Gallery: The Long Dark

Now Watching: Blade Runner 2049

After seeing Blade Runner 2049 someone asked me ‘was it good?’ and all I could think to reply was ‘it wasn’t bad.’ I was conflicted. It took some time – and a second viewing – to figure out exactly how I felt, but I finally struck upon the word that best summed it up – inconsequential.

Blade Runner 2049 isn’t a ‘soft reboot’ but a direct sequel to the original – detrimentally so, in my opinion. The opening act is strong, as we’re introduced to Officer K (Ryan Gosling) and Joi (Ana de Armas). Their relationship, and K’s investigation build a compelling and engaging first act. The second, with the reintroduction of Deckard (Harrison Ford) is equally so.

But it’s with the opening to the third and final act, that I feel Blade Runner 2049 loses its way. Everything up to this point in terms of pacing, structure and dialogue is nearly perfect. But as the film should be building upon this fantastic foundation to an equally fantastic conclusion – it rapidly falls apart.

The dialogue becomes noticeably clunky. The pacing is off. The plot suddenly feels contrived. It almost feels like the entire final act was rewritten and re-shot. Either that, or they just didn’t know how to appropriately end it. It’s hard to be sure, but I get the impression they had one eye on a potential sequel – and in doing so, didn’t deliver the satisfying conclusion this film desperately deserves.

The ending to Blade Runner 2049 feels like misguided sequel bait. It’s a real kick in the nuts, because it results in a film that ultimately feels inconsequential. I felt deflated at the end, as if nothing I’d seen had really led to anything. It felt a little like sitting through a two and a half hour prologue to the next story they want to tell.

In many ways, I kind of wish 2049 wasn’t a direct sequel at all, and instead focused on its own original story and characters. After my first viewing, I wondered if it was the old plot elements intruding upon the new that bothered me. But after my second viewing, it became clear the problems only really begin with the opening of the third act.

As a result, 2049 doesn’t end in a manner that feels satisfying for either K or Deckard. Very little feels resolved. It’s an awkward, abrupt final act that bothers the hell out of me, because everything up until that point is so damn fantastic.

Overall, I’d probably say I enjoyed 2049 more than the original, but it just doesn’t provide the satisfying conclusion I feel it deserves. It fell flat for me, leaving me confused and disappointed and wondering why it went so wrong. It ends up feeling like a misfire – so much fantastic build up, only for the final shot to be a dud. But hey, at least it’s a very pretty one.

7/10

Now Playing: The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a first person, wilderness survival game. It launched as an Early Access title in 2014, but has since officially released – though it’s still not entirely complete. There are two main modes of play – Story and Survival. The Story mode is episode based, but only two of the planned six episodes are currently available. The Survival mode is a customisable sandbox where the goal is to simply stay alive as long as you can.

I began The Long Dark with its Story Mode. You play as Will, a pilot who crashes in the wilderness following some kind of natural ‘geomagnetic disaster’. Your ultimate goal is to track down your missing ex-wife, which means following her path through the wilderness whilst also trying not to die of thirst, hunger, the cold or angry wolves.

The first episode is essentially the ‘tutorial’ designed to teach you the basics of survival. It does a decent job of it, but there’s still a lot you have to figure out yourself via trial and error. Unlike the Survival mode, there are NPCs to interact with – one in each episode – and these give you additional missions and objectives you’ll need to complete in order to progress.

The first episode feels a little rough, and I encountered a few bugs mostly to do with item interactions not triggering when they should. The second episode is a little more polished, with 3 connected maps and more compelling story elements. A lot of the NPC quests do devolve into basic ‘fetch me X amount of Y’ bullshit, but episode 2 does add some fun ‘set piece’ style sequences in the form of a bear hunt and your final escape through a dam.

The integration of the story and missions into what is primarily a sandbox focused title doesn’t always work, but episode 2 makes some smart choices to balance this out, and hopefully they’ll continue to learn and improve upon this balance as further episodes are released.

In all, I played the Story mode for about 20 hours, so it’s a pretty substantial piece of content, even incomplete – although it should be noted that a lot of that time is spent travelling or fetching stuff. By its nature, The Long Dark is a very slow paced game, so it’s easy to clock up a lot of hours without much really going on.

Many will consider the fully customisable Survival mode to be the real meat of the title, but a part of me prefers a more objective focused adventure to just survival for the sake of it. It’s an impressive mode, no doubt, with so many difficulty settings to choose between, plus an extensive range of custom options, but I’m not sure how long it can really keep me engaged.

Like so many survival games, once you get yourself established with a regular supply of heat, water and food, you fall into a repetitive pattern. You have to, really, because it’s the most ‘efficient’ way to play and survive. The mode uses a perma-death system, so taking risks isn’t exactly encouraged. It’s very enjoyable in the early stages, as you scavenge for supplies, tools and weapons, but becomes more of a monotonous grind as you progress.

Time, in many ways, is your most valuable resource. Everything you do requires time – eating, drinking, cooking, crafting and exploring. Managing your time is key to your survival. It can feel a little silly at times, as even basic actions take far longer than they really should.

Even with a decent axe, it can take up to 45 minutes of game time to break down a rickety chair, which in reality I could probably disassemble by hand in about 10 minutes. The way the game handles thirst and hunger can also feel a little . . . off. During one stretch of Episode 1, it seemed like I was eating five steaks a day and my guy was still complaining he was hungry – although I suspect this may have been a bug, because it seemed to settle down after hitting another story trigger.

As far as the general survival mechanics go, The Long Dark is fairly comprehensive and provides a compelling and enjoyable experience. It’s not striving for absolute realism, but to walk that fine line between realism and fun – and in that sense, it does a pretty damn good job. There are a few oddities – such as your inability to jump, or even climb over a tiny fence, but this may just be an engine limitation.

Wildlife has some terrible path finding, but it’s not a major issue. Graphically, its cartoon style doesn’t detract from the serious nature of the gameplay, and lends itself to some lovely environmental visuals.

Overall, The Long Dark is one of the few titles that’s emerged from early access in a more impressive state than it began. With regular updates and fixes, and what appears to be a good level of community engagement, it’s a great example of early access done right. Despite my concerns about the longevity of Survival mode, I am looking forward to the next Story episode to see where it goes.

7/10

Steam Winter Sale: Damage Report

The Long Dark is a game I’ve been keeping track of since its early access release. I’ve thought about picking it up in a few previous sales, but I wasn’t quite sure I’d like it. But it’s now out of early access, and with a hefty discount, I figured it was worth a go.

I already own Bayonetta on 360 and WiiU, but the PC version looks like it might be the best, so I had to get it at some point. I’ll be getting the Switch version too. You can never have too much Bayonetta.

Vanquish is another title I already own, but the PC port is looking like the definitive version. I’m curious to see if I enjoy the game more without the frame rate issues it suffers on 360, or if I’ll still feel it’s a stylish but ultimately shallow shooter.

Ikaruga – another game I already own, this time on GameCube. But I never played much of it on GC, and the PC version was only a couple of quid, so I thought it’d be a nice addition.

And finally, Game of Thrones by Telltale. I watch the show, even if it seems to get worse every year. I like the world, so I’m curious to see how the game integrates its story and characters into the existing narrative.