at first, because the controls aren't all as obvious as they might seem. For instance, for boiling water, you have to at the campfire interface. It's an idea to watch some video from youtube to introduce you to some main concepts. Once you get the hang of that, you can go out and explore. Don't trust too much on the maps on the internet, I've done that and the design of the world can be quite different from earlier versions. If you want to learn more about starting a fire, ice fishing and crafting, this is your game. Although I would like to see the character in the game doing the actual mending and a little bit more detail on how clothing is damaged would make a difference in how I see the game going would make it more realistic, I can already completely immerse in the game. I would want to see that fishing line being made while I'm waiting anyway. Cleaning a rabbit carcass, come on and let it show! Survival, show the gory truth! Another 'flaw': weak ice is only noticed because of a message on screen. I'd say to more visualise it by showing on the ice floor itself. For more natural wolf behaviour go for Pilgrim mode. Apart from all these remarks, The Long Dark is a definite "Yes". Atmospheric, wonderful colours, haunting winds and darks and attractive. Well worth your time. To me, sandbox mode is a winner. And the community online is great too!
I played the game as part of the complete package of 5, and I just finished this episode. I'm giving this 3 / 3,5 out of 5 points. The game earns the points by the fine storyline, its witty humour and suspense and the dazzling amount of locations that have been crafted pretty well. It is clearly visible that 3D live action was still under development within the gaming industries. Under Linux (Wine) the live 3d animation isn't flawless, aswell: secret doors can be seen easily and shadows of the characters can result in faulty display. I did not consider this harmful in relation to the experience as a whole. It must be said: you don't see many standard animation for picking up artifacts, applying or interacting. What frustrated me as a player is the non-intuitive controls. In the game you control the character using the keyboard. The controls are not related to the orientation of the character (such as press arrow up for walking forward), but are related to the camera view. If you want to up on the screen, press arrow up, even though the character is facing towards you. Since there are changing camera views all the time, this can get you mad as hell (well at least it got me). This can be frustrating all the time, but especially during live action (which is mostly limited by time). And sometimes, when your character dies, and are given another chance, first you'll have to watch a complete sequence again. The way you control the character could have been way more intuitive and thus fun. Nonetheless, I think story and atmosphere are making this game well worth its money. I also loved the "sliding puzzles" (i.e. the box shoving puzzles), though it felt a bit strange to take so much time for such puzzles when really world destruction is at stake.
