Recent reviews by FTLAUDMAN

The Long Dark. My very first play through.

The setting is you are stranded in the Canadian wilderness during winter. First time I played that game I had found a rifle and three rounds, but had run out of food in the trapper’s cabin I had been crashing in. So I set out on a hike to try and find anything I can to eat.

I end up in a partially collapsed train tunnel, just saving up some energy while I figure out where to go next. Suddenly, I notice a Buck passing by. I raise my rifle but don’t have a clear shot, so I start following his tracks.

I follow for a few minutes and see him go over a hill top. I start sprinting up the hill with all my backpack gear clanking together. But when I reach the top, I realize too late what was happening...

The Buck had stopped to graze not far from me - and had caught the attention of a wolf coming from the other direction. The wolf had been stalking its prey and was about ready to strike when I showed up. But my noisy Boy Scout charge had alerted the Buck it was being followed and he took off.

The wolf doesn’t even try to pursue the Buck. Instead, he turns to me with this low snarling growl and is enraged that I made him miss his kill.

Almost immediately, the wolf starts charging towards me. I line up my shot and pull the trigger. Nothing. I hadn’t loaded any of my three rounds into the gun. No time. I end up timing a melee strike by swinging my gun like a baseball bat. Contact made! The wolf yelps, but quickly turns back around, knocks me to the ground, and messes me up pretty good before I land a last melee and the wolf runs off, leaving a blood trail behind him.

I’m also bleeding out, my clothes are shredded. I walk a few paces, fall down and pass out. I wake up hours later. I’m alive! But dusk is setting in and the temperature has dropped bitterly. I start limping back towards the train tunnel - leaving a blood trail of my own. With some luck, I make it back right at nightfall. The temperature is now -20F. I MUST build a fire.

I have enough kindling for three attempts at starting a fire. All fail. That’s when I realize it’s game over - but before the credits roll, I will have to just sit here and wait for death to take me. I had survived the wolf attack and bloody walk back, only to freeze to death now...

Just as I start to succumb to the cold, I notice a few wolves approaching, sniffing at my blood trail. They look up and see me lying there at a distance. The last thing I hear is them howling into the night sky.

“You’ve faded into the long dark.”

Update 2019: Love the new story mode!

Update 2020: Voting for Labor of Love Steam Award

A 4670K @ 4.7Ghz with a 980 Classy (w/ modest OC) scores a 10.1. Overclocks are stable for gaming - and this is with other apps running.

All dressed up with no VR to go out with...