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Darkwood (Survival horror)

Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
1,832
I found the 2nd hideout, decided to hoof it back to the first to stay a night before transporting inventory over come morning.

Spend a couple of in-game hours prepping home defenses.

Obfuscated game logic kills me anyway because apparently my hideout is no longer a hideout.

Respawn in the 2nd hideout.

Now have to run back to the first hideout non-hideout and get all my gear and dismantle all those defenses and then run back to the second one.

:roll:

Use the bike bell you get from the second hideout. It will allow you to transport the stuff between hideouts without actually having to do so yourself.

Pretty sure I'll still have to go back and dismantle all the traps and shit, no?

It might be useful to keep some fortifications behind since you might end up coming back but if you want to take absolutely everything out of it, sure.

As far as I know hideouts are not supposed to become non-hideouts. What do you mean by that?

When I returned to the first hideout, the red goo that attacks when you're outdoors just came in and killed me.

Weird. Maybe you have to re-light the oven in hideout 1 again? If so then yeah, definitely not a well communicated mechanic at all.

I suppose one reason I can think for why only one oven can be lit at a time is that this is the way the game "knows" which hideout to respawn you at when you die.
 

Stavrophore

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You have to lit the oven.

And i finally ended the game. There are two endings, i wont spoil but its very interesting. Wonder what will be your opinion and theory Lithium Flower, on the whole plot and setting. Both endings doesnt give answers.
 
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Playing Darkwood is pretty draining. Usually I do a few nights, or work towards some milestone (explore x location, finish x stage of the "main quest") before calling it for the day.

One night in Chapter 2 is all it took for me to call it quits today, though.

They were studying, among other things, the shapes made on the ground. These weird shapes must have some sort of significance. They were seen, just as crucifixes, wherever the savages are...and inside doctor's house. Irregular lines, some clearly drawn with the sticks used by the savage brutes. A particular one in the meadow seems to warp reality.

Strange shapes, crucifixes, horns, the act of trying to bend your head through your arm. Voices, too, demanding one to return. These are the recurring themes of the diseased minds just as the transformation into a beast-like monstrosity is the theme of the diseased body.

But what is the connection here? What is the meaning behind this madness?

I don't trust the eye thing. Or maybe it is the Woods itself. Did it help me escape or did it trap me further in the woods? Why is it just...there? Why does it hide when I come near? Why does its light shine so bright and red? Is the light for me or for THEM?

WHY IS IT THERE

WHAT THE FUCK IS IT

WHY THE FUCK IS IT

i am not sure for how long i can continue playing this game
the fucking spider/centipede things fuck fuck fuck
 
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Paul_cz

Arcane
Joined
Jan 26, 2014
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1,995
So is this good? Got on my radar due to their smart and customer friendly PR stunt, wondering if I should buy it (too lazy to use torrent).
 

Hoggypare

Savant
Joined
Aug 13, 2015
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126
So is this good? Got on my radar due to their smart and customer friendly PR stunt, wondering if I should buy it (too lazy to use torrent).
Depends what you like and what are your expectations - the game has:
+Very good atmosphere, imagery and horror feeling - it is quite ominous and gothic, and uses very classic horror motifs, I had an impression as if it would be what E.A. Poe would create after a walk in eastern european countryside (And no cheap jumpscares)
+Interesting story and lore, that you can affect somewhat (they are some C&C, don't know how deep - Lithium Flower who finished it might know better)
+Gameplay that fits in the setting, that is quite engaging and centers around you managing your resources.

Essentially it is an amazing game at what it tries to achieve. However don't expect more, there are no deep rpg systems, the crafting/survival aspect is limited. However I am having sick amount of fun with it, and I don't like 90% of horror games. So if the things I mention above sound like you would fancy trying it out, I would suggest going for it. There are not many other good games you could waste your money on, honestly.
 
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And i finally ended the game.

How many chapters are there?

I'm still finding my way around chapter 2 and [spoilery - read on and thank me later for saving you the frustration] I'm still pissed at how that chapter transition was handled. I was carrying a minimum amount of inventory items at that time and had most of my good stuff stashed in my hideout. Then - BOOM! - level transition, can't go back, with all my good stuff on the other side. Place is crawling with enemies that can kill you in a few hits and can actually OUTRUN you, meaning that you're pretty much dead the second you encounter them, so some of those items I diligently saved up for tougher enemies would actually come in handy now, but alas...
 
Joined
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Messages
1,832
Yo, does time pass in the Swamp Village in Chapter 2? I don't have a watch don't have a watch so its confusing.

Scribblings of a madman:

Its calling them just as it called me. They think its their loved ones. Has it been the cause of my own visions? It has been the cause of madness, so surely it was the cause of my madness.

But was the entire thing a lie? Was the entire premise of escape a snare that IT set for me, so that I would end up in in this Swamp, even further within its grasp?

The Trader may have been right; there might be no escape. And yet I left him, and even then he was a creature of the Forest and no longer one of us.

But who is us? I used to be a part of a military unit...I think. We had military grade equipment and perhaps even a research team. Yet the Doctor claims that we were there before the disease, that we haunted the locals as they now haunt me.

Who am I, really?

Found more crucifixes and religious symbols, with twigs and horns and bite marks all over. Are they worshiping or defacing them?

Paul_cz You probably shouldn't listen to me since I have been riding this game's dick pretty hard, but yeah, I personally think it is absolutely worth buying. Especially if you are interested in deciphering a fragmented story, although the systems are not too shabby either. That being said, I was also the kind of person who played Dark Souls for the story, so...

Hoggypare I haven't beaten the game yet, still in Chapter 2, but Chapter 1 has some great reactivity and C&C.

And i finally ended the game.

How many chapters are there?

I'm still finding my way around chapter 2 and [spoilery - read on and thank me later for saving you the frustration] I'm still pissed at how that chapter transition was handled. I was carrying a minimum amount of inventory items at that time and had most of my good stuff stashed in my hideout. Then - BOOM! - level transition, can't go back, with all my good stuff on the other side. Place is crawling with enemies that can kill you in a few hits and can actually OUTRUN you, meaning that you're pretty much dead the second you encounter them, so some of those items I diligently saved up for tougher enemies would actually come in handy now, but alas...

Prologue + 2 chapters + Epilogue.

Depending on your choices you might actually get a warning telling you that you won't be able to come back, but I agree that everyone should get it. The game does obfuscating certain things unnecessarily. Besides the aforementioned oven thing, there is also the fact that it doesn't tell you that there is a limited amount of uses for Fabric and Toolboxes and that really pissed me off since I wasted a good 500+ reputation on them. They should just remove all instances of toolboxes and fabric from the traders' inventories once all the inventory and workbench upgrades have been crafted.
 
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1,832
Played the game for much of today, very close to the ending.

I still have very little of an idea what the hell is up with the religious imagery and the flesh-bullets in people's heads and its driving me crazy. Or what the deal with the duplicates of the Key #21 is. Its possible that the Trader simply had one on him all along and that the corpse near the Old Shed belonged to yet another outsider, but at the same time it almost feels like a mockery, a ruse, some sort of manufactured story to lead me where the Woods (or Her, whoever she is) wants me to go. Maybe the Road Home is just as much of a ruse.

I guess that I'm supposed to either kill the Tree or go to the Radio Station. On one hand the Tree looks like an obvious culprit to the voices. The Tree, Voices, and the Woods seem to want me to go to the Radio Station and spiting them is something I am motivated to do, as everyone that has listened to the above forces seemed to have gone mad anyway. Myself included. But this solution seems so...obvious.

On the other hand, are the Woods entirely malevolent? The Doctor suggests that they are not, that they are more of an anti-body reaction to...us? (that being the player character and whatever mysterious outsider organization he once belonged to). It is clearly an intelligent force and is capable of forming connections (even electric ones) and ultimately manipulated the player character into coming here. Perhaps it is only intelligent due to all the people it assimilated (as seen in the Talking Tree)? If it is not entirely evil and quite intelligent, then perhaps there really is a good reason for why it wants someone to come to it. And maybe, doing whatever it wants me to do will make this whole thing end. Besides, Room 21...well, it seems to be at the Radio Tower.

Decisions, decisions. Tempted to back up my save file so that I can see both endings, because I don't think I'm going to have the strength for another playthrough for a while.
 
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Depending on your choices you might actually get a warning telling you that you won't be able to come back, but I agree that everyone should get it.

I sent in a bug report to the devs about two minor glitches I came across and also mentioned the (perceived) lack of hints about not being able to go back once you cross a certain point. Here is their reply:

The Acid Wizards said:
There are 3 hints about not going back from chapter 2 (from the Doctor, in the journal, and in the underground when the protagonist remarks about it).

So yeah, the warning signs were there and plenty of them, but I didn't listen. I have no one to blame but myself for my predicament.:P
 
Joined
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Depending on your choices you might actually get a warning telling you that you won't be able to come back, but I agree that everyone should get it.

I sent in a bug report to the devs about two minor glitches I came across and also mentioned the (perceived) lack of hints about not being able to go back once you cross a certain point. Here is their reply:

The Acid Wizards said:
There are 3 hints about not going back from chapter 2 (from the Doctor, in the journal, and in the underground when the protagonist remarks about it).

So yeah, the warning signs were there and plenty of them, but I didn't listen. I have no one to blame but myself for my predicament.:P

Well the lack of resources is arguably the best part about Chapter 2 anyway, so you might be in for a thrilling ride.

Honestly, I think they should have halved the reputation you get with daily traders for surviving the nights. At the beginning of Chapter 2 the scarcity kept me on edge but I could quickly buy everything I needed with that massive 250rep per day (plus whatever shit I decided to sell)
 

Stavrophore

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Honestly, I think they should have halved the reputation you get with daily traders for surviving the nights. At the beginning of Chapter 2 the scarcity kept me on edge but I could quickly buy everything I needed with that massive 250rep per day (plus whatever shit I decided to sell)

Wonder if that depends on diff level. I would very need the 250 rep on nightmare level, but on normal i was overflowing with rep. I had like 2000 rep on the end of game.
 
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Nov 29, 2016
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Well I'm done. Not sure how I feel right now.

So the broad picture is made surprisingly clear, but there are a clearly a lot of details that will probably only be clarified by replaying the game and carefully searching for clues and theorizing.

Timeline:

1. At some point prior to 1975, the "Outsider" group (of which the protag, Maciek, Trader, maybe Elephant father, were presumably a part of) sets up bases and hideouts over a broad area for unknown reasons, perhaps to study whatever strange thing is growing under the area that seems to be full of energy. They are very well equipped and, if the Doctor is to be believed, actually watched and attempted to isolate the villagers themselves.

2. In 1975, the Being (aka the woods, aka the disease, etc) starts actively trying to isolate and destroy the Outsiders. Roads are swallowed are devoured. Disease is spread, with some people being physically mutated into the living tools of destruction, while others becoming mentally deranged until they succumb to the voice calling them to go to the Being, where they are kept in a Matrix-like dreamworld (this kinda explains my theory about people in general either having strong mental or strong physical symptomps, but rarely both)

3. At some point the Outsiders try to pull out but a botched evacuation leaves some dead, others mad (Maciek) or stranded (protag, trader)

4. Protag, presumably left behind during the evacuation as well as suffering memory loss, deformed, and mute, is rescued by Doctor who also steals his key. The Trader then brings protag to the safest area in the Woods, the dry meadow, and tries to discourage him from trying to leave claiming that there is no way out (and he is entirely fucking correct)

5. Protag recovers his key and follows the calling of the Being as well as his own desperation to get home, but he ends up being tricked by the Being and ventures FURTHER into the woods towards it instead of towards the exit. From that point on one of two things happen:

6a: The player is, once again, tricked by the Being and is manipulated to come to it, and it puts him into the Matrix-like Dreamworld where he lives in the pleasant but peculiar hallucination of having come home to his appartment until the rest of his days.

6b: The player, warned by the Tree and his own intuition to investigate the Radio Tower first, is somehow able to break out of the dream at which point he can choose to willingly surrender himself to the Being's dreamworld or to burn the motherfucker down using Maciek's wonderful flammenwerfer. In the case of the latter, the woods are burned away, killing some of their inhabitants and freeing others (if there are even any left by the time you are done with the game) and ending this fucking nightmare forever, maybe.

So, what are some important details that need to be filled out?

1. What the hell is the Being, anyway? Perhaps we are not meant to know, and its something like the Strugatski Bros. Zone that is just...there, for whatever reason, an anomaly with an explanation that is beyond the feeble minds of Man.
2. What were the Outsiders doing exactly?
3. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Outsiders come to the Woods to study the Being, as a result of which it lashed out at them, or did they come for reasons other than the Being, and it formed in order to combat them? The Doctor seems to imply that it might be the latter.
4. Why is the Protagonist mute, deformed, and wears clothing that he did not remember putting on?
5. Are there two factions in the Woods? The Tree, being assimilated villagers, as well as the Three (apparently intelligent, non-hostile savages) seem to be acting against The Being, attempting to block off the road to it. Plus there are weird talking growths that give you warnings in the Radio Tower as well.
6. What the fuck are up with the fleshy bullets inside the heads of the dying soldier connected with the Outsiders? Maybe they are the frankenstein radio controls the Being forms inside people in order to derange them mentally.
7. What is up with people connected to the Outsider faction being found frozen in places? This can be seen in Hideout Remains as well as the Burned House in the Old Woods. Perhaps that is just the way that the Being decided to dispatch them.

Comments and theories and shit:

-Holy fuck, this game has some good writing and interesting, complicated characters. The wolfman's story: possibly a dog named Burek originally owned by the father and the two daughters living at where the Burned Houses are now in the Dry Meadow. After eating the shroom he may have mutated into a furry. Regardless of how he came to be, though, the Hunter (who was meant to marry the Pretty Lady) tried to kill him for his bestial appearance, resulting in the Wolfman becoming very bitter at the human inhabitants of the woods. As a result the Wolfman decided to take everything away from the Hunter, which is why he wears his clothes after shooting him through the heart and covets his bride (and he gets angry if you kill her, implying that perhaps he didn't just want to eat her but also rape her...let that sink in).

-The game nails the atmosphere of cosmic horror, as the protag is ultimately a tiny, insignificant, ignorant thing in the design of a superhuman intelligent that manipulates them as well as the player. Unless the player has some luck, a set of brass balls, and a flamethrower, of course.

-The game's morality is interesting as the Wolf's path is actually required to save the most amount of people in the game, despite the fact that you assist a furry in raping and eating an invalid. The C&C in the game is definitely its best part.

-If I had to guess, the religious symbolism and defacement by applying mud, sticks, and horns over faces and eyes seems to be an extension of the madmen's desire to find bliss in ignorance of the Being's dreamworld. Maybe the devs are trying to make a statement about religion and authoritarianism given that Poland had and arguably still has problems with both? idk

-The true horror of the game is, of course, Polish communism. Having to wait in the breadline for a washing machine must have been rough for the Protag.

-Although nobody is reading this shit, I might update my thoughts if I can think of something concrete and interesting.

What a fucking game. I think that the ending successfully left the details for the player to figure out on their own without being too vague.

The first play-through will take you like 20+ hours, and the game warrants at least two, so that's a steal at the asking price. As for difficulty...I had an easier time than I expected (died 6 times: once in transition between DM and SF, twice in SF, twice in OW, once in the Swamp, but I still had 5 lives left when I was done with the game thanks to embryos) but a lot of people suffered and there are still some people complaining on the steam forums that the game is impossible, so maybe that is just due to the more than 20 hours of pre-release experience. Ideally though, I'd like to see the rep gain with the Traders havled, and maybe rebalance how much embryos and items you get (the free axe in Doctor's house is kind of too much) and possibly buff the amount of damage certain enemies do. Playing on Hard Mode is absolutely essential too, Normal is a joke and Nightmare is basically a challenge mode.

Looking forward to replying this whenever I can go to sleep without mistaking the rustling of branches outside for a chomper scratching at my door. .
 

Nirvash

Liturgist
Joined
Jan 20, 2017
Messages
1,088
you've got an alternate quick attack that is triggered by pressing the middle mouse button by default

Almost at the end and never noticed that... but is still very slow.

The combat was inspired by dark souls

Sure it feel like dark soul 1-2 bad controls pc crap ports.


I still fell this game got one of those "crap combat system since combat must be the very last option" but here you fight all the time.
 

orcinator

Liturgist
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Jan 23, 2016
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Republic of Kongou
Finally finished it. Started playing shortly after release, but only played at night so it took a while to get to the end.

The combat is clunky but the clunkiness serves a purpose since it means fighting lone enemies in the open is easy but you can get destroyed if you're fighting in a dark and/or cramped space.
My main disappointment is the lack of variety at night (especially in the forest where it almost always spawns two savages). With how few enemy types the game has, I was hoping the devs would add some more unique night events, but I think we've only gotten like one new night event since I last tried it, for a grand total of five. And the game took me a little over thirty nights to beat.


Honestly, I think they should have halved the reputation you get with daily traders for surviving the nights.

I agree, you end up in swimming in resources in no time. But that won't fix the fact that there's not much to spend your resources on since all you need to kill everything (but one enemy type) is a shovel. Game really would have benefited from a boss type enemy that might actually require you to use guns.
I guess there's wolf, but you don't even have to fight him, (and when you do have to fight him you only get a chair leg, and bear traps).
 
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Joined
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Honestly, I think they should have halved the reputation you get with daily traders for surviving the nights.

I agree, you end up in swimming in resources in no time. But that won't fix the fact that there's not much to spend your resources on since all you need to kill everything (but one enemy type) is a shovel. Game really would have benefited from a boss type enemy that might actually require you to use guns.
I guess there's wolf, but you don't even have to fight him, (and when you do have to fight him you only get a chair leg, and bear traps).

Well, another issue is that enemy attack patterns were nerfed to oblivion compared to the alpha. Stick savages now have about an hour long recovery time between swings, which means you can kill them with just about any weapon, whereas before you had to use fragile sticks or concentrate on crafting a shovel as soon as possible. This made silent forest nights much more interesting as you couldn't just hang out and whack everything that came to you like you can now. And there used to be 3-4 of the bastards at Hideout 2 that you needed to clear out before spending the night!

So yeah, the difficulty is the game's biggest issue I think.
 

Grotesque

±¼ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Divinity: Original Sin Divinity: Original Sin 2
dfss.png


Dressed for success for Chapter II! :)
 
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Revenant

Guest
holy shit this game is amazing

best steam purchase ever (it's on -30% discount until the day after tomorrow)
 

warpig

Incel Resistance Leader
Manlet
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lmaoing @ your life
Yeah, I played Darkwood recently and it really sucked me in. I don't remember when was the last time I was "scared" in a game...Silent Hill 2 maybe XD I love the atmosphere and how the game looks and sounds like, the cryptic story all the dark and morbid shit. The only thing that kind of bothers me is that it became too easy near the end and the feeling of fear was somewhat diminished.
 
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newtmonkey

Arcane
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Aug 22, 2013
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Goblin Lair
:necro:

How do you guys recommend playing this? I thought it was a console game (cuz there are vita and PS4 versions apparently?), so I attempted to play with a controller and the interface made no sense at all. Should I be playing this keyboard and mouse?
 

Plisken

Learned
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Oct 8, 2017
Messages
255
since this got necro'd let me take this chance to say again that this is easily one of the most underrated titles of the past few years. It is a damn disgrace this thing didn't get more publicity, it is a gem.
 

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