Imagine the lights go out, never to return. Bright aurora flare across the sky, and all humanity's technological might is laid to waste, neutralized in a kind of quiet apocalypse. Everything that has shielded humanity from the disinterested power of Mother Nature is suddenly wrenched from us, dropping us a few links down the food chain. Food and water are scarce. The roads are no longer safe. And winter approaches…

The breathtakingly picturesque Pacific Northwest frames the backdrop for the drama of The Long Dark. You take on the role of William Mackenzie, a newly stranded bush pilot crashed far from the nearest human habitation. Lost, wounded, and with wolves circling, you'll have to quickly master basic wilderness survival skills if you're to last long enough to understand how the world has changed since the aurorae appeared in the sky. And that's just the beginning.

In the first season of this episodic series, players experience this grim new reality through the eyes of bush pilot William Mackenzie, isolated with other survivors in the Northern wilderness as a result of the event. Gameplay emphasizes exploration to gather resources and knowledge about the world, while mastering a deep survival simulation to overcome the myriad natural and man-made hazards of the new frontier. Players will also face difficult moral choices that will affect the outcome of gameplay, story, and ultimately, the course of humanity’s recovery.

The Long Dark developer Hinterland announced that renowned game designer Ken Rolston has joined the team as Designer-in-Residence.

We’re formalizing Ken’s contribution to The Long Dark, and he has graciously accepted to take on the role of Designer-in-Residence at Hinterland. In this capacity, Ken will support us and guide us as we wrestle with the formidable design challenges we’re undertaking to live up to our grand ambitions for The Long Dark -- a high-quality, open-world, sandbox survival simulation with a compelling narrative, created by a small independent studio without the backing or support of a major publisher.

Ken has been designing games for more than 30 years, from early pen-and-paper RPGs to some of the most groundbreaking open-world narrative experiences  ever created, including holding the lead designer roles on both The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

“The moment I saw Raphael’s early concepts for ‘The Long Dark’, I was fascinated. Humbled. And desperately wanted to be involved. And as the concept flowered, I only became more desperate. Now we’ve found a way to make it work. And all I have to do is struggle to be worthy of the honor. I have the experience, the ambition, the hunger. Now I simply have to find something new and valuable to add to this inspired game. A delicious, noble, and welcome burden to share with my esteemed colleagues at Hinterland,” explains Ken Rolston.

The episodic nature of the game's narrative refers to story structure, and not necessarily to the amount of content you're getting in the game, which we estimate to be 5-6 hours for single-player "story mode" and dozens of hours for sandbox "survival mode".

The Long Dark’s Sandbox Alpha will be available on Steam Early Access starting September 22nd.

Features:

• Immersive first-person exploration gameplay featuring a stunning, original art style. Players take on the role of franchise protagonist, Will Mackenzie, as he navigates the savage beauty of the Northern Wilderness and faces the hazards of the new “post-digital” frontier.
• Be on the lookout for potential supply caches, all the while using survival skills to overcome hazards introduced by harsh weather, wildlife, lack of food and water, and other survivors.
• Deep survival simulation gameplay where every decision matters. Explore a large open world in search of resources, and balance Condition and Willpower against the needs of your daily survival.
• Morally challenging scenarios that challenge players to answer the question: “How far will you go to survive?” Any survivor you meet in the world can be friend or foe. Will you risk your life to discover what they know and selflessly sacrifice for the common good, or live — and potentially die — by the adage “might makes right”?
• Rich episodic fiction featuring dozens of locations, a cast of memorable characters, and a mature post-disaster storyline inspired by the creative risk-taking we see in many of today’s exciting television series. This isn’t the end of the world, but you can see it from here.
• urvival Story mode provides hours of narrative-driven exploration gameplay where you play as Will Mackenzie, struggling to understand what has happened to the world. Survival Sandbox mode provides potentially hundreds of hours of free-form survival gameplay where you push yourself and your skill to last as long as possible in a variety of survival scenarios.