r/thelongdark

Apologies for the entire essay.

So, a veteran player here, 978 gameplay hours in. This game is one of those that I love and keep coming back to, and can't wait for BLACKFROST.

After a long pause not playing the game, I came back for Ep 5. And after beating it, redirected myself to Survival, as you'd guess.

Initially made a gunloper-like custom game, played for a few in-game days, but I think I messed up one of the settings and I was swimming in loot, meat and food. I got most of the essentials in like 2-3 days, maybe the stars just aligned IDK, but felt guilty because it was just too easy. So I decided to stop playing that run and decided to go for a proper vanilla Interloper run instead.

In the Loper run, I spawned in DP. Looted up the region, went to CH, looted most of it too, then went to ML, and went for a forge run in FM. You know, the usual. At this point, it's a repetitive pattern for me, where I only loot and live in the regions I know like the back of my hand. I stabilized well and therefore felt aimless, I'd exit the game after every achievement (like making the run, harvesting a bear etc.). So I decided to go blind to Far Territories.

The way there was rocky with back-to-back blizzards, failed goats etc. but I made it somewhat fine and stabilized in Last Lonely House in SP. But for some reason, I don't feel like going back in the game. It just feels like Interloper punishes the slightest mistake with a hint of death, even though I never came close to dying. It feels like you're never thriving, you're just trying to survive. I know that's ironic because I know very well the theme of this game, but still... Even as an experienced player, you're always two or three bad decisions in a row away from death on Interloper (can't even imagine Misery). And I feel like I don't feel comfortable exploring, taking my time to go around, see places I've never seen.

As someone who encouraged people in this subreddit to always accept failure and learn from mistakes, I now find myself stuck. I don't wanna get back in that run. Even if I do, I feel like I'll exit the game in the nearest other shelter I find.

I know there's no rules that say "you have to play the hardest difficulty you can survive in". At the same time, I know I'll have it too easy if I play a lower difficulty, so feeling kinda guilty for that. But I feel like going for a long survival run in Voyageur, where I charcoal map the entire game, do the tales for the first time ever, loot every single POI, have a superbase packed with everything, do a bunch of woodworking, do trades all the time for rare items etc. You know, a run where I truly aim to not only survive but thrive for thousands of days.

I just don't think I can do that on Interloper. For one, every item in the entire game has a ticking time bomb in decay, which I find very annoying. I understand it's there for balance reasons, but seeing as I have clothes from 20 years ago in my IRL wardrobe, I just don't think items should magically disappear lol.

TLDR: I want to play a lower difficulty where I thrive, but feeling guilty as I'll have it too easy.

Every time I fish in the coastal areas, I catch nothing but fresh water fish. I can’t seem to catch anything but trout and rockfish and then in the fresh water areas I catch those little gold eyes or big bass. I can never seem to catch Salmon or Burbot or red Irish lord. Am I missing something? I thought fishing the coastal areas would give me salt water fish 🤷🏻‍♀️

Mine: Put That Stick Back Where It Came From or So Help Me!
a.k.a PTSBWICFOSHM

Do you clear and haul everything or leave things behind? Only pick up high value items? Keep smaller caches of goodies around or have a big central storage area? Are you organized?

Me: I loot everything from every building and keep going until Astrid can barely crawl. Then i dump the heavier items in poorly organized loot piles usually outside a building, often in a box like the coal bin. I have multiple little hoarder piles throughout every map. The really premium stuff goes back with me to one of my three main safehouses: ML Camphouse, AC Angler's Den, or TP station (or LLH in SP if it's something decorative). I'm pretty terrible at organization. I usually have piles on the floor: food pile, beverage pile, wood pile, giant misc pile I can never find anything in. Sometimes I'll try to decorate but usually everything just gets flung on the floor lol

BTW on the way up I'm all like WHY ARE THESE TIMBERWOLVES SO SPICY but surprise turns out I was carrying two uncured guts. Like a dozen of them teamed up on me. Almost died due to being stupid once again.

(The views were indeed great the following morning.)

https://preview.redd.it/6449dmj5ofwg1.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d860977a75a4d9d113b3d3bdda72a5d77243d02

6 people with torches vs a person with a gun and a person with a bow, I wonder who would win. Mathis took his knife from his neck multiple times, Jeremiah could have easily shot him. Utterly nonsensical ending

Ok so she had just finished talking to be about how below the observatory was a big Cold War bunker and this was now about the survival of the species, very cool and a satisfying lore dump imo. However at the end of the cutscene when Mackenzie said “the survival of the species. Let’s get too it.” With the two women infront of him before it goes black, my brain rotted ass brain just heard an unzipping sound then a plapping noise.

I laughed my ass off for a solid 10 minutes and it kinda ruined the mood and pathos of the scene but it was so fucking funny because it felt exactly like the beginning of some cheesy porno XD