The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a solo exploration-survival game set in an expansive Northern Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic disaster. In Survival Mode, you make your own survival story: find supplies, manage your needs and contend with the cold and wildlife. The game also includes WINTERMUTE, an episodic story following bush pilot Will Mackenzie and Dr. Astrid Greenwood after their plane crashes in the wilderness.

Survive the wilderness

Survival Mode is a free-form, non-narrative sandbox where survival is your only goal. Death ends a run, and your save is deleted, so every decision matters. You receive information about the world but not answers, and must work out how to stay alive.

Keep track of Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue and Cold while balancing the resources you need against the energy it takes to obtain them. Every action costs Calories, and time is a precious resource. Hunt, fish, trap, climb, map and search for food and gear, while maintaining the equipment that keeps you alive. You can also face hypothermia, frostbite, dysentery and other afflictions, and must watch for hostile wildlife: wolves, bears, moose, rabbits, deer, crows and more.

The wilderness spans more than 50 square kilometers across 12 major regions and their connecting zones. Explore distant mountains, coastal towns, mines, farmlands and winter wilderness, searching for life-saving supplies. More than 100 gear items include tools, light sources, weapons, first-aid supplies and clothing.

Survival modes

Four Experience Modes offer different challenge levels, from Pilgrim Mode, intended to be quiet and pensive, to Interloper Mode, where only the most experienced survivors have a chance of lasting a week. Custom Mode lets you tailor the Survival Mode settings if none of the four Experiences suits you.

Standalone Challenge Modes provide objective-based experiences designed to last 1–3 hours. In Whiteout, you race to gather enough supplies to prepare for a blizzard; in Hunted, you must escape a murderous bear. Other Challenges are Hopeless Rescue, Nomad, Archivist, As the Dead Sleep and Escape the Darkwalker. Completing Challenges unlocks Feats that provide long-term gameplay benefits in Survival Mode.

WINTERMUTE

The episodic story mode follows Mackenzie and Astrid, who are separated after their plane crashes in the Northern Canadian wilderness following a mysterious flash of light. In Milton, Mackenzie begins to grasp the scale of the quiet apocalypse. His search for Astrid leads him deeper into the winter wilderness, where a mysterious trapper may hold the key to finding her.

After the events in Milton, an enigmatic stranger rescues Astrid from near death. In Pleasant Valley, she uses her skills as a doctor to help survivors while searching for Mackenzie and pursuing the mystery drawing them toward Perseverance Mills. Later, a gang of convicts captures Mackenzie. He must escape one of Great Bear Island’s darkest corners, recover the Hardcase, continue his search for Astrid and try to save the innocents caught in the conflict.

The first four episodes of WINTERMUTE provide approximately 30 hours of gameplay. Unlike Survival Mode, WINTERMUTE does not have permadeath, and you can save your progress as you play. The story also features performances by Jennifer Hale, Mark Meer, David Hayter and Elias Toufexis in Episode Three.