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.

We’ve just updated The Long Dark to v.364, “Vigilant Trespass”. This update introduces several new features and changes to content, outlined below.

New Experience Mode: Interloper

We’ve added a new Experience Mode: Interloper. Interloper is a highly challenging mode that focuses on self-sufficiency in survival. It is the most “extreme” of the Experience Modes for the following reasons:

• The world becomes more hostile to you as you play. Global temperature drops, wildlife and fuel resources become more scarce, and Blizzards become more frequent.
• There are no Rifles in the world.
• Apart from the Hacksaw and Hammer, which spawn rarely in the world, you need to create all your own improvised tools (ex. Hatchets, Knives, etc.).
• The best Clothing and Food items do not spawn.
• Wolves are more rare, but also more deadly.
• Wildlife becomes more rare over time.

New Challenge Mode: Hunted, Part Two

We’ve added the follow-up challenge to Hunted. In Hunted, Part Two, you must track the Old Bear from the Trapper’s Cabin, to its Den. Keep an eye out for tracks and blood drops. The weather may not cooperate!

Improved World “Decay” Systems

We’ve made some changes to how various systems work to ensure that, over time, the Sandbox becomes gradually more challenging over time. This is to combat the sense that the game becomes too easy once players have made it past a certain threshold in their survival skill and with improvised gear and tools. The new Experience Mode, Interloper, shows the most extreme version of this updated “Decay”, but we’ve applied it to all pre-existing Experience Modes as well. In general, we tune about a dozen variables differently as the game progresses over time, including (amongst other things): wildlife spawn behaviour, weather patterns, global temperature, and the availability of fuel resource spawns. The rate at which this “decay” occurs depends on the Experience Mode, with Pilgrim and Interloper being on opposite ends of the spectrum. Our intent is that these changes ensure the level of challenge in the game remains engaging over long-term Sandbox games, but consistent with the level that players would expect for that particular Experience Mode.

First-Person Presence & Updated Locomotion

We’ve updated all our in-game Light Sources with first-person animations. This includes: Flare, Lantern, Torch, Brand, Matches. Lantern placement has also been modified to work better with first-person hands.

Both Male and Female hands are represented. For now, we are not visualizing custom player clothing or gloves/mittens on the hands.

Please note that there may still be glitches with this system, as well as unanticipated effects to some of the in-game interactions.

We’ve updated our Locomotion animations to work better with the First-Person hands. You will see equipped light sources in hand when walking, though hidden while sprinting.

We’ve also modified the way Sprinting works -- you can no longer sprint backwards, nor sprint-strafe in perfectly lateral directions (though it is still possible to sprint forward and on an angle).

Updated Rest & Passing Time Interface

Our last pass on the Rest and Passing Time interface was confusing for players, so we’ve updated both these interfaces.

Now, to Pass Time, you use the Radial > Campcraft menu to select the “Pass Time” option (the icon is a Deck of Cards). You will now get real-time feedback on how Passing Time is affecting your Status, and you can interrupt Passing Time at any time.

Please keep in mind that the previous Warmth bonus during Pass Time was an artifact from the use of the Rest menu, and was not an intended bonus. You can now Pass Time anywhere (i.e. you do not need a Bed or Bedroll).

Rest works as it always has -- you can Rest from the Bedroll or any Bed. Both interfaces have been updated to clarify your current Status, to help you make a better decision about how long you want to Rest or Pass Time.

Wolf Decoy Exploit Fix

We’ve fixed the Wolf Decoy exploit. Decoys will now cause Wolves to “retreat” for a period of time, but they will no longer stand there making an easy target. Only Meat (includes Fish and Guts) may now be used for Decoys, and the “Drop Decoy” action will automatically select the “smelliest” (i.e. lowest Condition) meat in your Backpack.

Beachcombing Gameplay

We’ve updated the Coastlines to have open water. You’ll find that useful things occasionally wash up, but keep an ear out for signs of weak ice. If you fall in the water, it’s instant Hypothermia and your clothes will all be Wet!

New Skills: Archery & Mending

We’ve added two new skills: Archery, and Mending. Keep in mind that we’re still iterating on the Skills system, so our plan is to continue tuning and expanding this system over time.

Feat Slots

Based on feedback from the community, we’ve modified how we handle Feats. Now each Experience Mode supports a number of active Feats -- 5 for Pilgrim, 4 for Voyageur, etc. During the Sandbox setup, you’ll need to activate any Feats you’ve unlocked so far, and those Feats will be active for that particular Sandbox game.

If you prefer not to use Feats, simply do not activate any of them. Also, please keep in mind that you can’t enable Feats you’ve unlocked in your current game.

A Few More Tweaks

We’ve rebalanced Snow Shelters to be a little less effective. Linux users can now Alt-Tab without audio becoming corrupted. We’ve added a warning to help avoid burning partly-researched Books. Cleaning your Rifle no longer improves the Rifle Firearm skill. Cooking Fish now produces a small amount of usable Lamp Oil.

We’ve also fixed several bugs; the full changelist will be published once we migrate the Test Branch to the Main Release.

New Languages

Apart from any new text added in this Test Branch (which hasn’t been translated yet), you should find the Sandbox has now been translated into: Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Finnish, and Dutch.

Middleware Updates

In this Test Build, we’ve updated Unity and also Wwise (our audio engine). We don’t think this will impact anyone, but it’s possible that these updates may have affected stability. You may notice this particularly around graphics, and audio. Please make sure you report any bugs around unusual graphics glitches, audio issues.

View the Complete changelist HERE.

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".

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.

The Long Dark is currently available on Steam Early Access for $19.99.