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.

Episode Four: “Fury, Then Silence”

A murderous gang of convicts has captured Mackenzie. Desperate to escape one of the darkest corners of Great Bear Island, he must somehow survive his fiercest enemy yet. Can Mackenzie recover the Hardcase, continue his search for Astrid, and also save the innocents caught up in this deadly confrontation?

The episode takes place in a brand new region dominated by an old prison complex built under the shadow of Blackrock Mountain. Featuring 7-10 hours of gameplay, 60 minutes of narrative cinematics, and over 40 minutes of new music, Episode Four also introduces new key characters to the Wintermute storyline, and puts the final narrative threads in place that will later be resolved in Episode Five (ship date TBD).

The team is heading into the final stretch of the episode. Most of the bugs are fixed, and we’re in the final stages of localization, optimization, and preparing things for launch.

True to our typical tradition, we aren’t announcing a release date until we are very close to launch, so stay tuned for that. For our Survival Mode fans, Blackrock Region will be added to Survival Mode before the end of the year, along with a few other additions.

UPCOMING PRICE CHANGE

When we had The Long Dark in Early Access on Steam and on Xbox Game Preview, it was priced at $19.99 USD. When we launched our 1.0 in August of 2017, we bumped the price up to $29.99 USD. With the launch of Episode Four, we’re increasing the price for The Long Dark to $34.99 USD ($5 increase). We feel this is more reflective of the current state of the game in terms of quality and the scope of content. The new price will take effect when Episode Four ships, so this is your last opportunity to purchase The Long Dark at its current $29.99 price. Please note that this price increase will not impact you if you already own the game. (Your local pricing may vary.)

ROADMAP AFTER EPISODE FOUR

After we launch Episode Four, I’ll post some details about our plans for The Long Dark, onward to Episode Five and beyond, including how we plan to update Survival Mode in the future, our plans for Mod Support, and more.

Now, back to preparing Episode Four’s launch. We’ll see you soon!

The Long Dark is currently on sale for 67% off this week as part of Steam's Midweek Madness sale. It's also available to subscribers of Xbox Game Pass.

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 available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC (Steam) for $29.99.