This is the Old Bear. You're essentially a cheeseburger in an anorak to him.
"THERE ARE NO ZOMBIES — ONLY YOU, THE COLD, AND ALL THE THREATS MOTHER NATURE CAN MUSTER."
- The in-game description for The Long Dark.
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Survival
- Just the concept in general is terrifying. You're stranded in the freezing wilderness, thousands of miles away from home, with nobody to talk to and nobody to help you. If the wildlife doesn't kill you, infection will. If infection doesn't kill you, hunger will. If hunger doesn't kill you, the cold will. All of this is assuming you don't collapse from lack of sleep or fall off a cliff. With that, you start to notice the harsh reality of the situation: You will die out here, and nothing short of a miracle is going to change that.
- The game is incredibly tense, even in quiet moments. Just walking from your shelter to go hunt for food becomes nerve-wracking, and the faintest howl of a wolf will be enough to put you on edge. And when you hear the growling of a bear, you'll be scrambling to get a flare or fire going.
- All of the locations are dangerous, but some of them are a lot scarier than others:
- The Carter Hydro Dam in the Mystery Lake area. It's eerie on its own, just being a once-powerful location that's now just another desolate building.
- The Ice Caves in the Hushed River Valley. While they may offer protection from the blizzard, they're still far too cold to sleep in without sufficient gear. The blue
- The section of the map that connects Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway is called "Ravine", and it starts off with a derailed train that lost some of its cars to a massive canyon. How do you cross the canyon to reach the other side? By walking on an uprooted tree as a bridge. After that, there's an old and rickety railroad bridge that crosses another sheer drop of at least a hundred feet, and you even have to balance yourself on the rails alone at one point. If you're afraid of heights, this area can even be scarier than the wolves, especially when the bridge ominously creaks under your footsteps.
- The Hibernia Processing whaling facility in Desolation Point. Not only is the interior littered with blood and whale skeletons, but the exterior is often guarded by wolves and bears, and what's worse, the complex has a number of obstacles so you can hardly ever see more than 10m ahead and always run the risk of turning any corner and finding a deadly predator on the other side.
- Many of the abandoned mines and caves can be creepy, but by far the worst is the Last Prospect gold mine in Blackrock. The bottom floor of this mine is flooded with Deadly Gas which you can only spend 40 seconds in before instantly dying regardless of your condition. There's no way to protect yourself against the gas, you just have to run at full tilt and pray that you'll make it to the other side. The threat of instant death makes for an incredibly tense situation even in long-term saves, as there's practically nothing you can do to prepare and no backup you can use if things go wrong.
- A lone wolf is bad enough. Timberwolves are so much worse. They always attack in packs, and they're not easily deterred by flame. If you don't have a weapon, they'll just keep pouncing on you until you're finished. They also will pursue you for a long time, so you'd better find somewhere indoors if you hear them coming.
- Black Bears. Whereas you have a chance at fighting off a wolf and he's trying to kill you quickly, the bear will just... take its time. And all your character does is scream in his/her POV while the bear flails you around like a rag doll in its mouth until it gets bored. And after the bear is done mauling, your character will be left bleeding out, near-death with gear scattered and clothes torn, exposed to the elements. If you don't have nearby shelter and medicinal supplies, you'll be wishing the bear had killed you.
- The Moose are not as threatening as the wolves or bears, but unless you are well-equipped, you should keep your distance. A moose will charge you down if provoked and if it catches you, you'll get trampled. Assuming you survive this, you'll be left with broken ribs and out of commission for nearly a week. Not ideal if you're in the middle of nowhere.
- The persistent frozen corpses. Some of which are sitting up.
- The sickening snap sound made when getting a sprain.
- The scream of fear and panic made when the character falls while climbing up a rope.
- The awful scream rabbits produce when shot or when the player snaps their necks.
- The crackling sound of walking on thin ice. With the alpha version of the game, the character is subject to a splash and a black screen if the character falls throughnote , and it's quite nerve wracking and jarring.
- The weather is terrifying in its own right. Especially given how fast it can change, depending on the region. Clear day? No worries. Fog rolling in? Still fine. Snow falling? Better find shelter soon... Blizzard? Oh, Crap!.
- And of course, it's even worse at night. Visibility is already limited, even during a starry sky. If snow starts falling, then you're already in danger of getting lost. And then there's The Aurora, the mysterious phenomenon that occurs without warning. It's beautiful to look at, and it briefly brings the dead instruments of civilization back to life; car and city lights, computers, radios. But it comes at the cost of making the predators even more dangerous; they now glow green and are no longer wary of fire. And inside, if there are loose wires, there's a good chance you'll get electrocuted from walking over them. So tread lightly.
- Hell, the noise that the Aurora makes. The synthetic buzzing and crackling feels unnatural. Supernatural even. Listen for yourself:
Wintermute
Challenges
- The Hunted challenge begins with the player being mauled immediately by The Old Bear, which serves as a Jump Scare for new players. The bear also inspires paranoia in the players, as it will continuously stalk the player and surprise the player at regular intervals.
- And just when you thought the wolves and bears were bad enough, Halloween 2020 added a new mode: Escape the Darkwalker. The PC is stalked through the dark forests by an invisible Wendigo whose footprints can only be tracked through the snow. It cannot be killed by any weapon. And unlike other wildlife, this creature will follow you indoors, so there is no true shelter.
