So after much debate, (yes i am still banned for some reason) and a few requests i have played the game again after a few updates. And my verdict still stands.In survival you do anything and everything you can to survive. Ofcourse a game has limitations so you will be limited as to your options as to how well you can perform, however The Long Dark puts so many on you, its more about surviving the games mechanics and not the evironment the game puts you in. Also many ask why only a few hours in the game. Simple, its just not fun. Heres why:

-Time passes far to quickly. Hinterland claims it doesnt. However go to a sunny area and just watch the shadows. They are moving incredibly fast as the sun is blazing through the sky. Nightfall in an area like this is almost a death sentence especially if there is a storm. There are not enough hours in the day to prepare for the night. Your already set up to fail here.

- No layering of clothing. If i was stranded in the middle of a frozen mountain and found clothing. Id be wearing it. Regardless if its mens or womens, or a Hello Kitty beanie. I would be wearing it. First rule of cold survival is layering. They keep you warm, and as you heat up you can remove them to avoid sweating.You also come across several beds with blankets on them that you cant pick up and wrap around you. Another way the game has set you up to fail.

- Update *Slightly Improved* Wasting of flares. Flares are incredibly useful in a survival environment. They can be used to signal, start fires, or scare off super fauna (aka bears.) If confronted by a wolf, a lone wolf mind you, if in the extreme rarity i would be attacked, all i have to do is make myself seem bigger and yell, why would i waste a flare? Wolves are incredibly skittish of humans and wolf attacks are more extremely rare, even when they are in packs. Unfortunatly "The Grey" which was a trash movie from a survivalist stand point, used wolves as the "bad guy". This couldnt be farther from the truth. This irritates me not only is it because its not realistic but also promoting a stereotype that is incorrect.

- Update *Slightly Improved* Tools wear down far to easily. I have a hatchet from 20 years ago that still holds an edge and cuts down trees with the best of the new fangled fiberglass counter parts. 20 years. Hatchets in game can take a 10% durability hit each time you use it... per log. So 3 logs can cost you over a quarter of your hatchets durability (30% that is). Why? Its doing the job it was created to do. Same with can openers, and prybars. Each take durability hits that are simply unrealistic. Unless they are made of paper mache im sure they're going to last longer then 2-3 uses. This should be enough to make me say, "Ok this game isnt hard, its just blatently unfair". But wait. Theres more.

- Update "Some what fixed" You can now choose what weapon before combat, but its still a button mashing contest. Combat. Or more like "combat". Sure you have a crowbar, a hunting knife, a hatchet, and wooden logs and sticks you could sharpen to a crude spear on you so you should be safe if attacked by a wolf. Right? No. You cannot equip them to defend yourself. Instead you need to wait for the wolf to attack you and then play a button mashing mini game to fight the wolf off bare handed. You essentially need to punch him to death. All the while why trying to fight off this wolf, your life is dropping like a college girl after 5 beers. So now they have removed the ability to defend yourself adequately.

- "Stealth". Or lack there of. You can crouch to make yourself seem detectable but you move so slowly if your spotted, you then need to stand, and try to run. Ever try to outrun your dog? Not gonna happen. So stealth isnt really an option either.

- No jumping. Wanna get up high to get a "glassing spot" (aka a spot to map out the terrain or spot landmarks) on the land? Or perhaps climb some rocks to get away from ol' Fluffy McAngry? You cant. Dying from a wolf because you cant jump on a porch 4 inches off the ground and need to run around to get into a cabin can get old fast. First game ive ever seen that is survival based with no jump mechanic.

- No means of long term survival. You are going to die. This game sets you in a relatively small area, that is sparsley populated with cabins, fishing huts, ect. However, once you loot them. Thats it. Your bullets will run out, your food will run out, and then you wont have enough strength to get fire wood, or boil water. There are no bird nests to exploit, no berries, roots, or wild vegatables. There is no extraction to a safe location. It will be game over at some point or another and it wont be because your a poor survivalist.

- Harvesting wood. You now have a hatchet. So you would think harvesting is pretty straight forward. Walk over to a tree and hack some limbs off, or go over to that desk/chair and chop em up. Nope. You need to your menu and choose "Forage wood" then select your tool. Though it does seem in this patch you succeed more then you fail, its still a mindless mechanic of "roll the dice". Not only that but if you do fail, your hatchet still takes a large percentage of durability damage. Honeslty i can harvest enough wood in one day to set me for a week, by making a small fire in an enclosed area. In this game, you will harvest wood spending around 800 calories for 4 hrs of wood. Another way you are set up to fail.

-Food poisoning from jerky, beans, and other pre prepared foods. Not sure if this is a bug or implamentation at this point but i have gotten sick from eating beans. Canned beans. If this is an implamentation then why cant I cook them first? They are in a can. Also warm water, and warm food will raise my body temp giving me a better chance to survive the cold. Yet another mechanic setting you up to die.

- Corpses galore, but you cant go "Hannibal" on them. Watch the movie "Alive" or "The Road". Meat is meat. You will find numerous corpses of humans that have died. Is it fun, or nice to do? No. Not at all. But this is survival. If im starving and Frank over here is a frozen dinner, yes. Im going to eat his chubby little arms and legs. Will i brag about it at work the next day. Probably not. But, anything to survive. Yet you cant. The game doesnt allow this. So much for "How far will you go to survive".

- Water. You can find water in bottles, but youll mostly hydrate from snow. Which you need to melt (which takes a substantial amount of time and calories), but then you need to boil it. Boil the snow you just heated up and melted. Why not leave it in the container to boil? Why boil it anyway? White snow with little debree in it is usually safe to drink once its in liquid form. Dirty or discolored snow isnt safe and neither is ice due to the fact parasites and disease can live in ice for a very long time and reactivate due to the heat of the fire. You also cant leave the snow to boil/melt while doing other chores like chop wood, or forage. You need to babysit it. Another mechanic that just takes up time, calories and effort for no reason.

- No fires indoors unless in dedicated areas. Appearently Smokey the Bear is still big during the apocalypse because you cant make a fire on a concrete floor (IE, the dam or bunker), and can only make one in a stove, or barrel. If your outside you can make one almost anywhere but its pretty useless without cover especially with a snow storm raging around you. The best places to make a fire, are the areas you cant make one. For instance a small enclosed area with ventilation.

- Fuel issues. Kerosine and Accelerant (or lighter fluid) isnt interchangable but yet do the same thing. They can both fuel lanterns, and can both start a fire. Yet in this game they only serve 1 purpose each. It would be easier to remove Accelerant, and just let Kerosine do both jobs since in this game they both seem to be in liquid form.

So after much debate, (yes i am still banned for some reason) and a few requests i have played the game again after a few updates. And my verdict still stands.In survival you do anything and everything you can to survive. Ofcourse a game has limitations so you will be limited as to your options as to how well you can perform, however The Long Dark puts so many on you, its more about surviving the games mechanics and not the evironment the game puts you in. Also many ask why only a few hours in the game. Simple, its just not fun. Heres why: -Time passes far to quickly. Hinterland claims it doesnt. However go to a sunny area and just watch the shadows. They are moving incredibly fast as the sun is blazing through the sky. Nightfall in an area like this is almost a death sentence especially if there is a storm. There are not enough hours in the day to prepare for the night. Your already set up to fail here. - No layering of clothing. If i was stranded in the middle of a frozen mountain and found clothing. Id be wearing it. Regardless if its mens or womens, or a Hello Kitty beanie. I would be wearing it. First rule of cold survival is layering. They keep you warm, and as you heat up you can remove them to avoid sweating.You also come across several beds with blankets on them that you cant pick up and wrap around you. Another way the game has set you up to fail. - Update *Slightly Improved* Wasting of flares. Flares are incredibly useful in a survival environment. They can be used to signal, start fires, or scare off super fauna (aka bears.) If confronted by a wolf, a lone wolf mind you, if in the extreme rarity i would be attacked, all i have to do is make myself seem bigger and yell, why would i waste a flare? Wolves are incredibly skittish of humans and wolf attacks are more extremely rare, even when they are in packs. Unfortunatly "The Grey" which was a trash movie from a survivalist stand point, used wolves as the "bad guy". This couldnt be farther from the truth. This irritates me not only is it because its not realistic but also promoting a stereotype that is incorrect. - Update *Slightly Improved* Tools wear down far to easily. I have a hatchet from 20 years ago that still holds an edge and cuts down trees with the best of the new fangled fiberglass counter parts. 20 years. Hatchets in game can take a 10% durability hit each time you use it... per log. So 3 logs can cost you over a quarter of your hatchets durability (30% that is). Why? Its doing the job it was created to do. Same with can openers, and prybars. Each take durability hits that are simply unrealistic. Unless they are made of paper mache im sure they're going to last longer then 2-3 uses. This should be enough to make me say, "Ok this game isnt hard, its just blatently unfair". But wait. Theres more. - Update "Some what fixed" You can now choose what weapon before combat, but its still a button mashing contest. Combat. Or more like "combat". Sure you have a crowbar, a hunting knife, a hatchet, and wooden logs and sticks you could sharpen to a crude spear on you so you should be safe if attacked by a wolf. Right? No. You cannot equip them to defend yourself. Instead you need to wait for the wolf to attack you and then play a button mashing mini game to fight the wolf off bare handed. You essentially need to punch him to death. All the while why trying to fight off this wolf, your life is dropping like a college girl after 5 beers. So now they have removed the ability to defend yourself adequately. - "Stealth". Or lack there of. You can crouch to make yourself seem detectable but you move so slowly if your spotted, you then need to stand, and try to run. Ever try to outrun your dog? Not gonna happen. So stealth isnt really an option either. - No jumping. Wanna get up high to get a "glassing spot" (aka a spot to map out the terrain or spot landmarks) on the land? Or perhaps climb some rocks to get away from ol' Fluffy McAngry? You cant. Dying from a wolf because you cant jump on a porch 4 inches off the ground and need to run around to get into a cabin can get old fast. First game ive ever seen that is survival based with no jump mechanic. - No means of long term survival. You are going to die. This game sets you in a relatively small area, that is sparsley populated with cabins, fishing huts, ect. However, once you loot them. Thats it. Your bullets will run out, your food will run out, and then you wont have enough strength to get fire wood, or boil water. There are no bird nests to exploit, no berries, roots, or wild vegatables. There is no extraction to a safe location. It will be game over at some point or another and it wont be because your a poor survivalist. - Harvesting wood. You now have a hatchet. So you would think harvesting is pretty straight forward. Walk over to a tree and hack some limbs off, or go over to that desk/chair and chop em up. Nope. You need to your menu and choose "Forage wood" then select your tool. Though it does seem in this patch you succeed more then you fail, its still a mindless mechanic of "roll the dice". Not only that but if you do fail, your hatchet still takes a large percentage of durability damage. Honeslty i can harvest enough wood in one day to set me for a week, by making a small fire in an enclosed area. In this game, you will harvest wood spending around 800 calories for 4 hrs of wood. Another way you are set up to fail. -Food poisoning from jerky, beans, and other pre prepared foods. Not sure if this is a bug or implamentation at this point but i have gotten sick from eating beans. Canned beans. If this is an implamentation then why cant I cook them first? They are in a can. Also warm water, and warm food will raise my body temp giving me a better chance to survive the cold. Yet another mechanic setting you up to die. - Corpses galore, but you cant go "Hannibal" on them. Watch the movie "Alive" or "The Road". Meat is meat. You will find numerous corpses of humans that have died. Is it fun, or nice to do? No. Not at all. But this is survival. If im starving and Frank over here is a frozen dinner, yes. Im going to eat his chubby little arms and legs. Will i brag about it at work the next day. Probably not. But, anything to survive. Yet you cant. The game doesnt allow this. So much for "How far will you go to survive". - Water. You can find water in bottles, but youll mostly hydrate from snow. Which you need to melt (which takes a substantial amount of time and calories), but then you need to boil it. Boil the snow you just heated up and melted. Why not leave it in the container to boil? Why boil it anyway? White snow with little debree in it is usually safe to drink once its in liquid form. Dirty or discolored snow isnt safe and neither is ice due to the fact parasites and disease can live in ice for a very long time and reactivate due to the heat of the fire. You also cant leave the snow to boil/melt while doing other chores like chop wood, or forage. You need to babysit it. Another mechanic that just takes up time, calories and effort for no reason. - No fires indoors unless in dedicated areas. Appearently Smokey the Bear is still big during the apocalypse because you cant make a fire on a concrete floor (IE, the dam or bunker), and can only make one in a stove, or barrel. If your outside you can make one almost anywhere but its pretty useless without cover especially with a snow storm raging around you. The best places to make a fire, are the areas you cant make one. For instance a small enclosed area with ventilation. - Fuel issues. Kerosine and Accelerant (or lighter fluid) isnt interchangable but yet do the same thing. They can both fuel lanterns, and can both start a fire. Yet in this game they only serve 1 purpose each. It would be easier to remove Accelerant, and just let Kerosine do both jobs since in this game they both seem to be in liquid form.