The Town that Time Forgot

After an arduous trek through a cave that felt like it went on forever, then crossing a gorge that seemed like miles across, I found myself in an eerily quiet town. The occasional sound of the bone chilling wind and nearby creaking of the decrepit houses that line the pothole dotted roads was unsettling. I traveled a few blocks, ducking into what’s left of some houses here and there which weren’t boarded up or burned to the ground, but I didn’t find anything useful. After checking the trunk of a few cars, a pair of hungry looking wolves greeted me! I swiftly defeated the first one with my trusty bow and arrow as it was coming around the car toward me, while the second flanked around the other side. I dropped the second one with a last second shot, just before he got to me.

I headed on down the road in the same direction, passing what looked like a bank. My eye caught a rather large house up on a hill, so I decided to investigate. Upon entering the house, it revealed itself to be even bigger inside than it looked outside. The place was in disarray. I found a few pieces of cloth, some food and a box of matches. Not much, but I wasn’t going to complain. Besides, who would hear me anyway? After clearing the area of plants, harvestable goods, and another round of wolves, I continued my walk past the bridge leaving the old town, heading toward a church located in the back country a few hundred yards away. After several days and yet several more wolves, I ended up with a handful of useful items and a few broken arrows. I had three left, and needed to find replacements, or the means to remake them soon. I started with ten. My last night before heading back to town was spent in the back of a car. Upon waking, a hungry black bear bade me a good morning! I stayed ducked down in the car for a few hours while he passed by. Luckily, he moved on so I traveled back to town.

I spent the night in the big house on the hill and dropped some birch saplings I had found the other day in the backcountry. In a few days I could remake some of my arrows. Today though, I headed out toward a farmhouse I had seen on the way in the first day I got here from a ridge in the park I walked through. I checked the area around the house but it was locked and I had no way in. I dispatched two more wolves and had them for lunch in a shed containing an old farm truck. After that, I walked for a while, following a frozen stream that opened up into a snow covered field. At the end of the field was a giant rock and a climbing rope attached. Looking over the edge, one could tell it was a long way down so I backed up carefully to avoid finding out for sure.

I took a quick check of my gear and weight, then had dinner and climbed down the cliff, landing at a sort of middle point in the climb. There was a cave to spend the night in but I foolishly forgot to collect wood for a fire, and I didn’t have much water. After making camp in the cave I did find a few sticks and barely boiled enough water to eek through the night. The second part of the climb was easy enough, and at the base of this climb was a beautiful frozen lake that spanned miles on end; a truly amazing sight. I started off and picked a few natural resources while moving around the lake in a clockwise path, until I was met with a pair of snarling wolves near a truck! Unfortunately, they both got first strike by a surprise attack, however, they both paid for it with their lives as I fatally injured them both. After checking the truck and tending to my wounds, I continued around the lake and found a couple of dead deer. I collected them and moved on.

A difficult time around the latter part of the lake, as I had sprained my wrist and ankle, thanks to another pair of wolves that got at me. I finally made it to an abandoned, dilapidated house. The sun was already setting and I wasn’t in the best of condition, so this would be my home for the night. A quick search of the area got me some firewood and coal. Settling down by a fire I made in the potbelly stove, I stoked the fire and slept for several hours. The next morning. I woke up early to the sound of wolves howling in the distance, the fire in the stove was still going so I cooked some breakfast, boiled some water, and headed out. Some time had passed and the weather turned dark unexpectedly, the wind picked up and the snow started to fall like sand in an hourglass.

It got colder and colder. I picked up the pace around the lake and found my way back to the truck I discovered the day before. I tried to take cover in the truck but no such luck, it was an icy tomb. I would surely die if I stayed here. I jumped out and scuttled over to a section of ice behind the truck and made a fire. The area was partially blocked by the ice and there was a huge rock behind me. I had been battling the cold for several hours and I wasn’t feeling good. Weirdly, I was warming up again, but I still couldn’t feel my feet, and I was extremely tired. I did manage to get a fire started with what little fuel I had left from the day before, but only after what felt like hypothermia set in. I was in very bad shape, exhausted, starving, and thirsty. I was so cold I was numb. I threw my bedroll down and cradled myself around the fire. I was sleeping in intervals, two hours at a time between collecting fuel for the fire.

After what felt like an eternity, dawn finally broke over the horizon. Mother Nature was still intent on killing me. I’d made it through one hell of a night and I wasn’t out of the woods yet. I was out of fuel, food, and water, still weak and suffering from hypothermia, but I set out to find the climbing spot to leave the basin nevertheless. I walked vaguely back in the direction I had descended a few days before, but I’d become lost due to the blizzard that raged on throughout last night and today. After many brutal, freezing hours, I found the climbing point, but I was in no shape at all to climb. The hypothermia severely weakened me and I couldn’t feel my extremities. It seemed I had met my match; I may die here. While preparing my epitaph and my cairn, the blizzard miraculously subsided. I quickly made a fire and stacked all my collected fuel on it, I found a few bits of plant to eat and cooked a few reishi teas to warm me up and get my calorie store to an acceptable point for the night.

After using the same strategy as the night before, I slept a couple hours, then foraged for a couple hours until I eventually made it to morning. I was so weak and tired by daybreak, but overall I felt a lot better. The hypothermia had subsided. I had no food and very little water, so I went to the climbing rope, used my last epipen and surged up the rope like a man on a mission. I climbed to the middle level shelf where the cave was and forgot I’d left a few supplies, and with them I collapsed in the cave and slept the rest of the day, and through the night as well. Morning broke, I had a warm coffee and headed to my second climb. I was feeling great and had no issue climbing back to the top of the cliff from the basin. I collected a few belongings I left at the top for weight management reasons and started my walk back to town.

Once I got back to the big house on the hill, I had time to sort my gear and reflect on the dangerous journey through the mountain town and the basin. The town was crawling with wolves, the backcountry is some of the toughest terrain around, and the the basin was beautiful, but extremely challenging. Throughout it all, I nearly died several times, and yet, each time I evaded certain death, I was rewarded with a beautiful new day and a fresh new perspective. The will to soldier on; to keep going. To survive at all costs.

A simply incredible experience that, run after run ingame continues to shock and entertain. It’s an amazing and addictive thing, “How long can you survive?” The replayability in survival mode is unique in the fact the game can be played differently every time. A big thanks to Hinterland Studio (@HinterlandGames) for such an amazing game. You may never understand how this game has affected me. Another big thanks to Shelby Steiner (@Official_FGR) For creative assistance and editing. Last but not least, a big thanks to @SurvivalGamerz for all the continued support! I couldn’t and wouldn’t do this without you all!

I hope this story was as fun and entertaining for you to read as it was for me to write about. Thanks for your interest and time and I’ll see you, in the quiet apocalypse!