Tamal Kundu
In the live-action interactive genre of entertainment, survivalist, adventurer, and TV personality Bear Grylls and his longtime collaborator, director Ben Simms, have made a remarkable contribution through the ‘You vs. Wild’ franchise. The original Netflix series and the subsequent movies have taken the traditional nature documentaries and survival shows and turned them into truly immersive experiences for the audience. In ‘You vs. Wild: Out Cold,’ an amnesiac Bear finds himself in an icy mountainous landscape and must navigate through the treacherous region to save a friend. Here is the best route you can take to complete the mission quickly and efficiently. SPOILERS AHEAD.
You vs. Wild: Out Cold: The Mission
The film opens with a man speaking on the radio, asking for help and wondering whether Bear Grylls is alive and can hear him. The camera then finds Bear hanging upside down from a tree by the ropes of his parachute. He grabs a knife and cuts himself loose. It is soon revealed that something has happened to Bear that has led to him losing his memory. Now, trapped in the ice-ravaged mountains, he can’t access his treasure-trove of knowledge about the environment and wildlife to survive and has to rely on his instincts and the choices made by you, the audience. Bear regularly speaks directly to the viewers, asking them to pick what he is supposed to do next.
After making some of the initial choices for Bear, you learn that he was in a crashing plane and jumped out with a parachute on his back before the plane crashed. On his way down, he hit his head on something, resulting in temporary amnesia. Meanwhile, the pilot, Captain Joe Raynor, crashed the plane on the other side of the mountains. And now, he is stuck inside the cockpit as it hangs over a cliff. Bear’s mission is to get to Joe before the cockpit goes over the edge. Furthermore, it is revealed that a dangerous wild animal is roaming in this part of the region. Bear will not only have to avoid any encounter with this animal but also have to ensure that it doesn’t attack Joe.
You vs. Wild: Out Cold: The Best Route
The first choice that you must for Bear is to choose what he should secure first: shelter, food, or water. As Bear is stuck in an icy region after such a harrowing ordeal, choose shelter before anything else. Even though Bear doesn’t remember anything else, his body does. He can go hours without water and days without food, but having shelter in that environment is absolutely crucial. After he makes a makeshift shelter out of his parachute and fallen branches and lights a fire, you should choose to go for water next.
As mentioned above, food is the last among three things that Bear needs right now. And if you go for the food, Bear fails to find anything anyway and nearly runs into the wild animal. Bear realizes that all the water is funneling down from the mountains and locates the boggier portion of the land. There, he finds chunks of ice. He picks up several of them, and on his way back, he finds a rotting bear carcass. From it, he secures food and a pelt to keep himself warm after skinning the fur.
When the wolf comes, go for the higher grounds. The forest is the wolf’s home, and Bear can’t escape from it in there and has to run to the mountains anyway. After Bear has successfully evaded the wolf and reached the higher grounds, he speaks to Joe for the first time since the crash and gets vital information about the mission.
The next choice is between the mountains and the tunnels as the route to reach Joe, who is on the other side of the mountains. This is arguably the most crucial choice in the entire mission. Choose the tunnels. While you can pick the mountains — and if you keep making the right choices, Bear does ultimately reach Joe — the risks of failure are significantly more in that route than in the tunnels. It also takes considerably longer as Bear can’t climb the mountains without acclimatizing due to altitude sickness.
After picking the tunnels and finding a lantern lying in the rabbles, choose to light it now instead of later. While this might sound counterintuitive, Bear misses a key exit point in the tunnels without lighting the lantern beforehand. This way, he can avoid an active boobytrap further into the tunnels and re-establish radio contact with Joe to help him fend off the wild animal.
Your next choice is between taking a flight of stairs and following a breeze further into the tunnel. Choose the stairs so that you can avoid making Bear eat a cockroach or a millipede and later tripping on the boobytrap. The climb is long, but the stairs ultimately lead Bear to the outside. After radio contact is re-established, choose for Bear to advise Joe to scare off the wild animal with noises. If Joe plays meek and quiet, the animal only gets bolder and attacks him. And if that happens, Bear doesn’t find Joe in the cockpit when he finally gets there, adding unnecessary complications to the mission.
For your next pick, you can choose either way: chimney climbing or switchback. Both of them lead Bear to the summit, though chimney climbing takes much less time. He then tries to contact Joe again and finds that the radio is low on battery. He subsequently goes down the mountain and locates the wreckage. Your final choice is between Bear throwing the rope to Joe so the latter can climb up or rappel down himself and rescue Joe. While Bear rescues Joe either way, pick the latter, as this way, Bear isn’t going to suffer another painful jolt in his brain to regain his memories.
You vs. Wild: Out Cold Ending
Bear rescues Joe in the nick of time before the cockpit falls down the cliff and explodes, completing the mission. The reunion with his friend triggers his memory, and Bear remembers everything about himself, the crash, and his family. He also realizes how to return to civilization again. The film ends as Bear and Joe start to go down to the bottom of the mountain.
What Is the Wild Animal?
The mysterious wild animal in ‘You vs. Wild: Out Cold’ is a grizzly bear. Bear almost runs into the real bear throughout the film, but he manages to evade the encounter because of the audience’s choices and sheer luck. If Joe is not in the cockpit when Bear finds it, you have to choose what Bear does: follow the blood droplets or the footprint. Do not choose the trail of blood as that leads Bear to the grizzly’s cave.
