The Long Dark is a first-personsurvivalvideo game developed and published by Hinterland Studio. The player assumes the role of a crash-landed bush pilot who must survive the frigid Canadian wilderness after a global disaster. The game received seed financing from the Canada Media Fund, and further funding was secured through a successful Kickstarter campaign in October 2013.[1][2]
An alpha version was released through Steam Early Access in September 2014.[3] The alpha version was later launched on the Xbox One as one of the first two launch titles associated with Microsoft's Game Preview Program in June 2015. Early reviews of the alpha release were generally positive, and the game went on to sell around 750,000 copies by April 2016.[4] It was officially released on all aforementioned platforms on August 1, 2017, as well as for PlayStation 4.[5] A film adaptation has been confirmed to be in the works.
Gameplay[edit]
In-game screenshot showing minimalist HUD elements which inform the player of important information about their current state of health
The Long Dark is a survival game set in an open world environment and played from a first-person perspective. The game takes place in the frigid Canadian wilderness where the player assumes the role of a crash-landed pilot struggling to survive after a global disaster, (a geomagnetic storm). The gameplay is stated by the developers to be a 'survival simulation that accounts for body temperature, caloric intake, hunger/thirst, fatigue, wind-chill, wildlife, and a host of other environmental factors.'[6] There are two game modes available to the player, 'Story mode' and 'Survival mode'. During the game's alpha release, the player had access to Sandbox (Survival) mode, with an option to spawn in one of the six regions: 'Mystery Lake', 'Coastal Highway', 'Pleasant Valley', 'Forlorn Muskeg', 'Desolation Point', and 'Timberwolf Mountain', all of which are connected together through transition zones.
In-game screenshot showing detailed HUD elements which inform the player of important information about their current state of health.
The objective is for the player to survive as long as possible by scavenging and utilizing whatever resources they may find within the world. This includes commodities such as food, water, firewood, medicine, and tools such as weapons, axes, knives and a host of other items. Wildlife is also present, such as deer which can be hunted for food, and wolves and bears which are a constant threat to the player as they venture outside. All items and wildlife are randomly spawned for every new game, so no two games will be alike for the player. Tools and items degrade over time, forcing the player to make careful decisions regarding their condition and their eventual need for repair. Fire, being a primary component, is necessary for warmth and cooking. The player has to forage for wood and fuel on a regular basis to stay alive. The player can also get sick from food poisoning and disease. The Long Dark simulates a full day/night cycle which is a fundamental part of the game. The game also simulates temperature and windchill, both of which are random during every playthrough, encouraging the player to monitor the weather carefully at all times to prevent death from exposure. Initially the game did not feature varied experience modes, but due to player demand, Hinterland added three experience modes to accommodate a range of playstyles, and a fourth mode added later. The easiest mode, 'Pilgrim', is for players looking for a more exploratory experience, 'Voyageur' is a middle ground and the most well rounded with regard to exploration and survival, 'Stalker' offers a more hardcore survival experience, and 'Interloper' is for players looking for a punishing, difficult experience.
Added late in 2017, 'Custom' lets the player customize many of the gameplay elements to create a unique playstyle.
The save game system enforces careful decision making by the player, saving only when the player's avatar enters a building, sleeps, passes time or receives an injury. When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is deleted, forcing the player to start a new game.
Story mode[edit]
Story mode is episodic and was initially planned to be released late 2014, but was pushed back to late 2016.[7]
Development was pushed back again and the game was ultimately released on August 1, 2017, with the first two episodes of the five-part story, entitled 'Wintermute', released together.[8] Episode one was entitled 'Do Not Go Gentle' and episode two is called 'Luminance Fugue'.[8]
A 'redux' version of episodes one and two was released in December 2018, with many changes made to the gameplay, presentation and mission structure.[9] Episode three is scheduled to be released sometime in 2019. Episodes four and five, to complete the story, will follow later.
Development[edit]
Following completion of his work as director on Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Raphael van Lierop left Relic Entertainment to work on projects which he felt were 'more personal' and 'more representative of [his] values'. Van Lierop also left Vancouver, moving his family from the city to the northern part of Vancouver Island. Inspired by these new surroundings, he formed Hinterland and began to work on The Long Dark, a game about surviving the Canadian wilderness.[1][10] Hinterland wanted to explore a post apocalyptic world from the fringes, away from the urban apocalypse, which 'we’ve all seen a million times' and away from 'B-movie cliches like zombies'.[1][11] Van Lierop was also keen to impact a Canadian identity upon the game, having been frustrated with homogenised AAA video games which sacrificed character for mass market appeal, he summed up his approach with, 'I'm Canadian. This game is Canadian. Deal with it.'[12][13]
When van Lierop announced the Hinterland team in September 2013, members included Alan Lawrance, formerly a lead at Volition, Marianne Krawczyk, writer of the God of War series, and David Chan, BioWare's first audio designer.[14] A year later, they'd also be joined by Ken Rolston, the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.[15] Hinterland operate as a virtual team, with its members working remotely. Lawrance cites his ability to work from home as a crucial factor in his decision to join Hinterland.[16]
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Hinterland obtained seed funding from the Canada Media Fund, and in September 2013, launched a Kickstarter campaign for The Long Dark to raise C$200,000 and build a community around the game.[1] The campaign was successful, raising C$256,617 upon its completion in October 2013. PayPal contributions following the Kickstarter campaign pushed the final total to over C$275,000 by March 2014. Hinterland announced the game's voice cast during the Kickstarter campaign, allowing The Long Dark to capitalise on the actors' individual fan bases; the cast announced were Mark Meer, Elias Toufexis, Jennifer Hale and David Hayter.[17][18] Hinterland were mindful of the game's scope, not wanting to expand the team's size and increase risk, and so limited their Kickstarter stretch goals to those that added quality, rather than those that added in-game content.[11]
Van Lierop spoke of their studio's approach to early access at the 2015 Game Developers Conference where he warned against allowing the player community to dictate the game's direction. Van Lierop spoke of the differing play styles in the game's audience; though players that preferred a 'hardcore survival' experience were in the minority, they were most vocal in the player community. Had Hinterland pandered to those requests, they might have alienated the silent majority of their player community.[19]
In April 2016, Van Lierop posted an update about the Story-mode release, explaining that Hinterland had elected to delay the launch of Story mode until it contained 4-6 hours of initial gameplay instead of the originally planned 2 hours. He also declined to set a release date, saying, 'You won’t get another promise from me about when it will ship, until we are close enough to being done with it that I can say with 100% certainty, and give you a definitive date that I know isn’t going to end up with us pushing out an experience we aren’t 100% satisfied with'.[4] He pointed to the evolution of Sandbox mode as another reason for delay, saying that its popularity had grown to the point that Hinterland decided to bring back regular updates for it, even though it was originally conceived merely as a test-bed for the Story mode. His post also provided a developmental road-map with short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals for additions and improvements.[4][20]
Voice actors Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale.
Reception[edit]Early access[edit]
Following a period of alpha access exclusive to backers of the crowdfunding campaign, a version of the game featuring only its sandbox-style survival mode was released on Steam Early Access in September 2014.[21] Early impressions from critics were generally favorable, but noted the incomplete nature of the game.
Leif Johnson, writing for PC Gamer in June 2014 felt that the game's small unchanging map rewarded rote memorisation whereas the game was most engaging when allowing the player to discover its systems.[22] Andy Kelly, writing for the same publication a month later, praised the atmosphere, highlighting the art style, sound design and lighting. Kelly felt that the game's 'focus on atmosphere and environmental survival' made it '[stand] out in an increasingly crowded genre'.[23]
At GameSpot, Shaun McInnis had similar thoughts, seeing that while the survival genre was becoming ever more crowded, The Long Dark was 'one of the few games in this genre focused on capturing the solitary wonder of fighting to staying alive in the brutal wilderness'.[21] John Walker, writing at Rock, Paper, Shotgun in August 2014, enjoyed the game and found it 'impressively full of things to do', but felt that the accelerated passage of time detracted from the realism.[24] In an early access review for GameSpot in October 2014, Nick Capozzoli too criticised unrealistic systems, noting that one should not need 'a dozen energy bars and a pound of venison to sustain yourself day-to-day' and that 'a crowbar [shouldn't] lose half its integrity after being used to pry open a couple lockers'. Instead of stretching his resources as a survivalist would, he felt 'like an insatiable force that roves through the environment, picking it clean.' Like Johnson, he criticised the limited area given to explore.[25] With an update later that October, Hinterland doubled the size of the playable area, and expanded it again in February 2015 to bring the size of the game world to 25 km2.[26][27]
Wired writer Matt Peckham labelled The Long Dark a 'troubling yet beautiful gem',[28] and joined IGN columnist Lucy O'Brien in recognizing the game's beautiful artistic vision, with O'Brien noting that 'Developer Hinterland has gone to great lengths to make the world itself a beautiful place to explore'.[29] In a 2015 interview with Creative Director Raphael van Lierop about The Long Dark's launch on Xbox One, Gameranx's Holly Green addressed the unique nature of the game's survival mechanics, writing it was 'one of the first pure survival games on console, separating the genre from its horror roots and taking its themes of minimalist resource management to their most logical conclusion'.[30]
Commercial reception[edit]
By January 2015, the game had sold 250,000 copies[31] and by August 2015, 500,000 copies had been sold.[32] On April 2016, Hinterland announced that over 750,000 copies had been sold across all platforms and expressed gratitude over the 99.78% approval rating from the Steam user-base.[4]
Accolades[edit]
The game was nominated for 'Best Art Direction', 'Best Game Design' and 'Best Music/Sound Design', and won the award for both 'Best Writing' and 'Strategy/Simulation' at the 2018 Webby Awards.[33]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Long_Dark&oldid=904588092'
Posted by1 year ago
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Sooo, I have some questions. I played the story mode and it was awesome, I loved it. But I started playing survival after they added the new map and I found a FLASHLIGHT! It said I needed to find batteries to use it though, I looked all over and I couldn't find any batteries so I gave up looking. I started a new game in ML to look at the update and I found another FLASHLIGHT! So at this point I'm like wtf do I do because I can't find batteries and so I can't use the light. Has anyone found a flashlight yet? If so did you find batteries?
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The Long Dark, an indie survival game from Hinterland, is leaving Early Access today -- and is celebrating its full launch with a brand new story mode! But if course, the sandbox elements are still this game's most essential component, and you'll need to understand them thoroughly if you want to survive.
If you haven't played the game during the alpha stage, then you'll have some trouble progressing -- as its challenges are quite hard, even for experienced players. So in this beginner's guide for The Long Dark, we're going to give you some tips that will help you make this dangerous journey and endure your adventures in the snowy wilds.
Set the Right Difficulty
The Long Dark offers four levels of difficulty. If you’re a new player, you'll want to skip the Interloper one, which is the hardest. But if you really want to learn something, then don’t take the easiest setting, either. Instead, go for Stalker difficulty. It is perfectly balanced, and can really give you a sense of realistic survival.
Find Shelter and Get Warm
Your game starts in the Northern Canadian wilderness, and your first task is to get warm clothes and shelter. Your starting clothes are not very good, so you must find a place to hide from the cold as soon as possible.
Don’t stray away into the wilderness too much, but try to follow the main path or the highway, as this will surely lead you to a safe place. On your way, you can start picking up sticks from the ground that will serve as the fuel.
As soon as you find a cabin or a house, immediately start looking for clothes and food inside. But be careful with your food and always check it for staleness. If it’s below 50%, then it is advisable not to consume such stale foods as they may provoke sickness.
Change your clothes and use any bed for sleeping. This will help you get warm and protect you from freezing.
Beware of the Wild Animals
Before leaving your shelter, make sure that you have a torch with you. For now it’s your only protection from the wolves and bears. You can craft a torch using three simple components: wood, cloth and lamp oil. You should be able to find all of them in your shelter.
Another way of getting rid of wild animals is to throw them a decoy, which is basically a piece of meat that you can carry around. The wolves will most definitely smell it on you, so drop it as soon as you hear barking in the distance. This way they will chase the food rather than you.
One more trick you can use to avoid wolves is to crouch. It will make you almost invisible to them, even in cases when they appear really close to you. But don’t get too close, as there is a chance that they will attack you no matter what.
In time you will need to find a real weapon, such as a rifle. It is way more effective against wild animals. You might also want to get yourself a hunting knife that can be used for skinning animals.
Learn Navigation and Weather PredictionThe Long Dark Flashlight
Navigating the map and predicting weather are probably two of the most important skills for survival in The Long Dark. It will help you find the best locations for setting up your base and hide in there in case you get caught in a blizzard.
The best places for setting up your base on the map are following:
Flashlight In The Long Dark
Try not to leave your base too early in the morning, as usually the weather is extremely cold at that time of the day. If you see that there is snow falling and wind blowing, then return immediately to your base -- in such cases, the blizzard is inevitable.
The Long Dark Flashlight Recharge
If you do get caught in blizzard, then try to find any other shelter that is close to you. Don’t try to reach your base if you know that you’re too far away. Just light up your lantern and get to the closest building you may have passed during your exploration.
Hunt For Survival
When you have all the clothes, equipment, and your own base, you can start hunting for wild animals. Aqua adventure: blue lily flower. Now you’re the predator, so learn as much as you can about hunting.
First, look up into the sky and check for a pack of crowscircling above a certain area. This will indicate that there is a dead animal nearby, which you can use for meat or skin.
Secondly, don’t forget to check for footprints. You will see them in the snow. In time you will be able to distinguish them pretty well, and even follow your prey.
Lastly, learn fishing. You can craft hooks and lines easily using metal scraps and cured guts. If you are located on a lake, then look out for fishing huts. Often these huts already have fishing equipment inside them, so you don’t really need to craft anything. Make a hole in the ice and catch some fish, which is an excellent source of food.
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This is pretty much it for the basics of the survival game in The Long Dark. With the new Story Mode, the game should deliver all kinds of fresh challenges.So keep your eyes open and come back soon for more The Long Dark guides at GameSkinny!
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