The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a first-person survival game developed and published by Vancouver-based Hinterland Studio. It entered Steam Early Access in September 2014, while its survival mode officially launched in August 2017. The game places players on Great Bear Island, a fictional wilderness region of northern Canada, after a geomagnetic disaster disables much modern technology. Cold, fatigue, thirst, hunger, wildlife, and scarce supplies are central dangers; survival depends on managing calories, warmth, clothing, tools, shelter, and daylight. There are no zombies or supernatural enemies in the core survival experience, which instead emphasizes isolation and environmental risk. Survival Mode is a sandbox format whose maps include Mystery Lake, Coastal Highway, Pleasant Valley, Timberwolf Mountain, and Ash Canyon. Each location contains recognizable landmarks, such as the Camp Office at Mystery Lake, the Quonset Garage on Coastal Highway, and the summit aircraft wreckage on Timberwolf Mountain. The game's condition system tracks an explorer's warmth, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and health, while afflictions can result from sprains, food poisoning, infection, blood loss, and cabin fever. Fires provide warmth and water, but require fuel and attention. Players can harvest wood, cook food, mend clothing, craft basic equipment, fish through ice, and hunt animals. Wintermute is the game's story mode, centered on bush pilot Will Mackenzie and doctor Astrid Greenwood. The pair are separated after their small plane crashes during the onset of the mysterious disaster. Mackenzie searches for Astrid while carrying her locked case, whose contents are important to the narrative. The episodic campaign began with Episode One, "Do Not Go Gentle," and Episode Two, "Luminance Fugue." Hinterland later released Episode Three, "Crossroads Elegy," set around Pleasant Valley and a community endangered by convicts. Episode Four, "Fury Then Silence," moves Mackenzie into Blackrock Penitentiary and introduces a hostile prison gang led by Mathis. Hinterland has continued to support The Long Dark with free Survival Mode updates and paid downloadable content. The Tales from the Far Territory expansion pass began in December 2022, adding the airfield region known as Forsaken Airfield and the first of several narrative "Tales." Its first tale, Signal Void, sends players to repair radio transmitters and investigate strange signals across the island. The game also offers Challenge scenarios with fixed objectives, including Whiteout, where supplies must be stockpiled before a blizzard, and The Hunted, which pits a survivor against a persistent bear. The Long Dark uses a deliberately stylized visual style.