This preview is based on the Steam Early Access Version.
The world has gone dark. Electric devices no longer work. Man must learn how to survive once again without the aid of technology. This is exactly the lesson that The Long Dark, developed by Hinterland Studio, Inc., intends to teach us. The game is currently still in its alpha phase, but even now it shows a lot of potential.
A geomagnetic catastrophe
Flying over the forests of Canada, you run into a geomagnetic storm. All technological devices immediately cease to function, and the plane crashes. On the ground, you realize you’re the sole survivor. Looking around, you see nothing but trees and snow, and it’s clear that you’re on your own and that you’re going to have to do everything you can in order to survive. And it’s right here that the game begins.
Free survival training
Like I mentioned above, the game is still in the alpha phase, so a lot of features and certain game modes are not yet available. This includes story mode, an extra sandbox map, as well as the ability to call up a map, shovel snow, and craft items. Nevertheless, there are still lots of opportunities for players to have fun in the Canadian wilderness. If you don’t want to die right at the beginning, you should keep your eye on the four condition display bars. The fatigue bar shows how tired your character is – it is depleted by running or physical labor, and restored when you sleep. You also have to be careful not to spend all your time wandering around in the cold or you’ll freeze to death. So pay attention to the “cold” bar.
This leaves the hunger and thirst bars – just make sure you eat and drink enough. Eating also influences the amount of calories you have at any given time, with a maximum of 2,500 calories. But the more you move or the more you work, the more calories you burn per hour. If the number falls below zero, you’d better get something to eat as quickly as possible. To avoid freezing to death, you need warmth, which you get by burning wood. But since you don’t start with any wood, you have to go out and find some, and it’s up to you to decide when the best time for this is. If you don’t have an axe, you have to look for branches lying about, but these don’t burn as long as a good, solid, log.
The developers give you exactly two ways to start a fire: either you put the wood you gather into an oven and light it using matches and tinder, or pile it up and make a campfire. When building a fire outdoors, however, keep the wind in mind, because if it’s too windy the fire won’t start. Once you’ve got a fire going, you can melt some snow, but you’re going to have to boil the water before it’s safe to drink. If you’ve already managed to kill an animal and get some meat from it, you can cook the meat too. All of this takes time of course, and you have to keep putting wood on the fire (if you still have any) so that it doesn’t go out. Once you’ve managed to grasp all this, you’ll have an idea of the basic skills you’re going to need to survive. Unfortunately this isn’t enough if you want to live very long, either.
You see, the weather plays a really important role too. The temperature outside is somewhere between -10 and -40 degrees Celsius (that’s 14 and -40 Fahrenheit), and you’re going to have to keep warm by scrounging around in houses for clothing. Various clothing items will differ in how well they keep the frigid air from penetrating the material, how well they warm your body, and of course, how durable they are. Once you’ve managed to guard yourself against the cold weather, stocked up on provisions, and boiled several liters of water, then you’re ready to start exploring the world outside. Be careful, though, because the forest is also home to wild animals, some harmless, others not so much. All of them shrink back from flares, however, which you can either throw at them or hold in your hand.
The options allow you to choose between a 12-hour and a 24-hour clock, as well as between the metric system and the British/American system of measurement. At the beginning of the game you can decide between two game modes: Story mode, which isn’t available in the alpha phase, however; and Sandbox mode, where you can choose to play as a male or female character. The alpha doesn’t have a multiplayer portion, either, and it’s unknown whether they plan on adding one in the course of the game’s development.
As far as perspective, the developers went with first-person, which is definitely the right choice for this game. Like in other first-person games, you control your character using the WASD keys and keys 1-4 allow you to draw a weapon, take out a lantern, or discard the last food/drink item you picked up. The Tab key opens a menu where you can control all your actions and view all the information you need to keep track of. Press the left Control key to crouch, and the left Shift key to run. H takes your weapon from its holster, R reloads, M lights a match, and I opens your inventory. These are the default settings, but you can change them if you want to, of course.
Comic-book style with nice accents
The whole game is designed in a comic-book style, which gives the whole survival theme a really cool atmosphere and adds dark, yet not unpleasant notes to it all. The textures work well together, and the lighting effects, including the sunrise/sunset cycle, are realistic – actually the lighting effects are a real highlight, as the parallax scrolling effects make it come off really authentic. The whole game runs at at least 30 fps, making it really smooth to the human eye. The level designers have done a good job of adding a bit of variety to the game world; it’s not just trees and snow everywhere – there are also different-sized lakes, and train tracks with tunnels and freight trains. There are also a few small shelters and some bigger cabins in the forest and by the lakes. But all in all it’s pretty much just a forest with a little bit of extra stuff to break up the monotony. The standard HUD shows nothing but your remaining calories in the lower left corner of the screen, and if you pick up something, like a weapon, a flare, a lantern or something like that, they show it on the screen, but you don’t see a hand/arm or other body parts. When you look down you don’t see any legs, either.
Blowing in the wind
There is some voiceover work in the game, but the character only speaks from time to time when something’s up, like when he’s cold or when he’s thinking about taking certain items. When it’s windy, you can hear the wind whistling through the woodwork, and the sound effects are also really true to nature too. There are birds chirping in the trees, wolves growling in the shadows – like your stomach does when you don’t get enough to eat. The wooden floors and stairs creak with the slightest movement, and you can hear your bones crack when you fall too far. At irregular intervals you can also hear the background music. There are more sound effects, but it would take too much space to describe everything. In any event, they fit the game well and give it the right feel.
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