I have over 2k hours on Voyager alone and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. The only thing you got wrong is the soda. Soda never causes food poisoning. Everything else was spot on. That's actually really rare for people who typically play on more difficult levels. I find that most hardcore players don't remember what it was like to start off or play on easier modes or they are so used to the tough mechanics that they give advice that doesn't really apply on the lower levels. Excellent Job!
Thank you for your kind comments! Yes, I am aware that soda doesn't cause food poisoning, but ignored that for demonstration purposes. I added a disclaimer in the description, but have pinned a comment for easier clarification :) Thank you again!
I'm on day 50 doesn't seem like alot BUT I've done nothing but travel and sleep in snow shelters so I'm already decent at the game not just living in a house video is still very useful
I played TLD about a year and a half ago but somehow stopped along the way. I just started playing again just a few days ago after seeing your "10 tips you didn't know" video and now I've watched this. You're seriously so helpful! I really appreciate when an experienced player covers ALL the bases for new players. I didn't even know coal could be used to map out an area. I plan to finish the current episodes as I had stopped at the start of episode 3 and then try my hand at survival. Seriously, thanks for all the tips and help. So glad to see TLD community still active and as welcoming as I first started playing.
I’ve had this game for years and I almost exclusively play on Pilgrim because I’m the most jumpy person and if I were to be attacked by anything I’d probably have a heart attack. I’ve recently been playing some Voyager because I want to get over my jumpiness so this video is really helpful in some ways.
Look at playing on the custom mode, where you can try the harder levels but keep the wildlife friendly! I play on Stalker but turn off the Timberwolves, because I don't enjoy them :)
My first attempt at TLD was a voyageur run. I got through about 2 months and still hadn’t died, but wanted to explore more than I was able to with the wolves always attacking me. So, I abandoned that save and have been doing a pilgrim playthrough just to build map knowledge before I try another serious run. Pilgrim definitely is a lot more relaxing.
I stopped playing the long dark cause I kept dying to animals and weather but this makes the game more interesting and makes me want to get back into it
I started playing on pilgrim, just to learn the game. Its really fun. Its a nice way to unlock feats. Pilgrim gave me the skills to move up to voyager.
I have a nearly 700 day custom (interloper/stalker hybrid with health recovery set to slower even then interloper) run where I'm going for Faithful Cartographer and over 1800 hours on this game and I never knew you could click on any of the items in the journal for things like surveyed locations to find out exactly which named locations I still need to survey. I've got about 29 of them but until now as left guessing which I'd surveyed already and which I'd missed. That alone will save a ton of pointless wandering around surveying stuff I'd already surveyed. I'd put this video right up there with Lonelywolf's how to survive in the long dark series as must watches for new TLD pleyers. Also want to point out, another match saving trick not mentioned during the fires and torches segment is if you have a lit fire, lit torch or lit flare on the ground, you can use that to light a torch in your hand, saving the match you'd otherwise need to use to light the torch. In this way, you can actually chain light several torches and/or fires all on a single match (or none if you were able to get a mag lens fire going at the start). The only things that can break such a chain are letting it burn out, running out of fuel/torches for your next lighting, or having the wind blow your fire out. EDIT: You actually see this fire chaining technique in his video at about 37:00 to about 37:30 - but no commentary mentioned it or the match saving it allows.
Thank you for your comment. Yes, the trick you are referring to is correct but I didnt want this video to be exhaustive - it would become too much information for a new player to remember, so I gloss over several things. The trick you are referring is explained in Tip #1 in my 10 Tips video, though :)
thank you, for the first time in a survival game i was a bit lost and this guide helped understanding more of the game, tried to hoard loot since is not a survival where you can simply build a base and store your loot anywhere you like, we kinda need to be on the move in here, once again thanks
I just clocked over 1000 hours on the long dark. And I have enjoyed your many videos Zak. I still enjoy watching beginner videos because I always seem to pick up something new. Like moving backwards with the Rifle while a wolf charges. Seems so intuitive, yet I never thought about it...too much time with the pistol I guess... One tip that I would like to add, which I have not seen, is when you take down your animal, is to immediately harvest as much of the meat as your are comfortable doing so given the weather. In my experience the meat degrades after each attempt (the meat also degrades faster unharvested) and since the animal has not yet frozen you can harvest more meat faster (at least until level 5). Then you just drop the meat by the corpse and pick it up later at your convenience. The carcass may disappear but your harvested Meat will remain. And it lasts longer in the snow. Anyway, thanks again! you have made a subscriber of me.
Thank you for your kind words and insightful tip. This is a detail I had no included, but I actually did test this one and I think I have the footage somewhere. Basically I spent 50 days in Milton Basin and meticulously logged respawn time and carcass changes. It turned out that if you 100% harvest a carcass, it despawns the next day. If you leave something or don't touch it, it stays for 3-4 days then despawns. Strangely, though, I did not see any changes in meat quantity - it always stayed the same until it despawned. This doesn't make sense, because it should degreade, and I have been in situations where there might be 0.3 kg left to harvest and then suddenly it says "nothing to harvest", so there must be some sort of algorithmic timer involved. Even if my testing shows this, I think a generally good tip is to do what you said. You will see me do this on interloper, if its not too cold: I just harvest some meat right away and cook it later. Nice tip, so thank you
I have about 500 hours in-game and thoroughly enjoyed this video. I didn't learn anything new, but, it took me back to my first time playing the game knowing NONE of this and I think that's when the game is the most fun, when everything is a discovery made through constant trial and error :)
Really nice video. I've put 262 hours into TLD, mainly sandbox mode. I still enjoy watching tutorials though, just in case there's any little things I may find useful. Personally I think that Voyageur is the best difficulty to start on, even for beginners. Having an infinite supply of resources and a lack of danger on Pilgrim completely removes the enjoyment the game has to offer. When I first played it (in sandbox mode, Voyageur setting), I found that after dying in the first couple of minutes of hypothermia the first few games, there was such a sense of achievement in simply getting to a shelter and surviving those first few days. It was never that frustrating, just a perfectly balanced learning mode for newbies where you feel a greater sense of reward and understanding of how the survival mechanics work.
As a player of another Canadian Wilderness Survival game called Subsistence, I missed this game for some reason and this video was incredibly useful in helping me undertand the game. I'm just blown away by the gameplay mechanics here! - POI and Looting - Crafting - Repair & Inventory management - Harvesting - Hunting - Skills that get better as you use them (which is not common for a survival game) - Skill books! Like Fallout! - Surveying - adds an interesting dimension to exploration! You can check off locations as you explore the world. Do we have plant beds to crop veggies or berries from seeds in this game? I also like that the character has some voice lines. This adds personality to the character and adds to the immersion! Thank you for making this guide for noobs like me!
If you haven't, I'd love an intermediate and expert tutorial in this same style. The long format, information-dense style of video was perfect for this kind of thing.
40:59 - Crows flying straight can often signal changing weather either in progress or coming soon. I often see crows flying overhead either as a change in weather is occurring or a few minutes before a change starts to happen. The circling crows, will be absent if it's snowing or too windy, unless the snow/wind is breaking up and calm weather is incoming, like is starting to happen here.
You are right about the circling crows, but the straight crows do not signal changing weather I'm afraid. They are pure ambience. This is easy to test - just see how often weather changes with and without crows and you will see that crows bear no impact. It is a myth going around but no data supports it :) Might make a video about that one day.
I started playing this game a good while ago and boy was I scared 🤣. I was looking over my shoulder over and over again, afraid of wolves, even if I was on Pilgrim! I haven't touched the game since my first playthrough because I've been so scared of messing up and dying within 2 seconds, but this was beyond a lifesaver! My friend, I haven't seem your channel up until now, but I do believe you've earned a new subscriber! Well done, sir!!!!
For newer players looking to try stalker for the first time, consider doing custom stalker with wolves turned down from "very high" to "high". You still get all the stalker difficulty buffs like lower resources and harsher weather but without the unnecessarily high amount of wolf spam. Even interloper only has "high" wolf spawns.
I started played the long dark maybe a year and a half ago and I couldn’t survive worth anything lol this guide was honestly very helpful and helped me gain a lot more survivability. I know my my meager 19 hours isn’t much compared the other people here with several hundred but the hours i got in were much more enjoyable because of you
I mean, low condition sodas don't give food poisoning even if you try I think. Correct me if I'm wrong I'm amazed by your patience to explain everything very clearly to all the new players out there. Really appreciate the content and your voice. Don't get me started on that.
Thank you for making this tutorial. I wanted to play this game for years and just got it on sale but was completely lost. This video has helped me so much!
I will start playing this game tonight for the first time, and after watching some tutorials I run up into yours and I’m so glad. You did an outstanding job. You got a new sub 😊
I just want to put it out there I enjoyed this video so far. But also thanks for highlighting your video with time stamps for each tips and tricks. Very informative and nicely done.
Woo! You're so helpful with your videos, I've been playing for a couple years (not a LOT, lol, so my hours are still pretty low) but there's a lot of stuff that I never knew you could do! I'm more for the Wintermute storyline - I find sandboxes with no end goal to be hard to keep up with because I get bored, so I prefer survival games a la Subnautica where you're surviving, but you have an end goal. But sometimes I like to play the survival sandbox - and it has more places to go to, haha - and these kinds of videos are so helpful! :) Plus, you have such a soothing and calm voice, it's very pleasant :D
Hi Zak, I’m curious if you could do a zone tutorial series? Like explaining the different tips and tricks with the different zones. Example:”you can get to X by taking this route, this is a safer place to hunt, avoid this area in general, be wary of wolves in this area, etc. Thanks so much for your videos.
Thank you for your kind words. And yes - this is in the works. The plan is to make a walkthrough for each zone, explaining all there is to do/find there and so on. I plan to go to each zone on a new interloper run, but can do a different difficulty if people prefer. This will be done next year.
Im definitely using this video to start my replaying of The Long Dark. Ive played it on almost everything but I've never really delved deep into it, but im definitely planning to change that! Thanks for the videos dood :)
If your an old mass effect trilogy fan like me you will like the voices for both the male and female survivor, they are voiced by the same people who did the male and female commander Shepard.
I didn't know anything about this game (and discovered it by accident) because survival games don't attract me, but I gave this game a chance because of Commander Shepard's voices. I was like this must be good game, right? And it really is, and what more in the fourth episode we get Adam Jensen's voice(from Deus Ex). Now I'm on stalker with 150 days..... and I think I don't really need to watch this but still watching because maybe there is still something I don't know:) or maybe the aurora effect.
I played probably around 100 hours or so when TLD was in early access in like 2015 or sometime around there, havent played since, crazy how much has changed since then, Ive just downloaded TLD again and im excited to get back into it, appreciate the help!
One more thing to remember if you do hit an animal with a bow or rifle shot and it runs off, it will leave a blood trail that you can follow to where it finally dies of blood loss. Also you'll be able to see animal tracks in the snow of any animals that have recently passed by that area.
This is awesome. I have never played the long dark but it looks really fun. The people I tend to watch play interloper do I was never sure how to just start playing.
I haven’t played this game for awhile and only stopped due to having a major jump scare leading to in-game death. I remember camping in a corridor of a massive dam I believe it was at the time (early access) and woke up to a wolf attacking and killing me. Absolutely scared the hell out of me as I never realised they could patrol in there and I was too comfortable hauling out inside. I’ve always wondered if the bunker is still in the game as I remember it being good to stay in if people somehow stumbled upon it. Just wanted to say this guide has been helpful and I’ve reinstalled it to play again when I get the chance, il check out your other videos and thank you for the help 👍
I have enjoyed your videos, Anyone new or veteran can always learn something new or oh, I did not know that from your videos. Keep positive and strong.
I personally think that Mountain town is the easiest region to spawn in, if you're on pilgrim or voyager I'm pretty sure there's a guaranteed rifle spawn in the house on the hill, and usually some other really choice loot
Yeah mountain town is a really nice starting point for a lot of new people! However i think that some people avoid it in the beginning because of the many wolves. But with the grace period this is such a nice region. Thanks for the tips!
I spawned there on my very first time recently. Thought process was: Town=shelter and supplies. And yes, i found a crapton of food and drinks. Even a revolver just outside of town. Backtracking back to the town, i followed a road and found a Farmhouse with a frozen corpse outside. Thats where i am now, cooking and crafting to prepare for my next excursion.
I have over 200 hours on voyager. I'm trying surviving Stalker difficutly in the last few days. First four games I died to wolves and today I died to blizzard in Pleasant valley in the fifth. I was exploring uncharted (for me) territory and drawing map. Suddenly blizzard came when day is near end. There were cars nearby which were not warm enough. I had fully loaded storm lantern and not-bad clothing, water, food, fire materials and also stim. After I realize I can't stay in car I began running back to town but visibility was very bad even with storm lantern so I lost. I found destroyed house and light fire. I added almost all of my wood to increase heat above 0 but wind changed direction and killed the fire. I walked almost all night tired and freezing but couldn't find any shelter. Storm lanter fuel drained and my healt was low I used the stim as a last chance but still couldn't find any shelter. It was frustrating end for me because I had a lot of good tools early on and I felt pretty safe before exploring with a lot of materials and necessary tools. It'd be very helpful if you make weather tutorial in the future. Edit: I looked the Peasant Valley map posted in Steam, my base was in Rural Houses. My exploration was towards north-east, I passed derelict cabins and reached Point of Disagreement possibly because there were three cars and two bodies where the blizzard hit me. Then I travelled blind and remember passing nearby lonely homestead (destroyed houses).
On PC I have got a total of: 272.7 hrs and on my switch I have probably 12 hrs right now and I always keep a Pilgrim sandbox save on both because sometimes after a long day it's nice to have a relaxing winter wilderness simulator.
Point of clarification - There is no grace period in Pilgrim. Wolves, bear and moose will spawn immediately when the player spawns. You may verify this yourself by reading through the Pilgrim template in the Custom menu and see that the Predator Grace Period setting is "No"; whereas on Voyageur it is on "Yes." Also, I used to believe soft drinks never caused food poisoning, until I got food poisoning from a 6^ Stacy's Grape soda. The odds must be extremely low, but not zero.
When it comes to the medical items, I'm surprised they haven't introduced a splint for sprains and broken legs. When you think about it, wrapping a sprained ankle with a soft bandage doesn't really make any sense
Thx man. Great video. I just started playing and I think I’m hooked already. DayZ is my main game so when I heard hardcore survival I had to check it out.
Unless it's changed, you get 1 charcoal for every hour you have a fire burning. I found this out keeping a fire on TM burning for 100 hours and then picking up the charcoal. I couldn't move I was so encumbered. Stink lines also apply to bear. Both wolves and bear will investigate the smell.
As far as I know, you are correct and it is indeed one charcoal per hour :) And yes, stink lines also applies to bears. They are less of a threat, though.
I'm just getting back into this game but I remember when my dad and I couldn't even figure out how to melt snow into water in the first cave of the Wintermute storymode
I liked and subsribed to your channel within a few seconds on the into of your long dark guide Honestly? The best intro music I ever heard! Niiiiice :)
just watching this to get back into this game but noticing your channel is named after drizzt's father?? or did you just find this name randomly? awesome either way
Well that was complex and helpful. Thanks a lot! I know that the video was made a year ago, so Im wondering id there was anything new added to the game that we should know about
A DLC was released this week, but there are no general changes that impact this guide. Some loot was changed but this wont matter to new players. You can consider the guide still valid :)
I'm still kinda pissed that Hinterland seems keen on punishing custom players like me by removing feats progression when you're playing on custom. I've played TLD for 272 hours now and custom is by far my favorite. The way I like to play it is very cold weather, low resources, but with the rifle and revolver available and with low wolf and bear spawns. Though I do make the wolves and bears very lethal. This is just by far my favorite way of playing the game. I find having to constantly deal with predators on Stalker very tiring. But voyageur is too easy. And I especially don't like entirely not having a rifle on interloper. Like, I just love the rifle. I feel like they really don't have a good reason to limit feats progression on custom. It's actually very hard to cheese the feats progression using custom settings. The only one I can think of is the blizzard feat. And it's actually nearly impossible to make the game easier than pilgrim (which is a mode that does have feats progression). It's actually much, much easier to make the game harder than interloper using custom. Like, the custom settings actually go above how high interloper will push it, and you could even turn on eternal night to make it unfairly hard.
Great tutorial, many thanks. I find the damn bunnies to be quite annoying. I can stun them with a stone ok, but have issues getting to the little blighters and picking them up in time before they recover and run off. This is on xbox so the controls are probably not as quick or accurate as PC.
hii i started playing TLD a days ago and this game is AMAZING im loving it and learning new things from you it so helpful keep the good work and ohh yeah and when the ep 5 will be release? im so excited cuz the main history is so beatiful
Episode 4 was just released and it was a 2-year wait, so I think Episode 5 will be in 2023 or 2024. Just a guess, though. The script is written, I believe, but designing it hasn't properly started yet.
Hey guys, thoughts. I’ve clocked 100 of hours on this game now. Is it just me or is the different in difficultly between Stalker and Interloper massive? I mean, it’s expected to an extent, but I just find Stalker way too easy and rarely play it. I would expect Stalker to be a wee bit challenging but it just isn’t. Only Interloper gives me that buzz!
Yes, it is. I suspect its the multiple factors that are different- which combine to be "worse" than any one challenge; e.g. item scarcity, the cold, limited tools at the start, no weapons, etc. I'm just getting to where Interloper feels like something I can manage, but Stalker has been too easy for awhile now.
It's too bad you didn't have time to show what to do when your attacked, survive and are still alive and wounded. Very nicely made video and so informative as usual.
i picked up a bunch of sticks started to place a fire i placed it got my matches out but the fire disappeared? now im out of resources cant place another....
Zak i just found something.... you know blue pick-up truck right ? That blue trucks always has some snow at the back ... its worth to check with scroll i found hammer or ... goodies you cant see them but ..you know they are there .. hi from turkey
I have over 2k hours on Voyager alone and I thoroughly enjoyed this video. The only thing you got wrong is the soda. Soda never causes food poisoning. Everything else was spot on.
That's actually really rare for people who typically play on more difficult levels. I find that most hardcore players don't remember what it was like to start off or play on easier modes or they are so used to the tough mechanics that they give advice that doesn't really apply on the lower levels. Excellent Job!
Thank you for your kind comments! Yes, I am aware that soda doesn't cause food poisoning, but ignored that for demonstration purposes. I added a disclaimer in the description, but have pinned a comment for easier clarification :) Thank you again!
I've clocked in 200 hours and am on day 240 on my Stalker run, but I'm still watching this beginner guide because your videos are always so helpful!!
Or fun XD
I have over 1000 hours and still watching this. There could be that one tip i never thought of. Who knows.
@@hidenwatch8219 will check it out :)
Day 240!! You are the one they said would come
I'm on day 50 doesn't seem like alot BUT I've done nothing but travel and sleep in snow shelters so I'm already decent at the game not just living in a house video is still very useful
This man not only covered the basics in an hour of real-time gameplay, but he's better off than me after 5 hours of playing the same difficulty.
Always carry a lit torch (wind permitting). You get a warmth bonus and wolves are less likely to attack.
I played TLD about a year and a half ago but somehow stopped along the way. I just started playing again just a few days ago after seeing your "10 tips you didn't know" video and now I've watched this. You're seriously so helpful! I really appreciate when an experienced player covers ALL the bases for new players. I didn't even know coal could be used to map out an area. I plan to finish the current episodes as I had stopped at the start of episode 3 and then try my hand at survival. Seriously, thanks for all the tips and help. So glad to see TLD community still active and as welcoming as I first started playing.
I’ve had this game for years and I almost exclusively play on Pilgrim because I’m the most jumpy person and if I were to be attacked by anything I’d probably have a heart attack. I’ve recently been playing some Voyager because I want to get over my jumpiness so this video is really helpful in some ways.
Look at playing on the custom mode, where you can try the harder levels but keep the wildlife friendly! I play on Stalker but turn off the Timberwolves, because I don't enjoy them :)
@@patrickc1795ahhh that’s smart. I just started playing last night on pilgrim, didn’t think of that though!
@@patrickc1795thankkkkk youuu!
Not new to this game, but I always have to watch tutorials by you. I find the way you explain things to be very calming, thanks
My first attempt at TLD was a voyageur run. I got through about 2 months and still hadn’t died, but wanted to explore more than I was able to with the wolves always attacking me. So, I abandoned that save and have been doing a pilgrim playthrough just to build map knowledge before I try another serious run. Pilgrim definitely is a lot more relaxing.
I stopped playing the long dark cause I kept dying to animals and weather but this makes the game more interesting and makes me want to get back into it
I started playing on pilgrim, just to learn the game. Its really fun. Its a nice way to unlock feats. Pilgrim gave me the skills to move up to voyager.
I did Wintermute first so I started on Voyager, so thank you for the tip about unlocking feats
I have a nearly 700 day custom (interloper/stalker hybrid with health recovery set to slower even then interloper) run where I'm going for Faithful Cartographer and over 1800 hours on this game and I never knew you could click on any of the items in the journal for things like surveyed locations to find out exactly which named locations I still need to survey. I've got about 29 of them but until now as left guessing which I'd surveyed already and which I'd missed. That alone will save a ton of pointless wandering around surveying stuff I'd already surveyed.
I'd put this video right up there with Lonelywolf's how to survive in the long dark series as must watches for new TLD pleyers.
Also want to point out, another match saving trick not mentioned during the fires and torches segment is if you have a lit fire, lit torch or lit flare on the ground, you can use that to light a torch in your hand, saving the match you'd otherwise need to use to light the torch. In this way, you can actually chain light several torches and/or fires all on a single match (or none if you were able to get a mag lens fire going at the start). The only things that can break such a chain are letting it burn out, running out of fuel/torches for your next lighting, or having the wind blow your fire out.
EDIT: You actually see this fire chaining technique in his video at about 37:00 to about 37:30 - but no commentary mentioned it or the match saving it allows.
Thank you for your comment. Yes, the trick you are referring to is correct but I didnt want this video to be exhaustive - it would become too much information for a new player to remember, so I gloss over several things. The trick you are referring is explained in Tip #1 in my 10 Tips video, though :)
thank you, for the first time in a survival game i was a bit lost and this guide helped understanding more of the game, tried to hoard loot since is not a survival where you can simply build a base and store your loot anywhere you like, we kinda need to be on the move in here, once again thanks
mfw i been playing for like 2 years but i still watch because zaknafein = good video
I just clocked over 1000 hours on the long dark. And I have enjoyed your many videos Zak. I still enjoy watching beginner videos because I always seem to pick up something new. Like moving backwards with the Rifle while a wolf charges. Seems so intuitive, yet I never thought about it...too much time with the pistol I guess...
One tip that I would like to add, which I have not seen, is when you take down your animal, is to immediately harvest as much of the meat as your are comfortable doing so given the weather. In my experience the meat degrades after each attempt (the meat also degrades faster unharvested) and since the animal has not yet frozen you can harvest more meat faster (at least until level 5). Then you just drop the meat by the corpse and pick it up later at your convenience. The carcass may disappear but your harvested Meat will remain. And it lasts longer in the snow.
Anyway, thanks again! you have made a subscriber of me.
Thank you for your kind words and insightful tip. This is a detail I had no included, but I actually did test this one and I think I have the footage somewhere.
Basically I spent 50 days in Milton Basin and meticulously logged respawn time and carcass changes. It turned out that if you 100% harvest a carcass, it despawns the next day. If you leave something or don't touch it, it stays for 3-4 days then despawns. Strangely, though, I did not see any changes in meat quantity - it always stayed the same until it despawned. This doesn't make sense, because it should degreade, and I have been in situations where there might be 0.3 kg left to harvest and then suddenly it says "nothing to harvest", so there must be some sort of algorithmic timer involved.
Even if my testing shows this, I think a generally good tip is to do what you said. You will see me do this on interloper, if its not too cold: I just harvest some meat right away and cook it later. Nice tip, so thank you
I have about 500 hours in-game and thoroughly enjoyed this video. I didn't learn anything new, but, it took me back to my first time playing the game knowing NONE of this and I think that's when the game is the most fun, when everything is a discovery made through constant trial and error :)
Really nice video. I've put 262 hours into TLD, mainly sandbox mode. I still enjoy watching tutorials though, just in case there's any little things I may find useful. Personally I think that Voyageur is the best difficulty to start on, even for beginners. Having an infinite supply of resources and a lack of danger on Pilgrim completely removes the enjoyment the game has to offer.
When I first played it (in sandbox mode, Voyageur setting), I found that after dying in the first couple of minutes of hypothermia the first few games, there was such a sense of achievement in simply getting to a shelter and surviving those first few days. It was never that frustrating, just a perfectly balanced learning mode for newbies where you feel a greater sense of reward and understanding of how the survival mechanics work.
As a player of another Canadian Wilderness Survival game called Subsistence, I missed this game for some reason and this video was incredibly useful in helping me undertand the game.
I'm just blown away by the gameplay mechanics here!
- POI and Looting
- Crafting
- Repair & Inventory management
- Harvesting
- Hunting
- Skills that get better as you use them (which is not common for a survival game)
- Skill books! Like Fallout!
- Surveying - adds an interesting dimension to exploration! You can check off locations as you explore the world.
Do we have plant beds to crop veggies or berries from seeds in this game?
I also like that the character has some voice lines. This adds personality to the character and adds to the immersion!
Thank you for making this guide for noobs like me!
If you haven't, I'd love an intermediate and expert tutorial in this same style. The long format, information-dense style of video was perfect for this kind of thing.
I have several already for interloper and one for voyager :) but they are walkthroughs and dont have infotext
Love seeing new uploads for these "guide" style videos. Super helpful!!
40:59 - Crows flying straight can often signal changing weather either in progress or coming soon. I often see crows flying overhead either as a change in weather is occurring or a few minutes before a change starts to happen. The circling crows, will be absent if it's snowing or too windy, unless the snow/wind is breaking up and calm weather is incoming, like is starting to happen here.
You are right about the circling crows, but the straight crows do not signal changing weather I'm afraid. They are pure ambience. This is easy to test - just see how often weather changes with and without crows and you will see that crows bear no impact. It is a myth going around but no data supports it :)
Might make a video about that one day.
I started playing this game a good while ago and boy was I scared 🤣. I was looking over my shoulder over and over again, afraid of wolves, even if I was on Pilgrim! I haven't touched the game since my first playthrough because I've been so scared of messing up and dying within 2 seconds, but this was beyond a lifesaver! My friend, I haven't seem your channel up until now, but I do believe you've earned a new subscriber! Well done, sir!!!!
For newer players looking to try stalker for the first time, consider doing custom stalker with wolves turned down from "very high" to "high". You still get all the stalker difficulty buffs like lower resources and harsher weather but without the unnecessarily high amount of wolf spam. Even interloper only has "high" wolf spawns.
I started played the long dark maybe a year and a half ago and I couldn’t survive worth anything lol this guide was honestly very helpful and helped me gain a lot more survivability. I know my my meager 19 hours isn’t much compared the other people here with several hundred but the hours i got in were much more enjoyable because of you
the torch to start fires is cool trick. ty. i came to learn about snow shoes if they are anygood. lol i learning so much more though.
Very helpful and useful guide narrated by someone with a voice that is pleasant to listen to, great video.
I mean, low condition sodas don't give food poisoning even if you try I think. Correct me if I'm wrong
I'm amazed by your patience to explain everything very clearly to all the new players out there. Really appreciate the content and your voice. Don't get me started on that.
Thank you for making this tutorial. I wanted to play this game for years and just got it on sale but was completely lost. This video has helped me so much!
I will start playing this game tonight for the first time, and after watching some tutorials I run up into yours and I’m so glad.
You did an outstanding job.
You got a new sub 😊
Hope you enjoy the game!
If you are on Xbox, left d-pad will automatically bring out the fire. Not really important but it’s nice to use.
I just want to put it out there I enjoyed this video so far. But also thanks for highlighting your video with time stamps for each tips and tricks. Very informative and nicely done.
Woo! You're so helpful with your videos, I've been playing for a couple years (not a LOT, lol, so my hours are still pretty low) but there's a lot of stuff that I never knew you could do! I'm more for the Wintermute storyline - I find sandboxes with no end goal to be hard to keep up with because I get bored, so I prefer survival games a la Subnautica where you're surviving, but you have an end goal. But sometimes I like to play the survival sandbox - and it has more places to go to, haha - and these kinds of videos are so helpful! :)
Plus, you have such a soothing and calm voice, it's very pleasant :D
Hi Zak, I’m curious if you could do a zone tutorial series? Like explaining the different tips and tricks with the different zones. Example:”you can get to X by taking this route, this is a safer place to hunt, avoid this area in general, be wary of wolves in this area, etc.
Thanks so much for your videos.
Thank you for your kind words. And yes - this is in the works. The plan is to make a walkthrough for each zone, explaining all there is to do/find there and so on. I plan to go to each zone on a new interloper run, but can do a different difficulty if people prefer. This will be done next year.
Just got this off game pass and I’ve been loving it
I will always see a monkey tail on the wind symbol now
I just found this game. I'm playing through the story. This could be my favorite game off all time.
Im definitely using this video to start my replaying of The Long Dark. Ive played it on almost everything but I've never really delved deep into it, but im definitely planning to change that! Thanks for the videos dood :)
If your an old mass effect trilogy fan like me you will like the voices for both the male and female survivor, they are voiced by the same people who did the male and female commander Shepard.
My head canon is that The Long Dark is where Shepard ends up after ME3. 😉
I didn't know anything about this game (and discovered it by accident) because survival games don't attract me, but I gave this game a chance because of Commander Shepard's voices. I was like this must be good game, right? And it really is, and what more in the fourth episode we get Adam Jensen's voice(from Deus Ex). Now I'm on stalker with 150 days.....
and I think I don't really need to watch this but still watching because maybe there is still something I don't know:) or maybe the aurora effect.
I played probably around 100 hours or so when TLD was in early access in like 2015 or sometime around there, havent played since, crazy how much has changed since then, Ive just downloaded TLD again and im excited to get back into it, appreciate the help!
One more thing to remember if you do hit an animal with a bow or rifle shot and it runs off, it will leave a blood trail that you can follow to where it finally dies of blood loss. Also you'll be able to see animal tracks in the snow of any animals that have recently passed by that area.
Hey mate, glad to see a video from you again :)
Thank you for such a comprehensive and clear guide! Just started this game, and this has saved me a lot of time.
I just caught the Dog Stars quote in the loading menu! That's a fantastic book!
This is awesome. I have never played the long dark but it looks really fun. The people I tend to watch play interloper do I was never sure how to just start playing.
Immediately noticing the name and knowing it's origins, very nice. Zak was my favorite :]
I am not a beginner but i enjoy watching ur videos anyways. (the interloper guide helped me so much)
I haven’t played this game for awhile and only stopped due to having a major jump scare leading to in-game death. I remember camping in a corridor of a massive dam I believe it was at the time (early access) and woke up to a wolf attacking and killing me. Absolutely scared the hell out of me as I never realised they could patrol in there and I was too comfortable hauling out inside. I’ve always wondered if the bunker is still in the game as I remember it being good to stay in if people somehow stumbled upon it.
Just wanted to say this guide has been helpful and I’ve reinstalled it to play again when I get the chance, il check out your other videos and thank you for the help 👍
You met Fluffy. They patched that wolf out.
I have enjoyed your videos, Anyone new or veteran can always learn something new or oh, I did not know that from your videos. Keep positive and strong.
I personally think that Mountain town is the easiest region to spawn in, if you're on pilgrim or voyager I'm pretty sure there's a guaranteed rifle spawn in the house on the hill, and usually some other really choice loot
Yeah mountain town is a really nice starting point for a lot of new people! However i think that some people avoid it in the beginning because of the many wolves. But with the grace period this is such a nice region. Thanks for the tips!
I spawned there on my very first time recently. Thought process was:
Town=shelter and supplies. And yes, i found a crapton of food and drinks. Even a revolver just outside of town. Backtracking back to the town, i followed a road and found a Farmhouse with a frozen corpse outside. Thats where i am now, cooking and crafting to prepare for my next excursion.
Soooo helpful! I literally had no idea what I was doing before
I have over 200 hours on voyager. I'm trying surviving Stalker difficutly in the last few days. First four games I died to wolves and today I died to blizzard in Pleasant valley in the fifth. I was exploring uncharted (for me) territory and drawing map. Suddenly blizzard came when day is near end. There were cars nearby which were not warm enough. I had fully loaded storm lantern and not-bad clothing, water, food, fire materials and also stim. After I realize I can't stay in car I began running back to town but visibility was very bad even with storm lantern so I lost. I found destroyed house and light fire. I added almost all of my wood to increase heat above 0 but wind changed direction and killed the fire. I walked almost all night tired and freezing but couldn't find any shelter. Storm lanter fuel drained and my healt was low I used the stim as a last chance but still couldn't find any shelter. It was frustrating end for me because I had a lot of good tools early on and I felt pretty safe before exploring with a lot of materials and necessary tools. It'd be very helpful if you make weather tutorial in the future.
Edit: I looked the Peasant Valley map posted in Steam, my base was in Rural Houses. My exploration was towards north-east, I passed derelict cabins and reached Point of Disagreement possibly because there were three cars and two bodies where the blizzard hit me. Then I travelled blind and remember passing nearby lonely homestead (destroyed houses).
Blizzards in pleasant valley are brutal!
Very helpful and a nice low key presentational style
Best tutorial i have ever seen, was worth it
Thorough and useful, I always learn something good from your videos.
this guy just got more good stuff in ten minutes than me in five hours
Just downloaded the long dark last night started my first playthrough this morning on voyager level.
Good luck! :)
Zak spawns, sees trees and some rocks and is like, yeah i know where i am
i love yours videos sorry for my english typping becouse i am from slovakia.
Excellent video! Thanks!
On PC I have got a total of: 272.7 hrs and on my switch I have probably 12 hrs right now and I always keep a Pilgrim sandbox save on both because sometimes after a long day it's nice to have a relaxing winter wilderness simulator.
Point of clarification - There is no grace period in Pilgrim. Wolves, bear and moose will spawn immediately when the player spawns. You may verify this yourself by reading through the Pilgrim template in the Custom menu and see that the Predator Grace Period setting is "No"; whereas on Voyageur it is on "Yes."
Also, I used to believe soft drinks never caused food poisoning, until I got food poisoning from a 6^ Stacy's Grape soda. The odds must be extremely low, but not zero.
You are right - I recently learned this about Pilgrim too. Seems to be exclusively a voyager thing. Thank you for the soda comment - good to know.
Thanks Mate, great Video
very nice vid, everything was perfectly well described.
Thank you for upload.
Cheers from Poland 🍻
Thank you for this!
When it comes to the medical items, I'm surprised they haven't introduced a splint for sprains and broken legs. When you think about it, wrapping a sprained ankle with a soft bandage doesn't really make any sense
That’s the real life fix though, splint would be for a break.
@@heatheremmons6160 is it? I figured you would need something more to keep the sprain immobilized. A bandage seems too bendy, but I'm probably wrong.
@@jonservo try to wrap a bandage as tight as possible around your ankle you'll see
Thx man. Great video. I just started playing and I think I’m hooked already. DayZ is my main game so when I heard hardcore survival I had to check it out.
Hey ho 🪓
Good video, everything is arranged very nicely - love it! 😍
Warm regards 🕯
thank you for doing this!!
Unless it's changed, you get 1 charcoal for every hour you have a fire burning. I found this out keeping a fire on TM burning for 100 hours and then picking up the charcoal. I couldn't move I was so encumbered.
Stink lines also apply to bear. Both wolves and bear will investigate the smell.
As far as I know, you are correct and it is indeed one charcoal per hour :) And yes, stink lines also applies to bears. They are less of a threat, though.
@@Zaknafein appreciate the reply and the videos!
Thank you for making this guide!
Thanks for the video mate . I love it i was so confused with the map lmao .
Best starting guide thanks sir!
great Channel, deserves way more subs, keep it up my friend
I'm just getting back into this game but I remember when my dad and I couldn't even figure out how to melt snow into water in the first cave of the Wintermute storymode
I liked and subsribed to your channel within a few seconds on the into of your long dark guide
Honestly? The best intro music I ever heard! Niiiiice :)
22:00 In that single house you found more loot than i did in half of a map on pilgrim spawns. Fuck my luck i guess.
thanks for this guide! very helpful and entertaining too!
You did a great job here!! Thank you so much!!
Love the intro!
very nice and complete video!
just watching this to get back into this game but noticing your channel is named after drizzt's father?? or did you just find this name randomly? awesome either way
Yeah its Drizzt's father. Its 20+ year old, from when I read the books. My friend uses Elminzter hehe
@@Zaknafein that’s cool as hell, I have only read like the first 10-12 books but so cool to find someone else who enjoys Salvatore’s works
Well that was complex and helpful. Thanks a lot! I know that the video was made a year ago, so Im wondering id there was anything new added to the game that we should know about
A DLC was released this week, but there are no general changes that impact this guide. Some loot was changed but this wont matter to new players. You can consider the guide still valid :)
Your videos are excellent and you have a very good style of delivery.
Thank u!
I'm still kinda pissed that Hinterland seems keen on punishing custom players like me by removing feats progression when you're playing on custom. I've played TLD for 272 hours now and custom is by far my favorite. The way I like to play it is very cold weather, low resources, but with the rifle and revolver available and with low wolf and bear spawns. Though I do make the wolves and bears very lethal. This is just by far my favorite way of playing the game. I find having to constantly deal with predators on Stalker very tiring. But voyageur is too easy. And I especially don't like entirely not having a rifle on interloper. Like, I just love the rifle.
I feel like they really don't have a good reason to limit feats progression on custom. It's actually very hard to cheese the feats progression using custom settings. The only one I can think of is the blizzard feat. And it's actually nearly impossible to make the game easier than pilgrim (which is a mode that does have feats progression). It's actually much, much easier to make the game harder than interloper using custom. Like, the custom settings actually go above how high interloper will push it, and you could even turn on eternal night to make it unfairly hard.
Just install a mod for feat progression on custom
Great tutorial, many thanks.
I find the damn bunnies to be quite annoying. I can stun them with a stone ok, but have issues getting to the little blighters and picking them up in time before they recover and run off. This is on xbox so the controls are probably not as quick or accurate as PC.
hii i started playing TLD a days ago and this game is AMAZING im loving it and learning new things from you it so helpful keep the good work and ohh yeah and when the ep 5 will be release? im so excited cuz the main history is so beatiful
Episode 4 was just released and it was a 2-year wait, so I think Episode 5 will be in 2023 or 2024. Just a guess, though. The script is written, I believe, but designing it hasn't properly started yet.
I don’t think sodas give you food poisoning, I’ve drunk atleast 100 and haven’t gotten it and a good 50% were below 50% condition
As far as I know low condition sodas cant give you food poisoning... pretty sure I heard that in a video on THIS channel, also 😂
Hey guys, thoughts. I’ve clocked 100 of hours on this game now. Is it just me or is the different in difficultly between Stalker and Interloper massive? I mean, it’s expected to an extent, but I just find Stalker way too easy and rarely play it. I would expect Stalker to be a wee bit challenging but it just isn’t. Only Interloper gives me that buzz!
Yes, it is. I suspect its the multiple factors that are different- which combine to be "worse" than any one challenge; e.g. item scarcity, the cold, limited tools at the start, no weapons, etc. I'm just getting to where Interloper feels like something I can manage, but Stalker has been too easy for awhile now.
It's too bad you didn't have time to show what to do when your attacked, survive and are still alive and wounded. Very nicely made video and so informative as usual.
Thank you. I will show that in a new guide, which I will make after all the new content is out, likely in 2024 :)
Astrid does want to eat trees though, That's pretty much the only downside I know of
I started my first game on interloper and was killed by a wolf in the first 10 min. never again lol.
Nice intro 😊😊
i picked up a bunch of sticks started to place a fire i placed it got my matches out but the fire disappeared? now im out of resources cant place another....
You mean you ran out of matches or a bug happened?
@@Zaknafein the fire i placed "the logs" disappeared, when character got the matches out to light it.
@@NightOwlGames then the fire failed. If you ran out of matches, you need to find more
Your voice is very distinctive. You didn't do the voice on "Sir, you are being hunted" by any chance did you?
Haha no, but that game looked kinda fun.
@@Zaknafein It was. I still play it from time to time.
It's permadeath? I've been playing for about four days now and I've never died.
Yes permadeath. Except in story mode
Zak i just found something.... you know blue pick-up truck right ? That blue trucks always has some snow at the back ... its worth to check with scroll i found hammer or ... goodies you cant see them but ..you know they are there .. hi from turkey
Hi! Yes they can have tools in the back :) Not on interloper, though.
How do you move things around and place them where you want?
On PC its right click
LT or L2 for console
any rumor about when exactly is the jail level thingy coming to survival mode?
Possibly December