Clothing layers
Multiple garment slots — base layer, mid layer, outer shell — stack to provide cumulative warmth, protection, or other stat bonuses, rather than a single equipped outfit. The Long Dark's detailed layering system (each garment adding specific warmth and wind resistance) and Green Hell's clothing crafting both turn dressing the character into an ongoing resource-management puzzle rather than a single equipment slot. Designers use clothing layers to add depth to survival preparation, to reward gathering and crafting a variety of materials (different layers need different resources), and to create meaningful tradeoffs (heavier layers protect more but slow movement or increase encumbrance). Key decisions: how many layers stack and how their bonuses combine, weight/mobility tradeoffs for heavier protection, degradation and repair of individual layers, and UI clarity showing the combined effect of a full outfit. Pitfall: layering systems with unclear or non-additive math (does a warm coat over a warm shirt actually help, or is warmth capped?) frustrate players trying to optimize — transparent, additive stacking rules are essential for the system to feel worth engaging with.
- Dev effort: Medium
- Timing: Real-time or turn-based
- Common in: survival
Seen in
- The Long Dark
- Green Hell