Ten years after its alpha first appeared in 2014, first-person survival sport The Lengthy Darkish remains to be getting new stuff. The fifth and remaining a part of its Tales from the Far Territory DLC is due out subsequent month, and it is bringing with it some fairly attention-grabbing new parts, most of that are going to ratchet up the problem however one which gives you a second likelihood at survival.
First and most uncommon for The Lengthy Darkish is the brand new “Cheat Dying” system, which for the primary time within the sport’s 10 yr historical past will let gamers keep away from permadeath when enjoying in survival mode. Usually, dying in survival mode means your save file is ruthlessly deleted so you must begin over (until you sneakily backed it up). With the non-obligatory new system, you will be given the selection to just accept dying or maintain enjoying—although dishonest dying will make the sport “progressively tougher for you,” developer Hinterland says. You possibly can cheat dying 4 occasions, however “Your remaining life might be very tough.”Â
Dishonest dying will contain “a collection of trade-offs, as a result of when you can cheat dying, you possibly can’t cheat dying free of charge.” That is a bit imprecise and sadly there isn’t any additional clarification on the way it’ll work, nevertheless it sounds extra attention-grabbing than simply clicking “proceed” and continuing as if nothing has occurred.
“That is the primary change to our permadeath system that we’ve ever made within the sport,” Hinterland says, “and we hope it brings a brand new dimension to gameplay for these of our gamers who simply aren’t able to lose their favorite survivor, or those that simply need one thing recent. We’d like to see gamers get into the spirit of this and provides it a strive as a substitute of backing up their saves and persevering with with out penalties.”
When you’d fairly court docket dying than cheat it, Hinterland has you coated there, too. The DLC can even embody a extra hardcore survival expertise referred to as “Distress Mode” which is able to introduce six new afflictions to your survival expertise. The specifics of those afflictions have not been introduced, however there are already a ton of accidents within the sport like frostbite, burns, damaged ribs, lacerations and blood loss, sprained ankles and wrists, plus illnesses like poisoning, dysentery, intestinal parasites, and even scurvy. What might presumably be left to afflict you with? The factor that occurred to me the final time I walked within the snow, the place my boot got here off and I took a step into the snowback with simply my sock? Chilly moist socks are a horrible affliction. FYI, I might die of complaining roughly three minutes into an actual survival situation, lengthy earlier than dysentery even had an opportunity to kill me.
Talking of dying, an attention-grabbing new “alpha predator” can be coming to The Lengthy Darkish: the cougar, and it’ll current a brand new kind of hazard for gamers. “Cougars are very territorial, and can get occupied with you once you begin to spend so much of time in a single area,” the developer says. “When you hold round in a single area for too lengthy, they may take an curiosity within the area and occupy it. You’ll then begin to encroach on their territory, which could be very harmful!”Â
You’ll choose up indicators that the cougar is in your area earlier than you ever encounter one, however no warnings earlier than they assault and undoubtedly claw you to items (which can be a kind of new affiliations). To keep away from this you possibly can depart the cougar’s area for some time and it will finally lose curiosity in turning you right into a bloody cat toy. The cougar feels like a enjoyable and scary new menace for a sport that is already stuffed with them.
Hinterland is presently aiming to launch Tales from the Far Territory Half 5 in “the second half of June” although that is depending on testing and clearing console certification. You possibly can learn the complete developer diary on Steam.