The Long Dark News

I've played little of legendary survival sim The Long Dark, or The Short Dark, as I guess it has proven for me. I fell off the game after succumbing to my first wolf. But I've sampled enough to know that adding a "Misery Mode" to the game is sort of like upending a bucket of water over a drowning person. More misery in The Long Dark? Oh thank god, that's just what this notoriously easygoing wilderness adventure has been missing. And what's this, developers Hinterland are introducing a new predator, the Cougar, which will move into any area you're fond of and compete over territory. Finally, a bit of friction for what has previously been a stroll in the woods.

It's not all misery. In a first for The Long Dark, which has hitherto been a permadeath game that wipes your save between runs, the devs are working on an optional Cheat Death system. It's not as cheaty as it sounds, however. You can only return from the grave four times, and each time, you'll have to make unspecified trade-offs. The idea is to stop people backing up their saves and make failure more of an adventure or if you prefer, an agonisingly slow decline, rather than letting players avoid the consequences of their actions.

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Hello fans,

Here’s some news about what to expect in Part Five of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, which we are targeting for the second half of June (depending on how long it takes to test and clear console certification), as well as an update on progress around bringing TALES to Switch.





I recently confirmed that the Cougar will be included in Part Five. We’ve been wanting to add a dangerous “alpha predator” to the game for a while, beyond the Wolves and other dangerous wildlife you can encounter in the game. With every new type of wildlife, we try to introduce a new element of gameplay to give it a distinct role in the overall ecosystem, and also ensure it freshens up the game for all our players.

The Cougar will work a bit differently than the other predators in the game. Cougars are very territorial, and will get interested in you when you start to spend a lot of time in one region. If you hang around in one region for too long, they will take an interest in the region and occupy it. You’ll then start to encroach on their territory, which is very dangerous! You’ll have plenty of warning before they move in, and plenty of warning once they have occupied a region. What you won’t get is plenty of warning before they attack you, once they are encroaching on your territory (or you on theirs)! So pay attention to the warning signs, move around the world and be prepared with a second Safehouse location in a different region, and you’ll be ok. Eventually, if you stay out of the occupied region for a while, the Cougar will lose interest and leave you alone. There will be a variety of feedback systems to keep you informed of Cougar activities, if you’re paying attention.

The Cougar’s attack is vicious (with its own new Affliction) and can end the game for you, but if you’re fast and lucky you’ll get a chance to counter-attack, and if you’re very lucky, you’ll kill it. Otherwise, it will escape to continue to hunt you down in a region it occupies. If you want to buy yourself more breathing room, you can seek out the Cougar’s den which exists somewhere in the world (a different place each game), and if you destroy the den with Noisemakers, Cougars will leave you alone for a long time. Eventually, though, they will return.

We think the Cougar will keep players on edge, and keep things interesting for those who are looking for a good long-term challenge, while also giving players the info they need to avoid Cougars altogether if that’s what they prefer.

Since we know having Cougars stalking you in the game might be a bit too stressful for some of our players, you’ll have the choice to include them in your game (or not) when you start a new one, and when we introduce them in the next update you’ll have the option to keep them out of your current save. We’re hoping that for most players, however, the Cougar becomes a force of nature that keeps them on their toes, keeps them moving and planning ahead, and adds an element of danger to long-term survival.





In Part Five, we’ll release the third and final new region for TALES. The Mountain Pass is our most vertical region so far, with plenty of steep and craggy terrain to pass through. You can follow the narrow road up higher and higher into the region, or take the lower path and rely on rope-climbs to find your way around. Keep an eye on key landmarks, including some human-made locations, like the Weather Station. In general, the weather in this region is bad, and the higher you go, the colder it gets. We’ll announce the region’s final name at launch.



We’re also releasing the third and final Tale with Part Five. Taking place in the Mountain Pass region, this third Tale wraps up the Rüdiger storyline first started in “Signal Void” and continued in “Buried Echoes”. Note that if you’ve already finished Tales One and Two, you’ll be able to just continue straight into Tale Three. Completing the third Tale will provide you with some profile-level benefits (in the form of new Feats) so it’ll be worth your while to complete all three Tales. And doing so will give you a glimpse into some worldbuilding and mysteries that will be paid off in Episode Five.





We’ve been working on a new Experience Mode, specifically made for Interloper players who have maxed out that mode and are looking for a new level of challenge. Misery takes Interloper and ratchets up the difficulty by adding six new Afflictions that are applied over time. The purpose is to survive in the mode for as long as possible after all six Afflictions have come in, and while we’re not 100% sure yet as the mode is still being playtested (with some help from some of our Interloper players from the community), we suspect the Days Survived counts will be in the dozens and not the hundreds like some existing Interloper players are able to achieve. Just trying to keep the game fresh and challenging for a group of players in our community who really like punishment! Of course, this mode isn’t for everyone.





We’re adding an optional system that will allow you to cheat death.

Yes, our permadeath survival game is finally offering you a “way out” from Death that doesn’t involve backing up your save file!

How this will work is that upon dying in the game, players will have two options: Die (as they do currently), or Cheat Death. If they Die, their save is wiped as it is currently, and they can carry on as usual. If they Cheat Death, they’ll be offered a series of choices they need to make if they want to continue playing. These choices will offer a series of trade-offs, because while you can cheat death, you can’t cheat death for free. You’ll also have the opportunity to retrieve your pack with some of what you were carrying at the time of your death, but other aspects of the world will remain the same as they were when you died -- including resources and gear items you have stored in your favourite locations, places you have explored and looted, surveying progress, Tales completion progress, etc. Each time you cheat death, the game will become progressively more difficult for you, and you can cheat death up to three times (4 total “lives”). Your final life will be very difficult.

You can Cheat Death once, twice, three times, or not at all. At each death you’ll have to make the decision about how you want to continue, if you do.

This is the first change to our permadeath system that we’ve ever made in the game, and we hope it brings a new dimension to gameplay for those of our players who just aren’t ready to lose their favourite survivor, or those who just want something fresh. We’d love to see players get into the spirit of this and give it a try instead of backing up their saves and continuing without consequences.



We’re still busy working on it and we’ll have more to say about it later this year, as mentioned in the December dev diary, where we revealed the episode title.



We were originally hoping to release TALES on Switch last week, but unfortunately we ran into several issues with memory and optimization with a few of the bigger regions in the game, which also resulted in some crashes we’ve been working on. We believe we are close to having the crashes resolved, and once those are fixed, the build will be submitted first to our internal Test team for final verification, and then when they give it the greenlight, it’ll go to Nintendo. Once the build is with Nintendo, it can take up to 20 days to pass their Certification, at which point we can release it to you.

So based on our current timelines, we think we’ll have TALES available on Switch by the second half of June. Please note that this will mean Parts One to Four of TALES, along with all the free updates to the “base” Survival mode, will all be released and the game will be updated to the current version available on the other platforms. The free updates will also be available to anyone who owns the game on Switch, not just people who own TALES, just as on the other platforms.

Afterwards, once Part Five is released on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation, we will also submit it to Nintendo for the same approval process, which means we hope Part Five is available about a month after Parts One to Four are released. Part Six will follow the same process, with the Switch lagging the other platforms by about a month.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to sharing the update video for TALES, Part Five, when it releases in the second half of June. We’ll share a more precise date once we have it.

Stay safe out there.

- Raphael

The wintry solo survival game The Long Dark has been around a long time—it launched into early access in 2014 and updates have been rolling ever since—but it looks like developer Hinterland Games is preparing to move on to something new. Studio founder and creative director Raphael van Lierop made a return to Twitter last night to drop a brief teaser for an unannounced project...
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Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.27, build 127976.

This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL EDITION and contains fixes for issues introduced with our Part Four release.


**Spoilers Below**


Update Details

ADJUSTED REQUIREMENTS TO START ‘BURIED ECHOES’ TALE

Players no longer need to complete SIGNAL VOID in the same run as they intend to attempt BURIED ECHOES. Instead, so long as you’ve completed SIGNAL VOID in another Survival game – and obtained the Badge for completing it – you can begin BURIED ECHOES in any new or existing run.

NEW CUSTOM EXPERIENCE SETTING FOR SCURVY

We’ve added an additional option in the Custom Experience. Players can now choose to play with or without Scurvy, or even set it to a high rate for a more punishing experience with the 'Scurvy - Vitamin-C Drain Rate' option.



Bug Fixes

This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:

CRASHES

• Fixed an issue where players would encounter a -988 or -998 error code and fail to launch THE LONG DARK on Epic Games.
  
• Fixed an issue where attempting to swap from the WINTERMUTE to Survival menu on Mac Epic Games would result in closing the application instead.
  

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

• Fixed an issue in the Mystery Lake Camp Office where the Survivor could become stuck beneath the stairs.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a notable frame rate drop near the Cannery in Bleak Inlet.
  
• Adjusted Chemical Hazard territory to better match the visual representation of their boundaries.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause the player to rotate 90 degrees upon transitioning to a new location while hauling a Travois.
  
• Fixed an issue where attempting to Harvest undressed Wildlife with Bare Hands and a lit Torch equipped caused the Survivor to stow the Torch while still lit.
  
• Fixed an issue which made it difficult to find a valid location to place a Rock Cache.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused Carcasses to cease defrosting when being Harvested near a Campfire.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor would teleport to the surface above them when crouching and Harvesting in specific locations.
  
• Fixed an issue where players would be unable to equip the Respirator from their Backpack after picking up a fresh Canister.
  
• Added a message to better indicate when a Carcass cannot be Harvested with Bare Hands prior to being dressed.
  
• Fixed an issue where Coal could spawn in an unreachable location in the transition Cave from Mountain Town to Mystery Lake.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to transfer stacks of items to a Container if the stack weighed more than the remaining capacity of the Container.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Travois could fall beneath the terrain if left on a steep slope when transitioning to and from an interior or Region.
  
• Fixed an issue where the text explaining what a Skill Book will improve was misplaced in the Inspect user interface.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause a 'Failed to Load Save' error after using the Respirator.
  
• Fixed an issue where items on Benches would be left floating after breaking them down.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Langston Mine Keys were not included in Journal > Collections > Mementos.
  
• Fixed an issue where debug text could be seen when hovering the transition icon to Zone of Contamination from the Transfer Pass Map.
  
• Fixed an issue where the cave transition to Zone of Contamination from Forsaken Airfield was labeled 'To Transfer Pass'.
  
• Fixed an issue where debug text could be seen on the Harvesting interface when interacting with a Poisoned Wolf Carcass that was 50% or more frozen.
  
• Fixed an issue where Survivor-held light sources would not deteriorate when Harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Fixed an issue where Survivor Condition would not deteriorate when Harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Adjusted Harvesting of Rabbits and Ptarmigan to allow for Bare-handed Harvesting at the cost of a small percentage of meat.
  
• Fixed an issue where no idle animation would play in the Harvesting user interface when interacting with certain Carcass types.
  
• Fixed an issue where some canned beverages could not be reached on the floor of a vehicle interior.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor would be placed too far from the ladder when transitioning into the Prepper Cache in Bleak Inlet.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Travois would become stuck in a 'Loaded' state if the player selected 'Drop All' while water was stored in the Travois.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the Survivor was unable to pick up a Knife sticking out of a tree.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in multiple Vaughn's Rifles spawning in Carter Hydro Dam.
  
• Fixed an issue where certain Books could not be interacted with in the Zone of Contamination.
  
• Reduced the damage dealt to Insulated Flasks from Survivor falls.
  
• Increased the Condition of Chemical Boots.
  

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

• Adjusted the Simple Lure and Fishing Lure to remove some hard edges from the model.
  
• Updated the Dress Shirt to address inconsistencies and visual issues between the inventory and in-world models.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in the Zone of Contamination where snow piles could be seen fading in and out as the Survivor approached and retreated.
  
• Fixed an issue where shadows could pop in and out on door handles in the Concentrator building depending on the Survivor's position.
  
• Fixed an issue where lift cables were missing from the exterior of the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed multiple visual issues where items and terrain could be found floating or intersecting with each other within the Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue where a concrete barrier in the Zone of Contamination could shift to a new location as the Survivor approached it.
  
• Fixed an issue with Rope spawn orientation that could result in the model oriented stiffly against walls.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the Security Chief's Remains, allowing players to see through the back of the model from the eye sockets.
  
• Fixed an issue where the entrance to the Langston Mine could be seen clearly through inclement weather.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a visual mismatch between what the player would see prior to exiting from the main entrance of the Langston Mine, compared to what they saw once they had exited.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in some items being offset from trees they should be resting on in Hushed River Valley.
  
• Fixed an issue which made it difficult for the Survivor to move onto the platform above the waste pool in Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a jarring visual mismatch between trees seen within the transitional cave to Forsaken Airfield and those after exiting the cave.
  
• Adjusted the pit in the cave transition from Airfield to Zone of Contamination to better communicate it shouldn't be entered.
  
• Adjusted the pit beneath the rickety bridge in Langston Mine so Torches and Flares can no longer be seen when they hit the bottom.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where Burdock Bushes intersected with nearby rocks.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in the 'Security Chief's Log' being completely unlit when picked up and read.
  
• Fixed an issue where a shadow was incorrectly projected from the door of a Medical Locker in the Concentrator building.
  
• Adjusted the lighting effects of Survivor held light sources on both sides of the chute transition in Langston Mine for better consistency.
  
• Adjusted the chute in Langston Mine to make movement through this area easier.
  
• Fixed an issue where a cardboard box could be seen intersecting a minecart in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue where a pallet could be seen intersecting a handrail in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue with terrain in the Forsaken Airfield to Zone of Contamination cave transition which resulted in gaps through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in Desolation Point where Old Man's Beard was not correctly connected to trees.
  
• Fixed an issue where a clipboard could be found intersecting a console in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wildlife could spawn or climb into a tree.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the Trainyard building would change its level of detail too abruptly, making it look like parts of the interior were appearing and disappearing.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the preplaced beds in Scaffolder's Hideout intersected with the ground.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where weather effects would not render outside while within the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in a slight light source emanating from the Survivor while inside the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.
  

ANIMATION

• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's thumb could intersect with the Flashlight while held.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's hand would clip through the Elevator Crank when removing it from an Elevator.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's hands could intersect with an Interview Transcript clipboard when interacted with.
  
• Adjusted the Travois pickup animation to be smoother and reduce player disorientation.
  
• Adjusted Wolf Harvesting animations to look more polished.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Wolf Carcass could shift slightly when the Survivor bent down to begin Harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue with Rabbit Carcasses that resulted in a lump on the model when held in the Survivor's hands for Harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue with Doe Carcasses which resulted in the Harvesting animation being offset.
  
• Fixed an issue where Moose would not gracefully transition to their death pose after falling to the ground.
  
• Fixed an issue where using a Hunting Knife on a Doe would cause a short animation jolt on initiation.
  

AUDIO

• Adjusted which audio tracks could play while inside the Langston Mine, preventing calming music from playing in a decidedly unsafe location.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused wind ambience in the Main Menu to sound slightly tinny.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused too much reverb when near the pit of the Langston Mine in Zone of Contamination.
  
• Adjusted sound effects when climbing the rope in the Elevator of Langston Mine to better match the environment.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused snow footstep sound effects on the wooden bridge from the Concentrator to the locked Langston Mine gate.
  
• Fixed an issue in which voice-overs could be preemptively cut off when interacting with multiple items which would cause a voice-over to begin.
  
• Adjusted the Misophonia filter to include footsteps through Chemical Hazard Zones.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused Misophonia triggering sounds to play through reverb effects.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused snow footstep sound effects on the concrete floor of the Concentrator building entryway.
  
• Adjusted the audio of items thrown into bottomless pits so they can no longer be heard.
  

Summary & Reporting Issues

Thank you for reading.

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.

If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game, with the development team, or other players; please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums.

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-update, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Many thanks for your support.

### END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ###

Hello Survivors,

Just a quick message to bring the end of the year to a close. In my November Dev Diary and in the recent update video for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Four, I promised to post one last message before the end of the year, and that it would include an Episode Five teaser.

So today I’m happy to share the title reveal for Episode Five:



THE LIGHT AT THE END OF ALL THINGS is the final episode of WINTERMUTE, our story mode, and it brings to a conclusion the story of Mackenzie and Astrid, the hard case, Perseverance Mills, and the mysterious aurora.

You’ve waited many years for this, and we’re excited to get to the point where we can share this last, most ambitious episode of the story to date. It won’t be the end of THE LONG DARK, but it’ll be the end of this major arc of the story.

Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024, so we won’t be saying too much more about it in the near-term, but expect us to release more details over the course of next year in the lead up to launch.

A couple more things while I have your attention…

We haven’t had much news to share about the Switch version of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY to date. I want to assure you that the team is working on this, and our current goal is to release it — with Parts One to Four, and all the free updates included with those Parts — by the end of April 2024. After that, Parts Five and Six of TALES will likely trail the other platforms by up to a month, based on the 4-week minimum certification time required by Nintendo. We’ll share more details about how that’s going some time in February.

And finally, a small reminder that Hinterland will be closed for winter holidays from December 22nd to January 8th, to give the team a chance to rest up for the year ahead. Please note that community and support folks will still be monitoring our various channels, but that response times will be reduced over the holidays. So please be patient when reporting bugs or issues to our Support portal, or in our forums or social channels.

On behalf of the entire team at Hinterland, I wish you a safe and happy winter holiday with your loved ones. And all the best for 2024. Our thoughts are particularly with those members of our player community who are living through hardship and suffering this season, in many different parts of the world.

Until next year!

– Raphael