Playtime?

[Comrade Pickles]

I've been interested in this game for awhile, and I'm at the point I'm seriously considering purchasing it but there is one thing holding me back..

Most of the positive reviewers only have an average of 30 hours played... is this game that short?

Thanks in advance.

[MazyRun]

It's not short and it has high replayability if you're really into the game's mechanics. It depends what you want from the game, some players will just play through it once or twice (with infinite lives) for the story and stop there.. but really the game is designed to be a permadeath survival game, and that's where the replayability lies.

If you get hooked on the game you will inevitably end up sinking hundreds of hours into permadeath runs.. As soon as I finish one run I start another, each run is slightly different due to the procedural generation (of locations), It's just fun spending days and nights surviving in the Darkwood environments.. the pacing of the game is very satisfying.

The learning curve is nice to, even after multiple playthrough's you can still be learning new things and improving on stuff. The beauty of permadeath means that even if you do master the game it doesn't get old because the challenge is always there when the fear of death is constant.

[Comrade Pickles]

Originally posted by MazyRun:

Snip

Thanks for the reply. So how is the combat? I've seen pretty mixed info on it.
I know the game is centered around "not holding your hand" so I assume it's unforgiving even esp w/ permadeath.

[MazyRun]

Combat is really cool, it's stamina based (like Darksouls and Hyper Light Drifter), so it's important to time your shots.. e.g, Using a heavy attack will drain your energy and limit the amount you can run.

The game is only unforgiving in the sense that when everything is new expect to die occasionally (or a lot), that's why permadeath mode is only something you're going to get into once you've learnt the game on normal mode (there is a limited lives mode to)..

Complete the game and explore all the different storypaths on normal mode first, this helps you learn the basics and get good at combat, scavenging, base defence, crafting & trading. The first run is always about enjoying the story, future playthrough's can be all about survival.

[Comrade Pickles]

Originally posted by MazyRun:

Snip

Thanks for the info, I'll probably buy.

[Super]

The game is a good length with a ridiculous amount of replayabilty...

Especially from a horror games standard with randomly generated world's and multiple different paths to go down with branching scenarios and consequences to your own actions. The world changes as you interact with it, or don't interact with it.

I'm at 131 hours currently... and I still just discovered something new today. No joke.

[ForestDragon]

I own this on GOG, played 40 hours, and on Steam 35 hours atm...
I planning to make a walkthrough once more...

The playtime depends on you... Its between 20-100 Hours :D

[BAKAsRPG]

30 hour single-player-none-grinding-game is not short. It's how its meant to be.

[Jacket]

I play it 205 hours.
No one is senior than me.
I from Taiwan.Taiwan NO.1~!!

[Super]

Originally posted by mm548787:

I play it 205 hours.
No one is senior than me.
I from Taiwan.Taiwan NO.1~!!

I'm slowly catching up! :D

[MazyRun]

800+ hrs (and not tired of it yet). That's why I tell people this is not a one playthrough game, even when you're 300+ hrs in you're still learning new things (and improving & mastering stuff).

[Takumi]

Originally posted by MazyRun:

800+ hrs (and not tired of it yet). That's why I tell people this is not a one playthrough game, even when you're 300+ hrs in you're still learning new things (and improving & mastering stuff).

Wait what? How do you even play for that long? Do you just play without finishing the story or do multiple runs? Since i think you can eventually run out of supplies... Still, hell, not even Terraria or GTA 5 had me THAT hooked, and i thought 300+ hours were a lot.

[MazyRun]

Multiple runs, I just love the mechanics in the game. I don't really play games for story, it helps that the lore in this game is good but it's mechanics that make games replayable.

The procedural generation at the start of each run creates enough variations to make each run subtly different.. for example, sometimes the trade points (wolf camps) can spawn in close proximity to each other making it possible to fully level up in under 15 days.

It is possible to race through the game in no time at all but I don't see the point in doing that and bypassing all the good stuff, so I just treat each run like a completionist run and do everything there is to do..

When you consider the day/night cycle takes some 20+ mins and sometimes another 20 mins of mooching about during time-freezes, the hours soon add up.

The thing that keeps it replayable is the challenge of permadeath survival. Playing a game for 200 hrs is fairly standard for learning absolutely everything about it, everything after that is just putting all that experience into practice.

It makes sense that the devs urge players to play the game in nightmare mode, all the mechanics in the game only truly make sense when permadeath is applied..

If you like the game enough to set yourself the goal of being able to survive repeated nightmare runs, ultimately it's the appeal of that challenge that can make you sink a lot of time into this game.

[Monster Tamer Bloba]

The story is about that long if that is what you are asking.