The Long Dark / Blackfrost - Episode Five out now

[Godchu]

With the release of Episode 5 and the final conclusion to the game's main story I find it only fitting to create a dedicated thread for this game and Hinterland's next game, Blackfrost:

 

[Godchu]

The Game director / company lead / whatever shared some indev screenshots from Blackfrost on his bluesky (the game also has its own account now)

Spoiler: Images

 

[CasketBase]

Oh shit I remember this one. They spent how many years making their first game, ten? More? I vaguely remember Totalbiscuit covering it, or something like that.
It's finally conmplete? Might actually check it out. Is it still grounded, or are there monsters/injun ghosts/whatever in the game now?

 

[Godchu]

Oh shit I remember this one. They spent how many years making their first game, ten? More? I vaguely remember Totalbiscuit covering it, or something like that.
It's finally conmplete? Might actually check it out.

Came out on early access in 2014—and it was around then it got picked up by various let's players—started releasing the story mode in episodes in 2017, then went off on a dlc side quest that delayed ep. 5 for ages. They promised a few more survival mode updates after this but I believe they're now fully shifting over to Blackfrost.

Is it still grounded, or are there monsters/injun ghosts/whatever in the game now?

Apart from a random non-canon horror thing made for Halloween it's still the same as it ever was.

 

[Fishnumm]

It's finally conmplete? Might actually check it out. Is it still grounded, or are there monsters/injun ghosts/whatever in the game now?

mostly grounded the wildlife become like more powerful at night cuz of the auroras or whatever but thats it

 

[harbringer883]

Finished episode 5. Its pretty mid, a solid 5/10 for me. Spoilers:

Spoiler

So basically the aurora is just the Carrington event that has returned, and it drives people insane with some sort of alzimers, which Mackenzie was transporting a vaccine for. The event is predicted to last 40 to 400 years. The ending caught me off guard though, pretty much Astrid leads the townsfolk to a bunker where they can wait out the aurora, but Mackenzie is captured by Matis, so he is unable to enter. After the bunker closes, Matis, the convicts and Mackenzie team up to survive, the game ends with Mackenzie returning to Milton and burning Grey Mothers body, it is also revealed that he had a son, Jack, who died, and Methuselah is a spirit? Either way the ending is pretty open, so maybe they plan to continue it in blackfrost?

Not looking good for blackfrost though, I hope they add the stuff from this episode to survival, the train was pretty cool and the shotgun seems like a no brainer to have. The ship level was awesome though, loved the atmosphere there. Performance was horrible, the writing was pretty shit, and the ending is laughable. Not worth the 11 year wait.

 

[WonderWino]

The Game director / company lead / whatever shared some indev screenshots from Blackfrost on his bluesky (the game also has its own account now)
View attachment 8787423View attachment 8787424View attachment 8787427View attachment 8787429

Spoiler: Images

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Figures a dev in BC would compare a long dark situation to the fucking ice storm from 98. That was a joke storm by the standards of the rest of the country

Alberta had the right idea when they decided to bury their power lines and such to avoid wind and storm damagem as opposed to the idiots on the east coast who make a point of clearing areas around power poles....and then planting trees literally right next to them, guaranteeing that at some point they will cause damage to the lines. BC? They just ignore everything and pretend they'll never get more than heavy rain cause its rarely cold there, so when a big snow or ice storm eventually happens they go whoopsie, call in the army to clean it up and then forget about it and keep doing what they were doing before until the next storm. Tax dollars well spent

That said, I still don't understand why anybody is supporting hinterland creating this new game. Its literally essentially remaking the long dark with new features. a game they first released in 2014 and took 12 fucking years to complete 5 episodes of, to the point they ran out of money near the end from people no longer buying it and dumped everything they had left into that shitty, massively overpriced dlc, to try to make enough money to finish the game and then got pissy when people pointed out that this was blatantly obviously what was happening. Considering how bad of a look that was and what it said about their competency developing a game, why would anybody not see another situation like that coming a mile away? They're going to end up taking another decade to make this game and bitch about it the entire time, because people let them get away with it the first time

 

[Godchu]

That said, I still don't understand why anybody is supporting hinterland creating this new game.

I mean you said it so yourself

Its literally essentially remaking the long dark with new features

It's a very appealing game, enough that I can overlook the various liberalisms and other dumbass things they put into it. But it's also very old and frankly not that great for long-term playthroughs. Me and other players who liked it wouldn't mind another game that was very similar to the first game, so long as they manage to do even more with the systems and the world than what they've already done... that's the whole point of a fucking sequel. Not everything has to be this huge transformative thing that is nothing like what came before. I know people on this board like to bitch and moan but you're just being fucking retarted.

 

[WonderWino]

I mean you said it so yourself

It's a very appealing game, enough that I can overlook the various liberalisms and other dumbass things they put into it. But it's also very old and frankly not that great for long-term playthroughs. Me and other players who liked it wouldn't mind another game that was very similar to the first game, so long as they manage to do even more with the systems and the world than what they've already done... that's the whole point of a fucking sequel. Not everything has to be this huge transformative thing that is nothing like what came before. I know people on this board like to bitch and moan but you're just being fucking retarted.

I think you missed the point I was trying to make - their track record for making a game like this is to take 12 years to produce 5 episodes for a game that isn't a whole lot more complicated design wise than a walking simulator, and they ran out of funding for it mid development and had to produce a shitty dlc to provide funding to finish it. and now they immediately attempt to do what amounts to remaking that game with a few new features. By game dev studio standards thats batshit insane and backfire on them sooner or later. It isn't sustainable for a company to operate that way, let alone a company which has only ever managed to produce one game despite having existed since 2012

In other words, they're repeating their previous mistakes and expecting different results, right down to depending largely on EA sales to fund development, at a time when people have less disposable income and EA is getting less support and more criticism because of companies doing sketchy shit with it and increasingly failing to produce a finished product

 

[Godchu]

Eh I'd still buy it

Anyway, what a goofy ahh story. Clearly, it was rushed... but with all the delays at some point you really just have to release the damn thing in whatever state you can and be done with it.

Spoiler: spoilers

TBF the previous episodes had their own goofy moments. Episode 1 starts out with the worst dialogue you've ever heard in your life. And a bunch of other stuff that made them remake the first two episodes way back in the day. On top of that this one likely has as many cutscenes as all the other episodes combined. Or maybe I just no standards anymore.

Part 2 is the best in my eye (apart from the cable car scene), primarily because it had the clearest progression with proper build-up and payoff. Sadly it was also the buggiest. Parts 1 and 3 continue the trend of Astrid's story being completely useless in the grand scheme of things. Though I cannot deny the container ship wasn't absolutely terrifying to traverse. In any other game this 100% would have ended in a chase from a monster or crazy person, and I think even the devs knew that. Train was alright but those damn wolves. Part 2 had the right idea to give you a shotgun to deal with them. Shame it was so buggy as to be completely useless.

The ending was so obviously rushed it's not even funny. But it was actually pretty funny. Above all I was really hoping for a boss fight vs. Mathis—preferably with a pair of axes while everything burns around us and some crazy guy with a guitar plays a banger tune . But I guess this is all still part of a grander plan. And that plan is Blackfrost. The one thing it could have used is some kind of (short) monologue from Mathis to better explain his sudden change of heart.

 

[Need for Sped]

I finished it, it was absolute retardation. The first part was definitely the best by a wide margin, especially all the build up related to the ship. The second one was exhausting, between the idiocy of the cable car sequence, the slog of going through the mines and then having to go through the canyons with multiple wolves on your ass on a time. And after going through that, you get treated to 20+ minute cutscene, complete with Atwood making complainy sounds about how hard it was to do what she did because she was a non-white woman (I'm assuming she's a "fellow white", considering that the hat she's wearing looks awfully suspicious). See for yourselves:

Spoiler: My fellow survivors, if we don't let the wolves in, the community won't survive

The train sequence in chapter 3 was alright, but went on for far too long and didn't have much to it other than "Gather coal, manage steam, switch the occasional track control". It would definitely be an interesting idea to further develop, but way too barebones to work as anything other than a gimmick at that stage.

Chapter 4 begins with yet another gimmick: Stealth and takedowns, which are both clunky as fuck. The ending is incredibly contrived and outright moronic:

Spoiler: Ending

- Molly, the rabid misandrist from chapter 3 kinda forgot she's a rabid misandrist and teamed up with Will and Jeremiah
- Mathis does not die or is even wounded after being literally pinned to the wall by two arrows shot at point blank.
- Will decides to fall asleep after broadcasting the message, right there in the hut, even though he very well could have run to the radio building, recorded the message and ran back to catch up with the group in like five minutes, but we need the plot to happen.
- Mathis breaks in, beats will, and tells him that he won't kill him, but that "I will destroy everything you love".
- Cut to the observatory bunker, where everyone is waiting at the exit for Will (With guns), who shows up with like half a dozen convicts and Mathis, with zero firearms at the ready on their side. Mathis offers them Will in exchange for being let into the bunker along with the survivors. Astrid rightfully points out that nothing prevents the convicts from killing them all once they're inside, so Mathis amends to deal to Will in exchange for the bunker, or Will dies.
- Will tells them to close the bunker (Essentially sacrificing himself), which they do. Two (literally two) prisoners charge at the doors that are closing in an attempt to get inside, and they are quickly dispatched.
- Will is outside the bunker with the convicts and a pissed off Mathis, who shrugs and say "Well, I'm not going to kill you, you're part of us now".
- Will looks at him and essentially says "Yeah, sure"
- The end (With a stinger of Will and the convicts going back to Milton, cremating Grey Mother, while Astrid says "I hope this new world doesn't break you, Will". Essentially, trying to do a sequel hook for Blackfrost

I feel Mass-Effected. I knew the ending was going to be bad, but not even my worst predictions matched it. And just like Mass Effect, the lead director already came out to say "If you don't like the ending, tough shit. I like it and I'm not changing it". Get fucked, leafnigger.

 

[Horny Jeff the Fuck Rat]

Had the game since 2016, played it for about 300 hours before TftFT and for another 100 hours after buying TftFT. Haven't launched Wintermute even once and couldn't give less of a fuck about story mode in a survival game. Always thought that Hinterland are retarded because they decided to make Wintermute and people who care about Wintermute are retarded because they want scripted-linear experience from an open world survival game. While people were whining about Wintermute taking too long, I was annoyed that Hinterland decided to paywall new content for Survival Mode by releasing TftFT and even with that the game feel incomplete and unbalanced like it's still in early access.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

But I guess this is all still part of a grander plan. And that plan is Blackfrost.

Essentially, trying to do a sequel hook for Blackfrost

If that was their goal, it certainly didn't have the intended effect based on the chatter I've seen across the Internet. You couldn't pay me to play anything this company makes ever again.

 

[Need for Sped]

If that was their goal, it certainly didn't have the intended effect based on the chatter I've seen across the Internet. You couldn't pay me to play anything this company makes ever again.

Me neither. I was already out on the sequel due to it being multiplayer to begin with ("Hey gang, remember we had a survival game that stood out from the crowd for being a single-player experience, without any of the multiplayer bullshit? Now we're going to jump back into a genre that has been completely saturated for more than a decade! Preorder now!"). But after this bullshit? Especially after taking more than a fucking decade to actually finish the goddamn game? No fucking way.

This franchise and Subnautica are fucking dead to me.

 

[harbringer883]

If that was their goal, it certainly didn't have the intended effect based on the chatter I've seen across the Internet. You couldn't pay me to play anything this company makes ever again.

Me neither. I was already out on the sequel due to it being multiplayer to begin with ("Hey gang, remember we had a survival game that stood out from the crowd for being a single-player experience, without any of the multiplayer bullshit? Now we're going to jump back into a genre that has been completely saturated for more than a decade! Preorder now!"). But after this bullshit? Especially after taking more than a fucking decade to actually finish the goddamn game? No fucking way.

This franchise and Subnautica are fucking dead to me.

Hinterland studio's has actually lost the plot lol. They fired actual devs due to "budget" cuts but kept a literal DEI commissar on board, while the lead dev is so far up his own ass he was mass banning people from tld discord for even speaking ill of episode 5's shitty writing. I am also willing to bet my life's savings that blackfrost on launch is going to be a disaster, but it won't even matter because hinterland bootlickers will eat it up anyway.

 

[DeadwastePrime]

Me neither. I was already out on the sequel due to it being multiplayer to begin with ("Hey gang, remember we had a survival game that stood out from the crowd for being a single-player experience, without any of the multiplayer bullshit? Now we're going to jump back into a genre that has been completely saturated for more than a decade! Preorder now!"). But after this bullshit? Especially after taking more than a fucking decade to actually finish the goddamn game? No fucking way.

This franchise and Subnautica are fucking dead to me.

co op, not multiplayer. and people wanted co op so they could play the game with their friends for both subnautica and long dark since they came out in their respective years

 

[Need for Sped]

co op, not multiplayer. and people wanted co op so they could play the game with their friends for both subnautica and long dark since they came out in their respective years

I fully acknowledge this is highly subjective, but most survival games I've played that come with co op as an option has been fairly lacking as a single-player experience, mostly because when in doubt, the devs fall back on "Well, they'll play with other people, so they'll make their own fun, we don't have to try that hard". The first Subnautica and The Long Dark were significantly better in this regard because they were built from the ground up as a single-player experience.

And in both cases, their recent history doesn't help at all: Hinterland took 5 years to release the last chapter (After dicking around with Tales from the Far Territories for 2+ years) and completely bungled it. Unknown Worlds botched Below Zero in every respect, and their recent shenanigans with Krafton gives me zero confidence on the future of that game.

 

[tulskij_tochnyj]

>naming your software "Wintermute"
Hinterland had it coming lol

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

kept a literal DEI commissar on board

Even if you cut out the scientist woman's overt line about being a heckin' strong independent woman of color, you can just tell when such people are directing development of a game. It's hard to fully articulate, but there's a very particular vibe that permeates all the dialogue and character interactions.

 

[harbringer883]

Even if you cut out the scientist woman's overt line about being a heckin' strong independent woman of color, you can just tell when such people are directing development of a game. It's hard to fully articulate, but there's a very particular vibe that permeates all the dialogue and character interactions.

I mean listen, the devs are based in vancouver island. It doesn't get more pozzed than that.