Survival & Crafting
I never actually used the crafting, food & drink mechanics in my first play through (before immersive mode was added). Now with the immersive mode, food and drink are now actually helpful, but they still aren't utilised as much as I think they could be. I think you should commit to the survival aspect of the game and have food and drink play a larger part to the overall experience. For example:

Food:
The player's max health is tied to the player's hunger level. The hungrier the player is, the lower their max health.

Water:
The player's max stamina is tied to the player's thirst level. The thirstier the player is, the lower their max stamina.

The above could be changed in the settings like much of the new mechanics added with the immersion mode. So if players don't want a hardcore survival experience they could tone it down:

Hunger/Thirst System Difficulty:

  • None - The system is disabled
  • Regular - The player would have to eat once every few days and drink once a day.
  • Extreme - The player would have to drink multiple times a day and eat at least once a day.


With these mechanics eating and drinking would have a much bigger impact on the player and they would actually have to stop and refill their canteen (something I still don't have to do with the immersion mode on the hardest setting). Crafting rations would have an actual purpose other than just buffs to the player's stats. It would also give the player a reason to go hunting animals.

Thanks. I'm loving the immersion mode. Keep up the awesome work.