Moving away from the fantasy and sci-fi tales of previous entries, the Whiteout edition in the ongoing Lifeline series offers a new conspiracy to unravel while you try to keep someone from doing dumb things that will get them killed.
What advice you offer in real time while getting pings on your tablet will determine whether your ward lives or dies (or in some cases, whether something even worse than death happens).
Some choices are obvious — injured people in the snow can’t outrun wolves — but there are a couple of instances where the seemingly-obvious answer isn’t the correct one. These surprise segments keep you on your toes with fakeouts on which direction will lead to death and which keep you going longer.
In the original Lifeline, telling your companion Taylor not to sleep next to a radioactive spaceship reactor actually results in freezing to death when it would seem the opposite would be the case. This time around, a similar situation occurs involving using flares in a confined space.
Below we cover three of the branching paths where players meet the death screen most frequently.
Just (Don’t) Do It Quickly
One of the very first options to get the amnesiac Adams killed comes after inspecting the wrecked snowmobile (if you take that route instead of going for the briefcase), where you can tell the survivor to either leave because its not worth it, or instead try to grab the wood.
Before long, Adams realizes this is a wolf den, and you’ve got the option to either forget the wood or “just do it quickly.”
This should be an obvious choice. I mean, are you actually considering telling this person to just quickly intrude in a wolf den and expecting them to make it out the other side unscathed? If so, then you deserve that “connection lost” screen you are about to see…
Maybe try petting them?
Don’t Swim Towards The Light Carol-Anne!
After the wolf den debacle, you will reach a branching path to either investigate a crashed helicopter or head off towards some mysterious lights that turn out to be a relay station that could be very helpful.
This is one of those options where you will end up having to double back and take one path no matter what, as one entry always leads to death. Turns out there’s a river between Adams and that relay station with the blinking lights, bringing us to the options of “Don’t Risk It. Head For The Crash Site” or the ill-advised advice to “Swim across.”
Sometimes risks like swimming across a fast current river in sub-zero temps are necessary to stay alive. This is not one of those times. Tell Adams not to take the risk and head over to the helicopter crash site instead.
Not worth it pal!
Toxic Flare Fumes
Just under halfway through the game (if you make it all the way to the true, final ending) Adams reaches a makeshift station. After gathering up some wood, a sad truth reveals itself: there’s nothing to light this with except a single flare in a tiny room.
It’s time to ask yourself: are flare fumes toxic? In this, case turns out the answer is “No” (or perhaps, “doesn’t matter, cuz freezing to death is worse”). If you tell Adams not to light the fire, a numbing death is all that awaits. Instead, pick “It’s your only option. Use it.“
Woops, sorry!
There are a truly staggering number of options to take for such a simple game, with a huge number of endings and hundreds of branching paths, so let us know: what Lifeline Whiteout endings and story branches would you like us to see cover next?
