What to do in survival?

[Mqueze]

I adore this game so much and cant wait until the release of chapter 4 so I've been starting to play survivalmode. But after I have found good clothing and now I pretty much have nothing to do, what do u guys do on survival to keep it entertaining?

[Sito]

explore everything and everywhere

[Mqueze]

Originally posted by Sito:

explore everything and everywhere

And map it all out?

[iwasa]

You can play the survival mode part of TLD because of its intrinsic values. Basically you can do stuff within the limits of survival mode and make up the story or objectives or game play that suits you.

I am content, even in Pilgrim, to exist in the world and keep doing things to survive. My main objective is to get ALL of the Pilgrim sandboxes I have to whatever endpoint that Story mode ends up at. Kind of a "On The Beach" kind of play. After that I'll figure out what to do next. Given that episode 5 is likely to come out probably no sooner than 2022, I have time to play.

I have deliberately not visited Mountain Town and Hushed River Valley partially because the way to Mountain Town is a nice way to separate me from the horde of supplies and gear I accumulated in the rest of the areas I have explored. Also I have this idea that those regions (which I have seen in other's video play) will be my "There Be Dragons" places. Who knows maybe another foot route to those regions might come into play. Eventually I will explore those regions, I guess.

I stopped doing extensive lists of what my bases contain so now every 200-300 days I go on a Grand Tour to visit every region, every base, and see what I left there. Change of scenery. Can do different things. Accumulate more junk... I mean vital survival gear and materials.

Episode 4 is likely to introduce a new region which adds to where I can go. I will not rush there. I have my last sandbox in Ash Canyon and haven't finished there yet. Besides everyone else can rush there, explore it thoroughly, and the knowledge gained in their videos would still suit me and be helpful.

Surival mode of The Long Dark is kind of what you can make of it.

[Halliwax]

Doing all the achievements first of all. Skilled Survivor, Faithful Cartographer, and The Will to Live will require you to do most of what there is to do. After that if you're still going, maybe collect postcards, cairns, and buffer memories.

[DsnowMan]

Don't do all of that, that's boring :)

Increase the difficulty, and start over. The world will eat you up. Then you try again. That's how you play the long dark :)

[grantf1]

I've recently started a custom game mainly to try playing with Endless Night.

[Rosebourne]

Honestly this game is so beautiful that I love to just explore and go everywhere to see more of the world.

[MadBone12]

Originally posted by Rosebourne:

Honestly this game is so beautiful that I love to just explore and go everywhere to see more of the world.

Yes, this is what has added longevity for me. Even though there is less to do than other games which have more crafting and you can build bases and stuff, I find that in TLD I enjoy the exploration and that keeps me coming back. For a game like Green Hell, while I do enjoy it and there is more stuff to do, it doesn't quite hold my interest for as long - once I have been to every major location, I don't feel like there is anything else to do but start a new save. Of course, that can be fun too, but I don't find exploration as interesting.

[marejov83]

Start an interloper game.
Go to these locations in this order:
-AC mine
-TWM Summit
-Mysterious signal fire in HRV
-Open and enter Cannery in BI.

Win a game by shooting a flair gun from the lighthouse in DP.

Start a new game with other set of goals and winning conditions.

[Nosteru]

I had a different approach into The Long Dark than most player here. I played Pilgrim, enjoyed the freedome there and more forgiving gameplay. Explored all locations. Looted everything, finished almost all Achievements. I had a good 477 hour enjoyment. However Im not interested with higher difficulty, die and start over and over again.

[Cultist]

In response to the original question:

Regardless of difficulty settings, you're likely going to have periods in sandbox where you feel bored or that there's no real progression left. It happens more often on lower difficulties, but interloper still has these moments.
That's mainly because the sandbox is extremely slow-paced and difficulty tends to snowball from one minor mistake rather than being directly forced on you. That means you often have to create challenges and hardships yourself by taking risks, otherwise the game is more likely to become a slow grind that eventually falls apart due to resource constraints, rather than an adrenaline-fueled survival simulation. You need to always have some sort of major self-defined goal, even if it's just to explore areas you haven't seen yet. The more ambitious the goal the better, as that's more likely to get you into trouble.

Interloper difficulty mostly fixes these issues, as you're never going to reach a point where you are truly immortal - you're always just a sprained foot and a random blizzard away from death, and that's where the game truly shines. With that said, the same issues are still present, they just take much longer to manifest. Once you're kitted out with tools and clothes the burden is on you to make the game interesting and challenging for yourself.

[Chris P. Bacon]

You only have 80 hours in the game, you aren't interested in exploring the rest of the map that you haven't seen? The island is pretty massive with many regions, there is a lot to see. If you don't have that drive in you to see what is on the other side of the next hill, then I don't think survival mode is for you.