The Long Dark News

HESITANT PROSPECT Update Now Live

The Long Dark’s Survival Mode has just been updated to a new version, HESITANT PROSPECT.

NEW REGION: ASH CANYON

Far on the other side of Timberwolf Mountain is a difficult-to-reach area defined by steep cavernous walls and burned-out forests. If you can navigate your way through the treacherous landscape, you might find an abandoned mine that hides treasures worth more than gold to any survivor. Just be careful when crossing the harrowing rope-bridges. It’s a long way down!

NEW GEAR ITEMS

CRAMPONS, left behind by an intrepid climber who ran out of luck. Wearing these helps prevent sprains, and makes it easier to travel over Weak Ice.

A TECHNICAL PACK adds a permanent capacity buff to your Survivor’s inventory, giving you a little more breathing room as you carry your life-saving supplies around on your back.

NEW CHALLENGE: DARKWALKER + FEAT

HESITANT PROSPECT also presents an updated version of the popular ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER Halloween event we launched this year.

You are being hunted by a malevolent invisible force. Use special paint Glyphs to buy yourself time to escape. Time spent in each region counts down towards toxic green fog appearing which will slowly suffocate you. You must BANISH the Darkwalker before you run out of time!

Completing the Darkwalker Challenge unlocks a new Darkwalker Feat, which, when enabled in Survival Mode, gives you a stamina boost at night, while draining stamina during the day.

NEW CUSTOM MODE SETTING: ENDLESS NIGHT

You can now set up your custom Survival games so that day never comes...

QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

We’ve made some quality of life improvements to the game’s Front End, including the Region Selection menu. You’ll also notice that we’ve updated the game’s Main Menu in honour of HESITANT PROSPECT, and moving forward every major update to the game will come with a new Main Menu that reflects the latest new content.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

---

CHANGELIST v1.89 [69558]

HIGHLIGHTS

New Region: Ash Canyon
New Challenge Mode: Darkwalker
New UI: Region Selection Menu
New Gear Items: Crampons and the Technical Backpack

GENERAL FIXES

[General] Fixed an issue that caused the game to hang when loading, while a third party overlay (IE Steam, Nvidia overlays) was active.
[General] Fixed a potential hang that could occur when launching the game.
[General] Post Unity 2019 upgrade optimization.
[Audio] Fixed an issue that prevented wildlife audio from playing.

GENERAL ART FIXES

[Enviro] Fixed various floating or clipping objects found throughout the world.
[Enviro] Fixed numerous areas Players could become stuck on terrain.
[Enviro] Fixed misaligned texture on the Park Sign found in Milton.
[Lighting] Optimized indoor light volumes to help remove seams in dark areas.

USER INTERFACE

[Map] Improved how icons are sorted when in close proximity on the Map.
[Map] Added missing icon for the Mystery Lake, Carter Hydro Dam exit.
[UI] New Region Selection Menu.
[UI] Tuned the Crafting menu to approve the general quality of life.
[UI] Update the States Menu to be more visually clear.
[UI] Added more Loading Icons on the Load Screens.
[UI] Localization pass and bug fixes.
[UI] Improved the Russian description for the Hunted Part 2 badge.
[UI] Fixed Gear items not appearing correctly when viewed Inspection mode, while the HUD is disabled.

SURVIVAL MODE

[General] Fixed an issue that could cause the Spray Glyph option to appear in Survival Mode games.

WINTERMUTE

[EP3] Fixed an issue that could cause the game to lock-up, when answering a phone call.

CHALLENGE MODE

[Darkwalker] Fixed the incorrect death message appearing when killed by natural causes.
[Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that caused the Spray Paint cap to appear at an incorrect offset, when spraying a Glyph.
[Darkwalker] Improved how the Darkwalker tracks the Player after transitioning to a new Region.
[Darkwalker] Added ropes to some climbing points in Broken Railroad and Pleasant Valley.
[Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that caused some localized Tool Tip text to be cut off.
[Darkwalker] Added missing subtitles.
[Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that prevented the audio stringer to play correctly, when the Darkwalker appears while inside an interior.
[Darkwalker] Ward fires now go out once the ward has expired.
[Darkwalker] Wards placed on the outside of an exterior now expire correctly, while inside.
[Darkwalker] Interiors now prevent players from placing a ward fire while one is already active.
[Darkwalker] No longer able to remove a banish glyph, once placed
[Darkwalker] Fixed an error that would cause a dialog to appear in-game, if the player left, then returned to a region with an active ward fire.
[Hunted Pt 2] Fixed an issue that would cause the Old Bear to disappear, if the player transitioned at a very specific point in the Old Bear’s animation.
PS4
[Enviro] Fixed an issue that caused some waterfalls to appear black.

KNOWN ISSUES

[Xbox] Intro video can appear corrupted when playing with HDR enabled. This does not appear to impact any other part of the game.
[All] Ash Canyon time explored is currently not tracked and does not appear in the journal.

### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###

The Long Dark Hotfixed to v1.88 [69021]

We’ve released our v1.88 Hotfix for The Long Dark. If you encounter any issues while playing the game please visit our Support Portal.

To stay up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).

*****

THE LONG DARK v1.88 (69021) CHANGELIST

GENERAL

Removed the ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER artwork from Main Menu.
Users are no longer able to load DW saves via the Challenge menu.
Fixed an issue that would allow players to enter an unplayable state, if they tried to re-enable the DW event by changing their local system time.

The Long Dark Hotfixed to v1.87 [68142]

We’ve released our v1.87 Hotfix for the ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER event. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark please visit our Support Portal.

A big part of any of these events is player participation and we would love to hear about your experience playing ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER in our event subforum.

To stay up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).

*****

THE LONG DARK v1.87 (68069/68142 ) CHANGELIST

GENERAL

Fixed an issue where text overlapped in some languages.
Fixed an issue that caused the Player to remain crouched when attacked by the Entity, while crouched.
Added map icons for Bleak Inlet to Ravine transitions.
Add subtitles for when the Player’s character is coughing from toxic smoke
Updated localization.
Map now centers on the Player’s position when entering the screen, during an Escape the Darkwalker game.
Dying from the Entity when in a menu, now breaks you out of menus correctly.
The "Darkwalker Devoured You" screen now only plays if the Player was killed by the Entity.
Fixed an issue that caused “Toxic Fog” to appear when exiting a menu, during the Escape the Darkwalker event.
Fixed an issue where the player could become stuck in the Safe Cracking ui, if attacked by the Entity while in the UI.
Removed the ability to Spray Paint on items that can be broken down.
Fixed an issue that caused the male voice to sometimes play instead of the female voice, when dying.
Fixed the volume for the Glyph breaking down sound effect.
Fixed an issue that caused stomping sound effects to loop after placing a ward indoors.
Fixed an issue that caused the Toxic Fog indicator to flash on screen when exiting interiors.

ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER Now Live!!!

Something is hunting survivors in The Long Dark and it’s not just the game’s usual wildlife. Running from October 29th to November 12th The Long Dark players will be stalked by a mysterious entity in our latest Halloween Event: ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER.

As you’re playing the event feel free to talk about it and share your best survival times on our forums, or on social media using the hashtag #DARKWALKER.

To help you survive for as long as possible in this event we’ve put together this information. Follow them and you may delay your death a little while longer.

Starting Out

Your character will begin near an abandoned camp where you’ll find an introductory collectible item along with supplies to start you out scattered around a burned out campfire.
You have fifteen (15) minutes without being hunted by the Darkwalker to prepare yourself in any way that you wish. At the end of the fifteen minutes the Darkwalker will appear in the region and begin to hunt you.

Surviving

As with any game of The Long Dark you have to manage your cold, hunger, and other aspects of your Condition to ensure your survival.
As the Darkwalker nears, your character will experience a series of disturbing effects that will make survival increasingly difficult. These effects mostly disappear as you get more distance from the Darkwalker.
An inescapable Toxic Fog follows the Darkwalker spreading throughout the region you’re in threatening not only you, but also wildlife, and even your food supply.
Your main defense is to spray-paint Glyphs which offer a couple of tools for dealing with the Darkwalker.
Event Camps with green fire offer refuge from being hunted by the Darkwalker as well as vital information about what it is that’s hunting you, so be sure to search the Camps carefully.

Game Over

There are two badges to win during the Event.
Players who manage to survive one hour will be awarded the Umbra Badge.
Those that manage to find six of the ten diary pages from the EVENT CAMPS will win the Deadly Dreamer Badge.
The Game Over screen will show the time survived plus your longest time survived, allowing you to share that with The Long Dark community. Post in on our forums, on social media, or elsewhere using the hashtag #DARKWALKER to show off your best times.

We hope you have a frighteningly good time this Halloween in The Long Dark as you play Escape the Darkwalker. Let us know what you think of the event on our forums.

To stay up-to-date with news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).

https://youtu.be/VNl2SvuWt6o

ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER Now Live!!!

Your character will begin near an abandoned camp where you’ll find an introductory collectible item along with supplies to start you out scattered around a burned out campfire.
You have fifteen (15) minutes without being hunted by the Darkwalker to prepare yourself in any way that you wish. At the end of the fifteen minutes the Darkwalker will appear in the region and begin to hunt you.

Surviving

As with any game of The Long Dark you have to manage your cold, hunger, and other aspects of your Condition to ensure your survival.
As the Darkwalker nears, your character will experience a series of disturbing effects that will make survival increasingly difficult. These effects mostly disappear as you get more distance from the Darkwalker.
An inescapable Toxic Fog follows the Darkwalker spreading throughout the region you’re in threatening not only you, but also wildlife, and even your food supply.
Your main defense is to spray-paint Glyphs which offer a couple of tools for dealing with the Darkwalker.
Event Camps with green fire offer refuge from being hunted by the Darkwalker as well as vital information about what it is that’s hunting you, so be sure to search the Camps carefully.

Game Over

There are two badges to win during the Event.
Players who manage to survive one hour will be awarded the Umbra Badge.
Those that manage to find six of the ten diary pages from the EVENT CAMPS will win the Deadly Dreamer Badge.
The Game Over screen will show the time survived plus your longest time survived, allowing you to share that with The Long Dark community. Post in on our forums, on social media, or elsewhere using the hashtag #DARKWALKER to show off your best times.