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.

While the “Redux” editions of Episodes One and Two are still on track for release in Dec. 2018, the next installment in the story of The Long Dark (Episode Three) is getting delayed until further notice.

In Episode Three, you’ll play as Dr. Astrid Greenwood, and the story picks up in the aftermath of the events of Milton, as experienced from Mackenzie’s point of view in Episode One. You’ll meet new survivors, explore a new region, and find out more about the events prior to, and after, the First Flare event that engulfed Great Bear Island — and perhaps the rest of the world — into “the long dark”.

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The Long Dark has just received another update for its Survival Mode, bringing several new features to the game.

• New! Revolver -- A close-quarters defensive tool against hostile wildlife.
• New! Birch Bark Tea -- A slow-gain condition restoration item brewed from a renewable natural resource.
• New! Energy Drink -- Quick-shot Stamina and Fatigue boost, useful for getting yourself out of a variety of bad situations.
• New! Improvised Cloth Wraps -- Stave off Frostbite on your Head and Hands with these basic wraps.
• Overhaul! Rifle & Shooting Gameplay -- Completely overhauled shooting and aiming mechanics for the Rifle and other ranged tools.
• Overhaul! Sprain System -- Improved Sprain gameplay dynamics and first aid solutions.

...and much more.

CHANGELIST v1.48 [47675]

Known Crash

* We are working with Unity to resolve a known, rare crash in the engine. This crash appears to only affect Windows players, although it may appear on other platforms. The crash seems to be a memory issue that is triggered by transitioning between scenes. We will release a fix for the crash as soon as we’re able to diagnose the root cause. In the mean time, we recommend you Save Often (in WINTERMUTE) or Rest Often (in Survival; Resting triggers a save). For more information, please refer to our Support Portal.

General Fixes

* General performance improvements across the game.
* Upgraded to a new version of Unity, enabling widespread improvements across the game.
* Fixed issue that restricted the game’s framerate to 120fps (on applicable systems).
* Streamlined the information appearing in players’ session output logs, to aid with support queries. 

General Art

* [Enviro] Numerous optimizations to improve performance.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous issues causing the player to become stuck in the terrain.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous issues allowing the player to get outside the intended play area.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous issues causing objects to clip and float in the world.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous issues causing stretched or missing textures.
* [Enviro] Fixed issue causing lighting hotspots in the Bear Cave in WINTERMUTE Episode Two.
* [Enviro] Updated LOD to reduce popping on buildings and cliffs.
* [Enviro] Fixed issue causing hinges to appear on the same side for both exterior and interior doors.
* [Enviro] Updated transition zone entrance from Mountain Town to Mystery Lake to be more visible to the player.
* [Enviro] Updated flags to animate.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous issues causing unlit textures.
* [Enviro] Fixed issue causing Cat Tails to appear out of alignment during their animation.
* [Enviro] Fixed issue causing inverted snow textures on trees.
* [Enviro] Updated numbers on lock boxes in the Milton Credit Union bank.

User Interface

* [UI] Updated “Disable HUD” setting to remove object labels (useful for game footage capture).
* [UI] Updated various text localizations.
* [UI] Fixed various overlapping UI elements in all languages
* [UI] Fixed issue causing mission sub-objectives to overlap with the next line.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing the “Archivist” badge to always appear as Complete.
* [UI] Updated various missing subtitles.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing a rounding error in Imperial Units when Melting snow.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing incorrect scroll bar alignment on the Stats screen in the Journal.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing the Scent Indicator to not always appear on the Status screen.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing the Radial Menu to inconsistently show the correct number of Light Sources in the Backpack.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing sub-objective text to overlap in certain Challenge Modes.
* [UI] Fixed issues causing the Stone ammo counter to be missing from the HUD.
* [UI] Fixed issue causing the Milton Water Tower icon to appear in the wrong location on the Map.
* [UI] Fixed issue where the player was unable to add potable Water to the Radial Menu after dropping the Water and drinking from it.
* [UI] Added an Accessible Struggle option, allowing players to select between Tap to Win and Hold to Win options.
* [UI] Updated the Weak Ice indicator.
* [UI] Added a new Slope indicator to warn players when they are traversing slopes that are steep enough to cause Sprains.

WINTERMUTE

* [WINTERMUTE] Made several updates to the Bear Spear encounters in Episode Two, including adding a checkpoint and streamlining the final Cave encounter.
* [WINTERMUTE] Polish pass on various cinematics and dialogues.
* [WINTERMUTE] Updated tutorials to reflect gameplay modifications introduced in this update.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed various issues with subtitle typos and timing.
* [WINTERMUTE] Updated description for the side mission “Basics of Survival: Find and harvest some medicinal flora native to Great Bear Island."
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing the Milton Credit Union bank vault door to play a closing animation when reloading your game, if the player was standing in front. 
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing a black screen to appear if a dialogue pop-up occurred during a cinematic. 
* [WINTERMUTE] Updated Medicinal Flora tutorial text with additional details for clarity.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed script issue where the Carter Dam Control Room door cinematic wouldn’t play during The Wounded Trapper mission in Episode Two.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing players to be pushed into another room when opening the vault door in the Milton Credit Union. 
* [WINTERMUTE] Numerous updates to Wildlife pathfinding.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing Blueprints to disappear from the Journal between Episodes One and Two. This fix is retroactive and will resolve it for players already impacted by the issue.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing players to become stuck in the floor if they loaded a game after saving it at the exact time the Milton Credit Union vault door was unlocked.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing overlapping text when hovering over a mission objective on the Map.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing Jeremiah to clip through his bed when reloading a save at the beginning of Episode Two.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issues that allowed players to get on top of the burnt Schoolhouse in Milton.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue that kept the Bear Spear from appearing properly in the Journal after examining it. 
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing players to spawn in the wrong location if they reloaded a game saved immediately after the first Bear encounter in Episode Two.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing players to spawn in the wrong location if they reloaded a game saved while falling from a rope.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing mismatched values to appear for collected wood in the Journal, and when inspecting Grey Mother’s Firewood Bin.
* [WINTERMUTE] Fixed issue causing Milton Knowledge Items in the Journal to update incorrectly.

Survival Mode

* [Custom Mode] Fixed issue causing certain combinations of Custom Mode settings to generate an invalid sharing code. 
* [Custom Mode] Fixed issue causing incorrect container loot to appear in Custom Mode.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue where Forging actions were not being interrupted when the Forge ran out of fuel.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue causing a partially-crafted Survival Bow to be usable if it was picked up while a completed Bow was equipped.
* [Survival Mode] Updated the Cold Fusion Feat description to properly reflect Air Temperature bonus.
* [Survival Mode] Updated medicinal Tea so it now acts like a First Aid item if a treatable Affliction is present. Otherwise it will still work as a Food item.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue where the Archery Skill Bonus was not applying reduced Arrow Condition loss correctly.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed issue causing some lockers to display the “locked” icon incorrectly.

Challenge Mode

* [Hunted] Fixed issue causing the Old Bear to clip through trees when fleeing.
* [Hunted] Updated Deer carcass placement.
* [Archivist] Fixed issue causing the sub-objective to update incorrectly after collecting the Buffer Memory from the Milton Post Office.

All Game Modes

* [All] Fixed issue where the fade to black transition would not appear correctly when exiting to the Main Menu
* [All] Fixed numerous pathing issues in the world due to missing nav mesh.
* [All] Fixed issue where Water in the Backpack would be consumed when drinking Water from the Cooking Screen.
* [All] Fixed issue causing audio for feeding Wolves to play even when the player wasn’t near one.
* [All] Fixed issue causing chimney smoke to be visible when no fire was active inside a house.
* [All] Fixed issue causing ambient audio to cut off when entering a car.
* [All] Fixed issue causing the player to limp incorrectly after holstering a weapon while suffering from a Sprained Ankle.
* [All] Fixed issue causing the Storm Lantern extinguish animation to play after death, if players fell off a high cliff while holding a lit Lantern. 
* [All] Fixed issue where the player was unable to extinguish a Storm Lantern if they opened the Radial Menu while placing it.
* [All] Fixed issue where "Worn Thermal Underwear” appeared as “New Thermal Underwear” in the Backpack.
* [All] Fixed issue that kept the player from fighting back during a Struggle if they were attacked while Repairing clothing.
* [All] Fixed issue causing muffled dialogue VO after firing a Rifle indoors.
* [All] Adjusted the amount on Condition decay on the Bedroll when it is left outside.
* [All] Fixed issue where the Wolf growl audio was missing in some scenarios.
* [All] Fixed issue causing absent wind audio when standing outside a cave entrance.
* [All] Fixed issue where the screen could become blurry during Wolf Struggles. 
* [All] Added dialogue VO for quartering Wildlife. 

Xbox One-Specific Issues

* [Xbox] Fixed issue where the game would no longer update information in the gamercard after resuming from standby.

Steam-Specific Issues

* [UI] Fixed issue where an incorrect mouse icon would appear when using left-handed mouse settings.
* [UI] Added scrolling with the keyboard arrow keys for the Buffer Memory screen interfaces discovered in-game during an Aurora.
* [General] Fixed issue causing graphical corruption when playing in OpenGL on an Nvidia GPU.

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, but will be increasing to $34.99 USD later this month.