The initial experience with survival mode

Survival mode is really a matter of trial and error and understandably, it can be frustrating to new players. The game doesn't really care for the idea of hand-holding and wants you to learn to survive with what you learn from your experiences. The easiest difficulty is Voyager and even though I say 'easiest', it can still pose a big challenge when you're not sure what to do or where to go. As far as spawning is concerned, it's random and sometimes you spawn indoors and sometimes outside. With a custom survival game, you can actually choose if you want to spawn indoors or outside.

There are a lot of things you need to seek out when you start but your main objective should be to find shelter. This is easier said than done when you're not familiar with a certain area, but a good idea is to use landmarks to try and get an idea of where you're heading and where you've been. The last thing you want to do is walk in circles or continuously double-back and land-marking should hopefully help prevent this.

Your food meter can be in the red for a while, as it drops your overall condition (the bar with the heart next to it) by 1% each in-game hour. If you're at 100% condition, you can actually starve for 4 days before you die from starvation, assuming you're not thirsty, fatigued, freezing, or suffering from an injury or affliction during that time, as they'll also drain your overall condition over time.

Honestly, all I can say is keep exploring while making sure you're not walking in circles and you'll eventually find shelter. It may not be ideal but it'll save you from the cold and wind and gives you time to regroup. If it has a bed, you can sleep in it for an hour or two as all beds have some sort of warmth bonus, which will help you warm up faster and you won't have to wait long. Before you rest though, take note of what the time of day is because it gets much colder at night and you don't want to wander around at night with gear not working to keep you warm.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

/r/thelongdark Thread