Through three episodes so far, it tells the tale of Will Mackenzie, a pilot in the remote Canadian wilderness, whom an implied former love interest, Astrid Greenwood, commissions to make a delivery gone wrong with a plane crash. For my money, Wintermute, the episodic story mode is the best starting point for new players. The first two are pretty straightforward: Challenges are scenarios created to overcome, and survival is an open-ended mode to test your mettle by surviving as long as possible. There are three modes-Survival, Challenges, and Wintermute. Whether by falling too high or being attacked by wildlife, fashioning that same cloth into bandages is necessary to mend injuries and blunt damage taken. Cloth sewn onto clothes to keep you warmer or wrapped around sticks to build a torch. That fire I needed? Better have tinder, fuel, and an accelerant like lighter fluid, if you want it done quick. In order to meet those needs, the raw materials & resources must be gathered and crafted into the necessary tools. Eventually you’ll tire out, so while in that shelter a bedroll will come in handy to get some sleep in, or a bed in an abandoned home might suffice. Scavenging for canned food and drinks gives an essential but scarce resource that doesn’t spoil, so it should be saved in case of emergency while hunting wildlife like rabbits for meat where possible. Thirst is a more manageable necessity a can of snow boiled into water or more unsavory methods like harvesting toilet water will do.

Hunger pangs are persistent, and food sources are scarce. The cold is oppressive, with rolling blizzards on and off throughout, requiring that you find or make shelters to insulate and build fires for a heat source to recover. The name of the game here is managing meters, the four of which are hunger, thirst, body temperature, and rest.

Grey mother the long dark