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Compass and watch

Compass and watch

The compass is used by pressing right-mouse, which will show your watch and compass until you press right-mouse again to put them away.  It may be out of sight below your screen (especially on default FOV ), so you may need to glance down.  Having to choose between looking at tools , and being able to see your surroundings is a common theme in Misamata, increasing the feeling of suspense and unease in the player.

The compass (realistically) swings sluggishly to magnetic north, so you may need to hold it out for a few moments to obtain an accurate reading and it is difficult to get a true bearing while moving and swinging it around. During much of the game again, the player must weigh the benefits of taking the time for good, accurate compass readings against the risks, knowing al the time that they are being hunted, and time is short.

This compass is a different sort to common magnetic compasses that have fixed markings and a swinging magnetic needle. In the 'dry card' compass the 'needle' indicator is fixed and the back plate 'card' is magnetically aligned. The red indicator then shows the current bearing on the rotating card easily without having to rotate a ring to align north for the observed bearing. Dry card card compasses have been superseded by more modern and accurate instruments although their principle continues in similar designs like 'wet card' types for marine navigation or prismatic/optical sighting compasses for surveying/orienteering. The dry card compass was probably chosen for the game as it is very easy to use without knowing any navigation skills and historically appropriate for the time and place.

Looking west from rainbow orchids

Compass showing bearing

With the background lighting from the lighter, it is quite possible to navigate at night using the compass.  Due to a bug , holding a torch at night time does not produce any light when looking at the journal , map , watch   or compass.  This means that only environmental light, e.g. moon light, fire light can be used to read them while holding a torch, dramatically increasing difficulty.

Another bug is that what you are holding in your hands is not shown when viewing the watch and compass.

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