On Womble's video essay regarding this game...

[Chaoslink]

To those who don't know about it, Youtuber SovietWomble released a 3 hour long video essay on this game just a day ago, discussing the complete lack of planning this game's story has and how basically nothing you see in the actual gameplay is relevant to the story that was added near the end of development.

The cannibals have no importance to the plot.
The Christian references have no relevance.
The heaps of bodies and gore have no relevance.
Even the cave system map is upside down.

So I'm curious to hear the opinions of players here. What is your opinion on the game even having a story? Was it necessary? Did you like it? Were you at any point confused, asking questions about the things you'd stumble upon and sad that you never found answers? Did the lack of these connections hinder your enjoyment of the game?

For me, at a base level, I enjoyed playing the game for a little while with friends. Building things and just exploring was fun. However, in the end, I can say that I honestly didn't really like the game all that much after whatever time I did put into it. Once I started thinking about things and trying to understand what story, if any, was there to be found while moving about the map, I just got confused. Nothing made much sense. I just didn't understand why and never looked into it. Didn't care enough to. Womble's video however, explained everything I couldn't to a degree I never would have been able to.

So I'm curious. What are your thoughts? Note, I have no experience with the second game and no idea if these issues were resolved in any way. Frankly, the weird aftertaste I had after playing this game meant I have little interest in its sequel.

[kir-kanos]

Funny how a game from 2014 can still bring in soo many opinions, some bangers at that

[NobodyNeuOnyx]

For all its faults, the game IS something pretty special. Undeniable.

[makisekurisufcker]

Автор сообщения: Chaoslink

However, in the end, I can say that I honestly didn't really like the game all that much after whatever time I did put into it. Once I started thinking about things and trying to understand what story, if any, was there to be found while moving about the map, I just got confused. Nothing made much sense. I just didn't understand why and never looked into it. Didn't care enough to. Womble's video however, explained everything I couldn't to a degree I never would have been able to.

It's funny how people complain about how disconnected the story was when I had to close out of Soviet Wombat's video about 45 minutes in because he kept jumping from one non-sequitur to another. Normally I enjoy his videos, but I didn't care for this one and thought he did it a lot of injustice. But he's not wrong for his opinion or breakdown.

And I clipped this from your post because I'm the reverse: I played this game a lot and didn't like it. dropped it after a dozen hours or so. Enter SoTF and I think "I want to finish the first game first... wait, does it have a story?" And I'm actually REALLY enjoying it.

I don't get all the complaints of "it doesn't make sense, it doesn't line up, everything is out of order." blah blah blah... Not everything nor every story needs to be lined up for you like Sunday brunch or the next Marvel movie. Not every plot line and dialogue has to completely guide the readers to their next clue on the story. Having it jumbled is part of the mystery. You, as Eric just crash landed on an island with NO IDEA of what's to come. Should some mysterious narrator explain what should come next? Should some cannibal have turned human again and guide Eric down the journey? No. At it's core it's a survival game that, in my opinion, very cleverly mixed in the story. "Find Timmy" is all you get at first. Okay, let's say "forget Timmy, he's dead" so you build the SOS and a bonfire. Nothing happens. This quietly tells the player to keep going, and along the way you pick up better items to get you further in your journey and little tidbits of information. Is it all jumbled? Yes, but the player should be smart enough to put two and two together*. It feeds you information here and there. Photos, recordings and the like rather than long winded exposition games are doing these days that are just exhausting. I hate the expression "show, don't tell" when it comes to telling stories, but that's what this game is doing. It's showing the player little bits of information and he needs to put things together as they come. Will it all make sense and will there be questions? Naturally, it shouldn't all make immediate sense. It could be by design of the devs to maintain conversation and theories about it all but also it's very well designed of the game not holding your hand and just forcing the story down your throat.

On the question of "should a survival game have a story"? I think that's personal preference and my answer is yes. I like a little guidance on something to do, a goal and a reason of why to build XYZ or go down a cave. I like the way they did it here because it's just little bits here and there to give you a clue of what to do without making you feel like you NEED to do it.

*Another poster has a good point of some things are hard to read or you can't examine them. This should have been fixed imo for easier reading.

[Chaoslink]

Автор сообщения: GunSlinginOtaku

I don't get all the complaints of "it doesn't make sense, it doesn't line up, everything is out of order." blah blah blah... Not everything nor every story needs to be lined up for you.....

The core point out of all of it though, is that there's nothing that actually links ANY of it together. At the very best its just some educated guesses based on loose information. However, None of it actually has any concrete evidence to support it and there's a pretty strong idea of things just not being believable. There's just too many signs of missing people and nothing to suggest this is a known dangerous area.

The point is, you can see where the devs added things early on, then later tried to piece together a few links between them that really aren't there.

[MancakeBR]

The idea that nothing links the story together is a silly idea.

The story telling is done through the environment. You're meant to explore, if you didn't explore much and just rushed to the end, you end up missing a lot.