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 youve 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

Weve 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

• 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.
  

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 Im 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.

Youve waited many years for this, and were excited to get to the point where we can share this last, most ambitious episode of the story to date. It wont be the end of THE LONG DARK, but itll be the end of this major arc of the story.

Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024, so we wont 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 havent 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. Well share more details about how thats 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

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.26, build 126828.

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**


Known Issues

The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.

• When starting a new Custom Survival game, Scurvy will be active if Start Gear Load Out is set to anything but Very High.
  
• When switching to a fresh Canister with the Respirator and a lit light source equipped, the light source will temporarily extinguish.
  
• When placed in areas with steep inclines, the Travois can fall under the ground layer and become unreachable after the player transitions to or from an interior.
  
• Players will be unable to transfer stacks of items to a Container if the stack weighs more than the remaining capacity of the Container.
  
• Sometimes players will be unable to equip the Respirator from their Backpack. The Respirator can still be equipped through the Radial Menu, under the First Aid option.
  

• Fixed an issue where entering or exiting the Langston Mine in the Zone of Contamination from any entrance could result in a crash on Xbox and Playstation.
  
• Fixed a rare crash which could occur when interacting with the Security Chief's remains during the completion of the Buried Echoes Tale.
  

• Fixed an issue where time spent in the Langston Mine portion of the Zone of Contamination was not reflected in the Survivor's Journal > Stats.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Insulated Flask would never be damaged during Struggles.
  
• Adjusted Vitamin C content in Fish, so fish of the same species provide more consistent values.
  
• Fixed an issue where Polaroids in the Zone of Contamination would not reveal their associated Vista location when picked up.
  
• Fixed an issue where Bears would not spawn in multiple locations where they normally should.
  
• Fixed an issue where after a Bear Struggle, notifications for new Afflictions would not appear.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Buried Echoes Badge would not appear on-screen upon completing the Tale.
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth could not be consumed and displayed no Calorie value..
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth was no longer needed to Craft Recipes which should require it as an ingredient.
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth weighed twice as much as intended.
  
• Fixed an issue where Poisoned Wolf Carcasses could disappear after Harvesting them.
  
• Fixed an issue where exiting the First-Person Harvest UI for Rabbits or Ptarmigans caused the Carcass to disappear.
  
• Fixed an issue where some containers could not be searched in the Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Respirator could lose Condition and and in some cases be found in a Ruined state.
  
• Fixed an issue where some randomly spawned corpse and container locations would reset or double upon entering and exiting the Concentrator Building in Zone of Contamination.
  
• Fixed an issue where the camera could temporarily dip underground when interacting with a Timberwolf Carcass.
  

• Fixed an issue where Travois trails would disappear upon entering and exiting an interior.
  
• Fixed an issue where Chemical Hazards would change their level of detail too abruptly, making it look like parts of the pool were appearing and disappearing.
  
• Adjusted the tank rail car to better visually match other rail cars.
  
• Fixed an issue where a portion of the ceiling in the Langston Mine could appear and disappear based on the Survivor's location.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in the Langston Mine where the player could force themselves into terrain, resulting in being able to see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Zone of Contamination where the player could climb out of bounds and become stuck.
  
• Fixed an issue where pipes could be seen intersecting through the wall in the main entrance to the Concentrator Building.
  
• Fixed an issue with an exit door inside the Concentrator Building, which resulted in a seam through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple issues with terrain in the Langston Mine which resulted in gaps through which the player could see out of bounds
  
• Fixed multiple issues where terrain and objects intersected in the main entrance to the Concentrator Building.
  
• Fixed an issue where collision was missing from a wall in the Concentrator Building, allowing players to fall out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple issues in the Zone of Contamination to Airfield transition cave where missing or misplaced terrain could allow the player to see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue where a toxic barrel could be found suspended mid-air in the Zone of Contamination.
  
• Fixed multiple issues in the Langston Mine which could cause the player to become stuck.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a Toxic Gas warning sign to appear and disappear based on the Survivor's location.
  

• Fixed an issue where sometimes when Harvesting a Timberwolf with a Knife, the Knife would be missing from the Survivors hand.
  

• Fixed an issue where the sound effect of turning off a Flashlight was delayed.
  
• Fixed an issue where Chemical Hazard ambience and audio would trigger at incorrect times.
  
• Fixed an issue where Canisters provided no audio feedback when picked up, dropped, or moved to and from the inventory.
  
• Fixed an issue where ambient audio suppression was never disabled after listening to Foreman's Site Report Collectables.
  
• Fixed an issue where no sound effects would play when automatically reloading a Canister.
  

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.25, build 126227.

This is the latest Expansion Pass update TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Four: BURIED ECHOES, along with a free update available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION, and various bug fixes and quality of life improvements.

For a description of the new features and content in Part Four, plus watch the latest Update Video:
[previewyoutube=I9Jy7KAvDus;full][/previewyoutube]

PART FOUR: BURIED ECHOES

This Major Release includes the following new content, fixes and improvements:

Paid Expansion Pass Content

NEW REGION: THE ZONE OF CONTAMINATION



Accessed by road from Transfer Pass, the ZONE OF CONTAMINATION is a polluted wasteland, the site of the abandoned Langston Mine. Watch out for Toxic Hazards and Poisoned Wolves.

NEW TALE: BURIED ECHOES



Continuing the story introduced in SIGNAL VOID, follow the clues deep into the Zone of Contamination and uncover the next layer of the mystery of Rdiger, the Security Chief, and the strange events hinted at in the last Tale.

NEW GAMEPLAY: THE TRAVOIS



Crafted from Saplings, Deerskin, and other materials, the Travois is a simple, but robust Tool for carrying large amounts of items across vast distances.

NEW GAMEPLAY: THE RESPIRATOR



The Respirator will protect you from pockets of Toxic Gas youll encounter underground, as well as poisonous hazards on the surface. Just keep an eye open for the consumable Canisters, as without them the Respirator cant protect you.

NEW TOOLS: PROTECTIVE GEAR



Weve added Mine-specific protective clothing: a Miners Coat, Pants, Chemical Resistant Boots, and a Hard Hat. Each on their own provides a different amount of protection against physical damage, wind, and moisture. As always, youll trade these capabilities off against weight and other statistics.

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

New music composed by Sascha Dikiciyan, for the Zone of Contamination and Buried Echoes.

Free Content
This content is available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION.

NEW TOOLS: INSULATED FLASK



Coming in a variety of colours and patterns, you can load multiple units of warm drinks like Soups, Coffee, Teas, and so on, into the Flask and take it with you on your next day of trekking through the snowy forests of Great Bear Island.

NEW GAMEPLAY: SCURVY



Nutrition has never been a big focus for the food and survival systems in THE LONG DARK, but Scurvy is such a big part of the romance of long-term survival in frozen conditions, so we wanted to bring it into our gameplay sandbox. (NOTE: Scurvy is only enabled on new saves, to avoid the risk that players have already harvested most of the Vitamin-C rich foods in their game world.)

FIRST-PERSON HARVESTING ANIMATIONS



New animations for harvesting Carcasses have been added. Note that Fresh or Frozen kills will now need to be initially dressed with an appropriate Tool. No more bare-handed Harvesting of newly killed animals.

FIRST-PERSON HAND COVERINGS



Equipped hand coverings are now reflected in-game, as well as hand animations to match.

Known Issues

The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal. Fixes for these issues are slated to go out with the first Hotfix following the initial release.

• Bears will not spawn in multiple locations where they normally should.
  
• In new saves, Broth weighs about twice as much as it should.
  
• When updating to the latest version of THE LONG DARK (v 2.25) from an earlier version, Broth can no longer be consumed and has 0 caloric value.
  
• When starting a new Custom Survival game, Scurvy will be active if Start Gear Load Out is set to anything but Very High.
  
• After picking up the Zone of Contamination Region Polaroid, the associated map hint is not revealed on the Survivors map.
  
• Sometimes when harvesting a Timberwolf with a Knife, the Knife will be missing from the Survivors hand.
  
• When switching to a fresh Canister with the Respirator and a lit light source equipped, the light source will temporarily extinguish.
  
• Exiting the First-Person Harvest UI for Rabbits or Ptarmigans will cause the Carcass and any unharvested parts of the animal to disappear. Harvesting these animals from the inventory will not cause this issue.
  

• Fixed a crash that could occur when attempting to view the Journal from the Survival Mode Main Menu.
  

• Fixed an issue which prevented Distress Pistol Shells from being used as a light source for actions requiring light.
  
• Fixed an issue where entering Placement mode while in a Near Death state prevented the Survivor from stumbling around.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in thrown Flares falling too slowly after colliding with a surface.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed players to place Rock Caches on invalid surfaces.
  
• Fixed an issue resulting in the camera shaking violently when exiting the Carcass Harvesting interface.
  
• Fixed an issue where food would never cool if heated or cooked, and left on a cooking slot.
  
• Fixed a UI misalignment issue when diagnosing the Survivors in Episode 3 of WINTERMUTE.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in items falling into other objects they were placed upon.
  
• Fixed an issue where blood spatter location could be incorrect when harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Fixed a missing button prompt in the WHAT I KNOW > ACTIONS >JOURNAL OBJECTIVES of the WINTERMUTE Journal entry.
  
• Fixed a missing button prompt in the WHAT I KNOW > ACTIONS >CROUCH of the WINTERMUTE Journal entry.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves consumed Carcasses from too far away.
  
• Fixed an issue where the cupboard under the sink in the Community Hall could not be searched.
  
• Fixed an issue wherein completing a Tale resulted in a popup reading Mission Complete rather than the correct Tale Complete.
  
• Fixed an issue where Fuses and Wires were incorrectly spawning in the Coastal Highway Quonset Garage in the Whiteout Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where interacting with the Transmitter from particular positions resulted in incorrect camera placement during the Repair animation.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed players to discover Signal Void Tale specific Caches and Bunkers without first initiating the Tale.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Mission Journal would become stuck on 2/3 survivors saved, preventing players from progressing in the WINTERMUTE Episode 3 Whiteout Mission.
  
• Fixed an issue where Helicopters and Planes could not be slept in without a Bedroll present in the player inventory.
  
• Fixed an issue where new cooking ingredients were incorrectly spawning in the Coastal Highway Quonset Garage in the Whiteout Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where descending the stairs on Drift Islands upper stairway was made difficult by collision.
  
• Fixed an issue where equipped clothing items would not dry when in proximity to a fire.
  
• Fixed an issue where Ptarmigan would not detect the player when crouched until they were far too close.
  
• Fixed an issue where some items could spawn below the surface of Hunters Blinds in Forlorn Muskeg, causing them to be unreachable.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in the players Cooking Skill not being applied to certain cooking Recipes.
  
• Fixed an issue where some ingredients could be partially consumed before being used in a Recipe. Some Recipes now require a certain ingredient weight as a result.
  
• Adjusted Ice Fishing UI to be more readable against different backgrounds and lighting conditions.
  
• Fixed an issue where time acceleration was not applied to the Moose, resulting in it remaining idle during time accelerated events.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause Beachcombing boats to disappear while the player was near or on them.
  
• Fixed an issue which could prevent the lights outside the Maintenance Shed in the Broken Railroad Region from activating during an Aurora.
  
• Fixed an issue where Map icons were not added after interacting with an unmapped object in a revealed area of the Map.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in Prybars always breaking after use, rather than during use.
  
• Fixed an issue where death animations could cause dying animals to fall under or into terrain, making the Carcass unreachable.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Old Bear would stop stalking the player in The Hunted Pt.1 Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where dead Bears continued to emit breathing effects.
  
• Fixed an issue where the player could fall through the ground upon exiting Carcass harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused pelts to stop curing in certain interior locations.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused tooltips to remain visible beyond the load screen when starting a new Survival Mode game.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Fishing Holes from being placed in Pleasant Valley.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed Rabbits to run in mid-air on Drift Island.
  
• Fixed an issue where Buffer Memories would not randomize correctly upon subsequent visits to the same PC.
  
• Fixed an issue where an inoperable Cancel button displayed when interacting with safes.
  
• Fixed an issue where Prepper Caches were not properly randomized in Challenges.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in Wildlife floating above terrain, or sinking below the ground layer.
  
• Adjusted the Shortwave Radio so it can no longer be stored in containers. This should help to keep it from being misplaced.
  
• Fixed an issue where no damage was applied to the Survivor by the Major Bruising affliction.
  

• Fixed an issue where giant pieces of Birch Bark could be found in Ash Canyon.
  
• Updated Fishcakes so their bottom side is flaky and appealing, just like the top.
  
• Fixed an issue where the lid and base of the storage Trunk in the Community Hall were lit inconsistently.
  
• Fixed an issue where some food items could appear larger or smaller when heated on a Rim Grill.
  
• Fixed an issue when reheating Stew or Broth in a Skillet which resulted in it looking like meat while heating.
  
• Fixed an issue where Ptarmigan Nests appeared on the Map with debug text. Ptarmigan Nests now show on the map with correct text and new iconography.
  
• Fixed an issue where newer cooked Fish were missing an image in their pop-up notification after picking them up.
  
• Fixed an issue which made some Rifle Cartridges unreachable in certain Prepper Caches.
  
• Fixed an issue where barrels intersected the wall inside of the empty Prepper Cache.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in certain items being lit inconsistently.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes caused Moose rubbings and harvested Burdock to appear black.
  
• Fixed an issue with misplaced terrain in the Blackrock Mine which resulted in a seam through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves would play an eating animation while attempting to run away after being scared off of a Carcass.
  
• Fixed an issue in Mystery Lake where the player could see through the back of a rock face.
  
• Fixed an issue with all Challenges where Keepers Pass North and South were missing key art in the Rock Cache portion of the Journal.
  
• Improved shadow quality on consoles. Players should no longer see shadows flickering.
  
• Fixed an issue where lighting was incorrectly applied, resulting in blown out or dark interiors.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Firestriker spawn was inaccessible in the Broken Railroad Region.
  

• Fixed an issue where the Survivors running animation would incorrectly play when falling.
  
• Fixed a minor stutter in the Rifle idle animation.
  
• Fixed an issue where an Arrow would remain in hand when interacting with the Transmitter, causing it to interfere with the animation.
  

• Fixed an issue where Xbox Series S models were not correctly set to run at 60 FPS. Now all the following Xbox models should have an option to target 60 or 30 FPS: Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
  
• Fixed an issue where players with both Steam and Epic Games versions of The Long Dark installed on a Macintosh would find the Steam version of the application launched when booting from the Epic Games Launcher.
  
• Fixed an issue where some players using the Epic Game store were unable to progress past the Disclaimer screen. (If you continue to encounter this issue, please send a message to our Support portal using the link provided below.)
  

We've been making THE LONG DARK for a long time. Why? Because we're passionate world creators and we care a lot about our players. Many of you have been with us for years. Some of you have literally grown up with us. Keeping you engaged with the game and world, and doing our best to make THE LONG DARK the best survival experience we can is what motivates us every day.

If you think we've done a good job, please consider nominating us by voting for THE LONG DARK in the Labor of Love category in this year's Steam Awards. We appreciate your support.

Hello Survivors,

Were nearly finished with Part Four of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass DLC for Survival Mode, so I thought you might be curious to know a bit more about whats being added in this new part, launching early December.

As outlined in my September Dev Diary, Part Four which will be called BURIED ECHOES includes the next new region in the Far Territory: the Zone of Contamination.

The old Langston Mine lies at the heart of the Zone of Contamination, industrial pollution from decades-old mining operations leaving it a poisoned wasteland patrolled by toxic wolves, featuring large industrial remnants and hiding many hazards, and mysteries! At its heart, an open-pit mine scars the landscape, and deep inside its twisting tunnels if you survive the poisoned gas sits a room that holds many secrets. The Zone of Contamination is the second of three large regions that make up the Far Territory, and were excited to see how you find it pairs up with the Forsaken Airfield, which we launched in Part One.


The Zone of Contamination, coming in TALES, Part Four.

To go along with the Mine theme, weve included a variety of new and useful gameplay tools: a Respirator, which when worn will protect you from poisoned gas you might find in the Zone of Contamination, and eventually, other parts of the Far Territory and Great Bear Island at large. The Respirator relies on consumable Canisters to provide its protection, so keep an eye open for those as you explore the Far Territory. Were also adding Chemical Boots, which can protect you from the toxic pools that pollute the Zone of Contamination (these pools are really hard on regular footwear!), and a Hardhat that offers strong physical protection against head damage. Theres also a Miners Coat and Miners Pants, which make up a whole set of protective gear, if you manage to find them all.

And while exploring the Zone of Contamination, make sure you keep an eye out for the Poisoned Wolves that patrol the area. They are leaner than regular wolves, and more desperate. Living around the toxic pools have left them poisoned themselves, and without much to eat, so they are more dangerous than usual. Their bite can leave you with the new Poisoned affliction, so be extra careful when exploring the Zone of Contamination.


The Langston Mine sits at the heart of the Zone of Contamination, and hides many secrets.

Within the Zone of Contamination, youll also be able to start the second Tale: Buried Echoes. A continuation of Signal Void which we introduced in Part Two, Buried Echoes adds another layer of mystery to the story of the mine workers, the Security Chief, and the enigmatic Rdiger. Buried Echoes presents a story that goes in a somewhat unusual direction for THE LONG DARK, and were excited to see what you think. The Tale and the new region also feature new music, which all add to the atmosphere of Part Four. And, as with Signal Void, theres a special gameplay reward to be gained for completing Buried Echoes. Youll first have to get there to see what it is. (And dont worry, the Tale will be available in Interloper experience mode.)


The Travois, coming in TALES, Part Four.

Beyond the Zone of Contamination and Buried Echoes, Part Four also adds a significant new gameplay tool: the Travois. A craftable, movable container, the Travois is constructed from Saplings and other materials, and allows you to drag a large amount of extra gear around with you. But keep in mind, you will make some compromises to movement speed while dragging the Travois, and you cant take it everywhere! And depending on what you choose to load it up with, it can be a very effective wildlife attractant, so be careful to stop and look around once in a while, lest a pack of hungry wolves or a bear sneaks up on you. Its the perfect tool for moving large amounts of gear and items from one location to another, when stocking up a new safehouse or supply cache, or moving your main base of operations to a new region.

As always, we dont want players who opted not to purchase TALES to feel left out, so weve also included some meaningful free updates to the base Survival game, which will be available to everyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION.

As we shared in the September Dev Diary, weve finally managed to find a good way to add hand coverings in the game. Now, what you see on your hands will reflect what you have equipped in your hand slots in the Clothing Menu. Same for the lower sleeves of whatever you are wearing on your arms. Weve updated some animations so that they work better with things like Mittens. Were very happy with how this has turned out, and we feel it brings a whole new level of immersion to THE LONG DARK. We hope you agree when you get the chance to try them out.

Weve also added a whole new series of first-person Harvesting Animations. Now, when you choose to Harvest a carcass for meat or other resources, you will see your hands involved with the harvesting action, as well as the tool you have chosen to harvest with. Its another way that were trying to always enhance the sense of immersion in THE LONG DARK for our players.






You will also have the opportunity to use the new Insulated Flasks, which let you store and keep liquids warm for longer. Perfect for when you want to stack some Warmth buffs for those long treks across the frozen wilderness. The Flasks come in a variety of colours and patterns, so keep your eyes open for them as you move through the world.

And finally, weve added a new Scurvy affliction to the game. Certain foods will now provide you with Vitamin-C, and if you dont consume enough of them over time, you can develop Scurvy Risk and then eventually Scurvy. Its a horrible thing to contend with. Definitely something to keep an eye on for those longer-running games.

That mainly sums up the focus of Part Four of TALES, and we think its a great way to end the year for THE LONG DARK.

The last note I want to make is about the recent Hinterland Pop-Up Merch Store. As many of you know, we closed our store in 2021 because of COVID, and due to overwhelming requests from the community, we decided to open it up just to clear out our old inventory in time for the holidays. We didnt really anticipate the demand, and the Pop-Up shop -- which we had planned to run for 3 weeks -- sold out over 1300 items in less than three hours!

Our original plan was to use this to clear our stock to make room for a whole new line of merch items in the new year, but we know many of you didnt get the opportunity to purchase a Hinterland mug, or a Jackrabbit hoodie, or one of the fantastic Granted x Hinterland sweaters. So were looking at restocking as much as we can for the new year, and our current plan is to sell many of these items along with the new items well be launching in the new year. So if you missed out this time, youll have at least one more opportunity to purchase some of this classic Hinterland or THE LONG DARK merch. If you want to be kept up to date on these sales, we recommend signing up for the Hinterland newsletter.

That about wraps up the November dev diary. Keep your eyes open for the release of BURIED ECHOES and the free Survival Update that comes at the same time, early in December. You can expect a full narrated update video to launch with Part Four, which will go into more detail about each of the new additions to the game.

Stay warm out there.

Raphael

Starting TODAY through December 1st, the Hinterland Limited Time Pop-Up Merch Store is live. Buy now to get delivery in time for the holidays, with loads of THE LONG DARK and Hinterland merch.

Visit hinterlandstore.com and start shopping.

Get your Hinterland merch starting Monday, November 6 at the Hinterland Pop-Up Merch Store, available for a limited time!

Newsletter subscribers will receive a special discount code for their orders by signing up to our mailing list this week at hinterlandstore.com

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.23 (120705) Quality of Life Update for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on all platforms.


GENERAL

• Fixed an issue where inaccurate time values were shown in the player Journal during the Nomad Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where Bear walk-cycle animations could break during an Aurora event.
  
• Addressed multiple visual issues in which objects could pop-in when approaching them.
  
• Fixed an issue where an Acorn location could not be interacted with in the Mystery Lake Region.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves would ignore campfires when trying to get to the Survivor.
  
• Fixed an issue where items left atop televisions could fall inside the object when transitioning to and from an interior.
  
• Fixed multiple issues where certain items within Vehicles were inaccessible to the player.
  
• Fixed an animation issue with Stags where they would turn oddly in certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed an issue in which a corpse was mislabelled as "Crow Feather".
  
• Fixed multiple visual issues within the Control Tower in Forsaken Airfield.
  
• Fixed a visual issue in which the interior of Snow Shelters could be seen from unintended positions.
  
• Fixed a lighting issue with the couch in the Pleasant Valley Farmhouse.
  
• Fixed a lighting issue in the Community Hall which caused three spotlight effects.
  
• Fixed a rare issue preventing Survivors from interacting with objects after searching a container while holding a lit Match.
  
• Addressed a visual issue caused by viewing objects through Campfire smoke.
  
• Addressed a visual issue where shadows in Ash Canyon could pop in and out depending on the player's position.
  
• Fixed an issue that could cause items dropped in particular Caves to be lit inconsistently.
  
• Fixed an issue where some structural objects in Blackrock Penitentiary were invisible to the player.
  
• Added the option to skip the initial Photosensitivity Warning screen upon subsequent launches of the title.
  
• Fixed an issue where some players using the Epic Game store were unable to progress past the Disclaimer screen. (If you continue to encounter this issue, please send a message to our Support portal using the link provided below.)
  
• Fixed multiple issues in which items on harvested surfaces would remain mid-air instead of dropping to the ground.
  
• Updated the Emergency Stim to allow for easier placement of the object.
  
• Fixed multiple issues where interacting with specific objects or terrain while holding an item could result in the game hanging, forcing a restart.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Firewood to disappear on approach at the Rail Tunnel entrance of the Mystery Lake Region.
  
• Fixed an issue where incorrect resources could spawn in Prepper Bunkers when playing on Interloper Experience Mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Draft Dodgers Cabin was incorrectly shown as Fishing Cabin upon entering the cabin and when referenced in the Journal.
  

• Fixed an issue where the Weapon Hotkey would not cycle through Weapon Variants correctly.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Hopeless Rescue Challenge where Distress Pistols could be found in unintended locations.
  
• Fixed an issue where Ruined meat would appear fresh when returning to it after transitioning between Regions, or to and from an interior.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Repair skill would improve for unintended player actions, making this improvement too easy.
  
• Fixed an issue where ice floes in Coastal Highway and Desolation Point would instantly drop the Survivor into the ocean, and have been updated to show the Weak Ice notification symbol as intended.
  
• Fixed a location in which a player could become trapped in Desolation Point near the Hibernia building.
  
• Fixed an issue with the Bedroll which allowed it to be placed in locations it wouldn't feasibly fit.
  
• Fixed an issue where the visuals for Weather effects would appear within structures and Caves, as well as locations which might have a reasonable degree of shelter.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the Survivor from revealing the Frozen Delta location trigger in Bleak Inlet when surveying from certain locations.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Recipes requiring water as an ingredient from being crafted.
  
• Fixed an issue where Custom Survival settings were being applied to the As the Dead Sleep Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves and Bears would not spawn in the As the Dead Sleep Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where Lockers unintentionally always contained items, regardless of Experience Mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where damaging a Bear after it had already died would result in the carcass flying upward.
  
• Fixed an issue in which Bedrolls could be repaired without the use of a Sewing Kit, or Fishing Tackle.
  
• Fixed an issue where Bearskin Coats only required 1 hide to craft instead of the intended 2.
  
• Fixed an issue where consecutive uses of the word search were used in the Frozen Corpses Journal entry.
  
• Fixed a location in which items could fall beneath the ground layer in a Forlorn Muskeg Region cave.
  
• Fixed an issue where non-potable water left on the ground would become potable when the player reloaded their save file.
  
• Added an option to consume Water directly from the vessel used to boil it.
  
• Fixed a bug where containers would fail to open on rare occasions.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wildlife could get stuck when moving through a particular area of the Mountain Town Region.
  
• Fixed an issue where Sticks, Branches, and Limbs would be removed from a location after the Survivor revisited it.
  
• Fixed an issue where Pelts and Hides decayed more quickly in an interior compared to outdoors.
  
• Fixed an issue where sometimes Peaches could not be placed within a certain proximity of a campfire.
  
• Added functionality to allow players to light torches via the X button (for Playstation) and A button (for Xbox) from fire sources.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor wouldnt stow held items when interacting with Transmitters.
  
• Fixed an issue where cancelling while crafting Gunpowder incorrectly resulted in Gunsmithing Skill advancement.
  
• Fixed an issue where dead Wildlife could be found in a standing position upon reloading the game.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented the Curator's Rifle from spawning.
  
• Fixed an issue that resulted in consumed items remaining visible in the Survivors inventory.
  
• Fixed an issue with loot tables which could result in certain containers being unintentionally empty, regardless of Experience Mode.
  

• Adjusted the Ice Fishing UI for easier readability and removed an asset overlap when using a controller.
  
• Added further detail to Bleak Inlet's in-game map.
  
• Fixed an issue where the stars in the night sky of the Brightness Settings Menu would not appear.
  
• Fixed an issue in which Clothing items would appear dark or poorly lit when viewed in the Clothing Menu item carousel.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Region selection screen would flicker when swapping between Region views in the new Survival Menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where swapping game resolutions could result in UI elements becoming displaced.
  
• Fixed an issue where Status and Clothing Menus would exhibit noticeable lag when opened.
  
• Fixed an issue where the display resolution would not correctly update after changing it multiple times.
  
• Fixed an issue where the in-game Map would lag and stutter while scrolling if an abundance of map markers had been revealed in the Region.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused the News panel to open if the X button on Steam Deck was pressed during Feat selection of a new Survival game.
  
• Fixed an issue that could result in a ruined food item incorrectly remaining at 1% condition.
  
• Adjusted Spray Paint markers on the map to appear in front of pre-existing symbols for clearer visibility.
  
• Fixed an issue where Old Man's Beard was incorrectly referred to as "Bandage" instead of "Dressing" in the Crafting Menu.
  
• Fixed an issue where Security Logs were incorrectly oriented when examining them from the Journal.
  
• Fixed an issue where collecting multiple items at a time caused an incorrect amount to display on the item Inspection screen.
  
• Fixed an issue where on-hover text would not properly update an objects status after interacting with it.
  
• Fixed an issue which revealed Map markers in unsurveyed areas when a player picked up a Polaroid.
  
• Fixed an issue where activating a Vista would incorrectly reveal nearby Memento Caches on the Map, regardless if the Survivor had collected the associated Memento.
  
• Fixed a bug where raw meat could appear mid-air when inspecting a piece of cooked meat on a cooking surface.
  

• Fixed multiple issues where map gaps and visible seams could be seen.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause shadows to appear incorrectly on snow surfaces at particular times of the day.
  
• Fixed an issue with The Control Tower rendering incorrectly from certain distances.
  
• Added additional lighting effects to snow based on the suns position.
  

• Fixed an issue causing doubled footstep audio when traversing the staircase in the Long Rail Transition Zone.
  
• Added audio for failed crafting attempts for items crafted at the Ammunition Workbench.
  
• Fixed an issue where wolf howls would repeat unintentionally.
  

• Fixed an issue which could cause a crash on launch for Linux players.
  
• Fixed a missing button prompt for more info on Xbox when a New Mission is added or updated, or when hovering over an objective on the Map.
  

• Fixed an issue where the "Blood Soaked Note" could fall underground if the bush next to it is harvested before picking it up.
  
• Fixed an issue which rarely occurred in the Hangar in Episode 1 resulting in players being unable to progress their Mission Journal. (Players previously affected by this issue can continue their games by loading a prior save file.)
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in players loading into the game after the ending cinematic of Episode 3, preventing them from progressing to Episode 4. (Players previously affected by this issue can continue their games by loading a prior save file.)
  
• Adjusted lighting in the Old Bear Cave of Episode 2.
  
• Fixed an issue where Jeremiah's Knife and the Scrap Metal Knife could appear as an optional tool for crafting in Survival Mode.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Steam Community translations from being applied in Wintermute.
  

• Airfield Region: Fixed an issue with the Field 31 memo which allowed it to be moved with the placement feature.
  
• Fixed an issue where holding a lit Match while interacting with a Transmitter of Bunker Hatch would ruin all Matches in a stack.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused lighting in Bunkers to be far too bright during Aurora events.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Players from dropping items when the on-hover text for a Transmitter was visible.
  

• Fixed an issue where Ukrainian and Spanish translations would show Closed-Captioning subtitles when set to Subtitles only.
  
• Fixed an issue where mission objectives for the Nomad Challenge were incorrectly stated in the Finnish translation.
  
• Fixed multiple translation errors in Finnish.
  
• Fixed a translation error with the Turkish word for "smoke".
  
• Fixed a translation error in the Crafting Menu that resulted in the word "Craft" remaining in English regardless of language settings.
  

Hello Survivors,

The teams been very busy since we released Part Three of TALES, and all the subsequent hotfixes. We have lots to talk about so Im going to dive right in!


QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATE

Between all the work splitting the game, working on TALES content, and the free updates to Survival over the past year and more, weve gotten behind in our bug maintenance, and we just werent happy to see some long-standing issues still lingering, along with newly introduced bugs.

The team has spent the past several weeks working through a big list of issues, and they are just putting the finishing touches on a Quality of Life Update which will fix over 150 bugs in the game, across Story, Survival, and TALES. Were going to keep chipping away at our bug list over time, but hopefully somewhere in this list of 150+ fixes, we manage to hit at least a few of the bugs youve personally been struggling with in the game.

The QoL Update is now locked, and the Test team needs a couple of weeks to finalize and verify the bug fixes show up correctly in the release branch, so were currently targeting a QoL update launch near the end of the month. For the full list of fixes, keep an eye on Steam, the official forums, or our social channels to be notified when the QoL Update goes live.

And as always, if you encounter a bug and want to report it, please use our Support Portal. Bugs reported there are reviewed, vetted, and then find their way into the main database where the Test and Dev teams can review, evaluate, prioritize, and fix.


TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART FOUR



As with the other parts of TALES (our paid DLC for Survival Mode), Part Four will come with a free update to Survival, and the team is packing in a range of content and gameplay features targeting release by the end of the year. Well get more precise with the release date and feature list as we get closer to launch, but to give you a sense of whats being added, youll find:

• the new MINE region, showcasing some new hazards and a new gear item
  
• the second TALE, following up on Signal Void from Part Two
  
• several new gameplay tools and mechanics, including the Travois and some new clothing
  
• and great free updates to Survival, including -- wait for it -- proper coverings for first-person hands!
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.22 (118386) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam following the release of v2.21.

GENERAL

• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Water placed in Containers to disappear if a player exited and then re-entered a Scene, such as moving between an Interior or Exterior.
  
• Audio - Fixed and issue that could cause a Survivors voice to unintentionally change between voice options.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that prevented the benefits from Cooking Skill bonuses to apply to cooked food items.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed various issues with Cooking, including an issue that caused meat to mistakenly increase in weight while being cooked and an issue where Recipes mistakenly used too many ingredients from the players inventory.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused certain cooked items, such Tea and Coffee, to become cold as soon as the player picked them up.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.21 (118182) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam following the release of v2.20.

GENERAL

• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where containers disappeared for players using Interloper or Custom game modes, resulting in missing items. Please note that some players may recover their lost items if the Lost and Found box was present in the same room as the impacted container, however, items will not be recovered if the Lost and Found box was not present.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.20 (118045) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam.

GENERAL

• UI - Fixed an issue that prevented the Workshop Community Translations from working in-game.
  
• UI - Fixed a rare issue that would cause text to overlap in the TALES menu.
  
• Audio - Fixed an issue where footstep audio would stop playing after a player climbed a Vine.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue with the logic for how the Bedroll appeared in the Radial. The Bearskin Bedroll and Improved Down Bedroll will now appear in the Radial Menu, provided they are the warmest Bedroll option available.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where a lit Match would remain lit after passing through a waterfall.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Mementos to vanish if they were spawned in a car visor, and the player reloaded the environment (either through loading a save file, or transitioning to another area.) If the note was already lost in your current save, you may need to reload again or transition in and out of the current Region.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where there could be a mismatch between the weight of some Dishes depending on where you viewed them (ex. Backpack vs. Recipes).
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Rose Hip Pies to affect Thirst.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed a stacking Broth increase error due to a bad calculation based on increased Cooking skill.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Ptarmigan to become stuck, if killed in mid-flight.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue with item spawning near areas bordering open Ocean (including Bleak Inlet, Desolation Point, etc.), where some items (such as Sticks and Coal) would appear less often than intended.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed a rare issue that prevented new cooking items and Recipe Cards from spawning.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that prevented the Ptarmigan from spawning in Custom Game modes.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.19 (117518) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam.

GENERAL

• General - Fixed an issue that caused the game to become stuck on a black screen when launched while Steam was in "Offline Mode."
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused the Stamina Bar to appear persistently on the HUD.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused items to stack incorrectly, resulting in all items reflecting the Condition of the base stack regardless of the condition of each item.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that prevented players from placing food items from the Radial Menu.
  
• UI - Added a message on the HUD to indicate when a player attempts to harvest a ravaged Carcass.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue where, when accessing the Menu while using a controller, the Sort icon overlapped with other Menu items.
  
• UI - Added text for the "Ptarmigan Carcass" and "Ptarmigan Nest" in the Map Details.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused Improvised Insulation to use the wrong icon in the Crafting menu.
  
• UI - Fixed missing UI elements when selecting the Tip-Up from the Ice Fishing Menu.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue where some players could not Exit or Select items from the Tales Journal Tab when using a controller.
  
• UI - Fixed overlapping text when crafting the Improvised Bed Roll.
  
• Environment - Airfield - Fixed an issue where the Forge was missing from the Airfield Hangar Basement.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where animals appeared to switch back and forth between living and dead states after being killed.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that allowed players to craft Tip Ups under Wolf corpses.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where the weight of a stack of items was incorrectly based on a single item's weight, and not the combined weight of the items.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Stamina to decrease at an accelerated rate when climbing a rope.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that prevented players from catching Fish while utilizing any Lure.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused players to receive the error message Failed to Restore the game from a previous Save when trying to exit an interior to any Region, preventing the player from exiting.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused meat to revert to an uncooked state when dragged from a Cooking Slot to the ground.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Baked Potatoes to float when placed.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Cooked Potatoes to revert to raw if the player transitioned to a new area.
  
• Gameplay - Decreased the decay time for Cooking Oil, Salt, and Flour.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where the Canned Corn was not being lit correctly by light sources when placed.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.18 (117282) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, on Steam. This addresses one Linux-specific issue.

PLATFORM-SPECIFIC ISSUE

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.17 (117074) update for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition), TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, and WINTERMUTE on Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox, and PlayStation. (Please note that it can take time for the update to appear on all platforms.)

This update includes the latest Expansion Pass update TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Three: FRONTIER COMFORTS, along with a free update available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION, and various bug fixes and quality of life improvements.

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Three: FRONTIER COMFORTS

Note: For a description of the new features and content in Part Three, plus the latest Update Video, please click HERE.

• Frontier Cooking System: A completely new cooking system that allows the combination of ingredients using Recipes. As part of the new system weve included seven new Ingredients, a selection of 15 simple Recipes, and an additional nine Unique Recipes that offer special gameplay benefits.
  
• Skillet: A useful cooking tool to help you prepare some of the new Frontier Cooking recipes.
  
• Ptarmigan: Perfect for hunting quietly with Stones or Fire-Hardened Arrows, Ptarmigans are a source of meat, and also provide Down used in crafting the new Improvised Down Bedroll, and the Improvised Insulation Accessory.
  
• Hunter's Revolver: A new, vintage-style Revolver that is more deadly at long range.
  
• Forester's Revolver: An older, reliable, durable weapon.
  
• Warden's Revolver: A lightweight Revolver with a shorter barrel for faster aiming.
  
• Sport Bow: A light and durable manufactured Bow.
  
• Miners Flashlight: Equipped with a larger, more efficient battery.
  

• The updated Enhanced Fishing system includes:
  
• Free-Form Ice Fishing Holes: Allows you to set up your own fishing locations in regions that have sufficiently deep bodies of water.
  
• Tip-Ups: Place a new Tip-Up over any ice fishing hole and it will automatically catch a fish for you.
  
• Fishing Lures: New Fishing Lures help with catching Fish, and also increase your chances of catching the new Rare fish.
  
• Bait: You can now harvest Bait from raw fish to increase your chances of catching fish either when using the Tip-Up or conventional fishing.
  
• Rare Fish: The Burbot, Goldeye, Red Irish Lord, and Rockfish.
  
• Burdock: Burdock is a new harvestable plant. Eat them raw, cook them as part of a recipe, or make a warming tea that will help combat food poisoning.
  

• Xbox Series X/S - Targeting 30FPS at 4K. Targeting 60FPS at 1440p.
  
• Xbox One X - Targeting 30FPS at 4K. Targeting 60FPS at 1440p.
  
• Playstation 5 - Targeting 30FPS at 1680p. Targeting 60FPS at 1680p.
  
• Playstation 4 Pro - Targeting 30FPS at 1680p. Targeting 60FPS at 1680p.
  

• Steam - Fixed an issue where players received errors reading "failed to load HinterlandOptionalContent.Steam" on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
  
• General - Fixed an issue where sleeping in a Helicopter without a Bedroll would result in a crash.
  
• General - Fixed an issue where audio would not play the first time Harvesting something (Rosehips, etc) after entering a scene.
  
• General - Fixed an issue that would cause the game to crash for some players, when applying a bandage.
  
• General - Fixed an issue that would cause the Mountain Town Transmitter to report the incorrect GUID information, which could result in a crash.
  
• General - Main Menu - Fixed a potential crash if a player entered into gameplay while the News menu was still waiting for a response from the server.
  
• General - Fixed an erroneous error message that could appear in the players log file, eventually leading to performance issues.
  
• General - Fixed a very rare crash that could occur if the player invoked a menu, such as the Inventory or death screen, while also pressing a button for another input, such as walking or interacting with something.
  

• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where a Carcass could become non-interactable if left in the world for an extended period of time.
  
• Gameplay - The Bow will now switch to Fire-Hardened Arrows automatically, if they are the only arrows left in the players Inventory.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused the Energy Drink to give the incorrect duration for the associated Headache affliction.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where Bedrolls slept or rested in could be destroyed in a struggle, even when not in a players inventory.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that prevented Bedrolls from showing their damage state when placed on the ground.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where renewable items (Sticks, Stones, Coal, etc.) were sometimes more plentiful than intended.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that could cause corrupted save data, if the player quickly equipped the Shortwave Radio, put it away, then quickly exited the game.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that would cause fully cooked, or partially cooked food items to revert to a raw state, if dragged off the cooking surface and dropped onto a new one.
  
• Gameplay - Interloper - Spelunker's Lantern variant is now available in Interloper.
  

• UI - Map - Fixed an issue that caused Rock Cache Map markers to appear in the wrong location, or not on the Map at all.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused the Headache Affliction meter to show a maximum of 1 hour, regardless of the actual Affliction length.
  
• UI - Campcraft Radial Menu - Added the Fishing Hole to the Camp Radial Menu slot and temporarily removed the Bearskin Bedroll.
  
• UI - Journal - Added the Challenge Objective tab that was missing from the Journal while playing a Challenge.
  

• Environment - Blackrock Prison - Fixed an issue that made it so players could not interact with a Battery inside one of the Trucks.
  
• Environment - Timber Wolf Mountain - Fixed an issue that would cause the door to the Mountaineers Hut to open on the wrong side, preventing the player from closing it.
  
• Environment - Pleasant Valley - Fixed an issue that would cause Recycled Cans to appear tiny, if placed next to the Rim Grill, found near the Pleasant Valley Farmhouse.
  
• Environment - Pleasant Valley - Updated one of the Interloper start positions to be further away from a Prepper Cache.
  

• Audio - Adjusted audio for the Lit Flare and Marine Flare so it emits properly from the Flares location.
  

• Xbox/PS4 - Fixed an issue that would cause the game to crash on Xbox One and PlayStation, when performing an action.
  
• PS4 - Fixed a potential crash that could occur if the player was sleeping during an active Aurora.
  
• PS4 - Fixed a crash that could occur while exiting back to the Main Menu.
  
• PS4 - Fixed a crash that could occur while scrolling through the Inventory.
  
• PS4 - Fixed an issue with the timing of the subtitles, if played on a PS5 or a framerate other than 30 FPS.
  

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Three: FRONTIER COMFORTS is available NOW on Steam! (Please note that it can take time for the update to appear on all platforms.)

The latest Expansion Pass update introduces major new features and content, including great new ingredients and recipes with Frontier Cooking, the Ptarmigan, and exciting new Tool Variants to help you survive the wild reaches of the Far Territory.

For more information on Frontier Cooking and all of the great new content available in Part Three: FRONTIER COMFORTS, watch our new update video below:

[previewyoutube=DtoCp_g5qeM;full][/previewyoutube]

Part Three: FRONTIER COMFORTS Expansion Pass Content

• Frontier Cooking: Weve added seven new Ingredients to the game including Potatoes, Flour, Salt, Broth, Carrots, and more and a Recipe system that lets you combine ingredients in order to create a whole range of cozy Frontier Dishes, like Rabbit Stew, Acorn Pancakes, and Peach Pies. You can find Recipes scattered around Great Bear Island, starting with a selection of six simple Recipes (increasing to 15 as your skill improves), and an additional nine Unique Recipes.
  
• Skillet: We also added a Skillet to the game to help you create some of the new Frontier Cooking recipes.
  
• Ptarmigan: Youll find Ptarmigans in small groupings on the ground, perfect for hunting quietly with stones and Fire-Hardened Arrows. Ptarmigans are a source of meat, and youll also be able to collect their Down which will allow you to craft a couple of new items an Improvised Down Bedroll and an Improvised Insulation, which adds an extra layer of warmth.
  
• Hunter's Revolver: A new, vintage-style Revolver that is more deadly at long range.
  
• Forester's Revolver: An older, reliable, durable weapon.
  
• Warden's Revolver: A lightweight Revolver with a shorter barrel for faster aiming.
  
• Sport Bow: A light and durable manufactured Bow.
  
• Miners Flashlight: Equipped with a larger, more efficient battery.
  

• Ice Fishing Holes: You can now set up your own fishing locations in regions that have bodies of sufficiently deep water.
  
• Tip-Ups: You can place a new Tip-Up over any ice fishing hole and it will catch a fish for you (unless the line breaks, you get unlucky, or have left it out too long and it becomes ruined).
  
• Fishing Lures: Weve added new Fishing Lures to improve your chances of catching a Rare Fish, and you can also harvest raw fish to create Bait. These two items can be added to Tip-Ups or regular fishing lines to increase your chance to catch fish and encourage larger fish to bite.
  
• Rare Fish: This update includes four new Rare Fish, including the Burbot, Goldeye, Red Irish Lord, and Rockfish.
  
• Burdock: Weve also added Burdock, a new harvestable plant. Look out for their distinctive stalks and use an appropriate tool to dig their roots out from the ground. With a small amount of preparation, you can eat them raw, cook them as part of a recipe, or make a warming tea that will help combat food poisoning.
  

• Xbox Series X/S - Targeting 30FPS at 4K. Targeting 60FPS at 1440p.
  
• Xbox One X - Targeting 30FPS at 4K. Targeting 60FPS at 1440p.
  
• Playstation 5 - Targeting 30FPS at 1680p. Targeting 60FPS at 1680p.
  
• Playstation 4 Pro - Targeting 30FPS at 1680p. Targeting 60FPS at 1680p.
  

Hello Survivors!


We wanted to update you all and let you know that TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Three is getting close to launch. We are in our final stages of testing, tuning and bug fixing, so expect a launch toward the end of June.

Below, youll find more information about what content will be in Part Three of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, along with what to look forward to in the base Survival Modes free June Update.


TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY


Frontier Cooking



One of the big additions in Part Three is a new feature called Frontier Cooking. Weve added seven new ingredients to the game, and now with Recipes you can cook more complicated foods that involve multiple ingredients -- things like Rabbit Stew, Fish Pies, and so on. The Frontier Cooking system is launching with 15 Recipes, as well as 9 Unique recipes that can be found in the world. Were also adding a Skillet to enable new cooking options, and completely overhauled the Cooking user interface.


All of these new items will appear in existing TALES save games, and we have also done a careful pass over the placement and frequency of new food items to ensure game balance is preserved for Interloper players.

Good luck, Survivors!


Ptarmigan



The little Ptarmigan is the new wildlife weve added in Part Three. They can be found in most regions, but prefer more remote, higher ground. You can, of course, hunt them for meat, but youll also be able to collect their down, which you can utilize in a couple of new crafting recipes.


Tool Variants



Weve also added three new Revolver variants, another Bow variant, and an alternate Flashlight. Each of these items has a unique look and some stat differences from their basic counterparts.

All of these items, and the ones relating to cooking, will all be available in new or existing save games.


FREE UPDATE

For our base game Survival Update, weve added and updated a few elements.

We've overhauled the Fishing system to provide more freedom around where you can fish, as well as adding some new species and giving you some new tools for catching and maintaining your fishing options. This is the first major overhaul of the Fishing system since we added it years ago, and it's one of the systems the community has been asking us to revise for a while, so we're excited to see what you think of the changes that are coming.



And finally, as you explore the regions, youll come across a new type of harvestable plant Burdock. Youll need a tool to dig its root out, but the root can then be eaten raw or cooked up into a recipe for calories, or made into a warming tea.


Thats it for now, Survivors. We will share the full update list containing details on new Paid and Free content, along with any game improvements and bug fixes, in the release notes when we launch TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Three.

For all other technical issues, please reach out via our Support Portal.

Thank you for reading, and good luck exploring the new content when it launches later this month!

Hello everyone.

Were nearing the mid-way point of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, our paid expansion pass campaign for Survival Mode, and this seems like a good time to talk about how things have gone so far.

In my opinion, they havent gone that well.

Certainly not how we want them to go. Certainly not how *I* want them to go.

When we originally discussed the idea of doing an expansion pass for THE LONG DARK, we did so recognizing that in the years weve been working on getting the WINTERMUTE Episodes out, wed naturally had less time to focus on Survival. We wanted to give Survival some love, but also wanted to see if we could do so in a more financially sustainable way, that might set a path for the future.

You see, Hinterland is an independent studio, and THE LONG DARK is a self-funded, self-published project. This means we get to keep our revenue and dont have to share it with a publisher, and we can work without external interference. But it also means that we carry all the cost and risk for the project ourselves.

This is how we like it, and our independence is paramount to who we are and what we make. But for a large and complex game like THE LONG DARK, one weve been updating for years without asking for any more money from our players, we wanted to experiment with the idea of creating a new revenue stream that would help us continue updating the game well into the future, in a financially sustainable fashion.

To a large degree, the ongoing financial health of THE LONG DARK, which weve built an entire company around, also determines what we can make in the future. So while this is a passionate endeavour for us, its also a business, and were focused on running it ethically and sustainably, and taking good care of our people. That means finding the right way to generate revenue from it, one that is fair to our players that doesnt burn out the team. We believed TALES would be one way to do that.

Because we knew that charging for updates would come with greater expectations than when people were getting them for free, we wanted to provide some assurances of what you would get, and when, so that we werent just saying, hey, heres a thing, give us some money even though most of it isnt made yet. Thats maybe fine for Early Access, but we graduated from Early Access in 2017, and we felt that we needed to do better for this.
And in wanting that, I made some decisions that led us to the present challenges around the Expansion:

• We committed to a specific roadmap of features and content, which we knew wed have to produce to a quality level exceeding what wed included in the game as free updates over the years.
  
• We committed to a specific number of Parts that wed release as part of the Expansion Pass campaign.
  
• We committed to a specific cadence; wed aim to release a Part every 8-10 weeks, to try to recapture that buzzy feeling from the Early Access days, and see if we could boost player engagement with more frequent updates.
  
• We committed to a specific timeline; wed release all six Parts in a year.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.16 (113628) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam and Epic Games Store. Please note that WINTERMUTEs version number has not changed. This Hotfix addresses a bug introduced in the v.2.15 update for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

GENERAL

• [TALES] Fixed an issue where Transmitters in Forlorn Muskeg and Pleasant Valley reverted to being unrepaired, even when players had previously repaired them during the Tale. Players who previously lost progress will once again find their Transmitters in the appropriate repaired state.
  

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.15 (113209) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. Please note that WINTERMUTEs version number has not changed. This hotfix addresses TALES items not spawning in Interloper mode, including the Handheld Shortwave. Details on these changes can be found in our latest Dev Diary found here.

GENERAL

[SURVIVAL] Enables TALES content in Interloper.
[SURVIVAL] Using the Handheld Shortwave Interloper players are now able to locate Trackable Hidden Caches, which will provide loot that is also balanced for Interloper.
[SURVIVAL] Players are now able to find the Handheld Shortwave at the Airfields Control Tower and start the Signal Void Tale, while playing in Interloper.

• TALES will be accessible via your existing save and do not need to start a new Survival save in order to get these changes
  
• The bunkers discovered in Signal Void have been adjusted to provide less loot on Interloper
  
• A few extra Transmitter repair supplies will be newly available in Interloper to ensure the initial repairs are possible (applies to both existing saves or new)
  

Hello Survivors!

Now that TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is available on Steam, Epic Game Store, Xbox, and PlayStation, we wanted to provide a quick update about some upcoming changes, and bug fixes we are currently working on.


Adding Interloper to TALES

Its been a couple of weeks since we released TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: SIGNAL VOID, which included the introduction of the first Tale. We have been reviewing feedback, and we appreciate the time many of you took to file tickets via our Support Portal. While we are working to resolve some high-priority bugs following the release (more on that later), we also wanted to acknowledge the feedback from many Interloper players in our community, and how we plan to address Tales moving forward.

By introducing the idea of Tales to Survival Mode, we wanted to give our Survival Mode players more reasons to explore and more objectives to follow, while still weaving in some compelling narrative elements. When tuning for the Interloper experience mode, we are always especially careful not to upset the balance of the game, and so we tend to approach changes to Interloper with caution and thoughtfulness. Interloper is a very stripped-down experience; many gear items are either excluded entirely or heavily restricted, containers are mostly empty, and the general tuning settings are designed to be punishing. The addition of new locations, new gear items, places you can scavenge more loot, and resources run the risk of upsetting that survival on a knifes edge feel, so anything we add into this experience mode does require an extra layer of consideration. When designing both the transponder systems that would enable the new Supply Caches to be found, and also considering the significant amount of effort that would go into completing the Signal Void Tale, we strongly felt that these systems would not work well in Interloper, and in particular we felt the Tale would be extremely difficult with almost no pay-off (necessary to preserve the Interloper balance), which would simply be frustrating.

After hearing from many of you in our player community who very strongly align yourselves with the Interloper mode (to the point that you dont play any other modes in the game), we understood that you didnt really mind if the experience would be a massive struggle with little reward. You just wanted that option.

So, after careful consideration, we have decided to introduce the Signal Void Tale to Interloper, with some modifications designed to preserve game balance for that specific Experience Mode:

• Bunkers will be adjusted to provide less loot on Interloper.
  
• The final Bunker will still contain a couple of rare items, but adjusted for Interloper.
  

• Xbox One X Up to 60 FPS at 1080p
  
• Xbox Series S Up to 60 FPS at 1080p
  
• Xbox Series X Up to 60 FPS at 1080p
  
• PlayStation 4 Pro Up to 45 FPS at 900p (using dynamic resolution scaling)
  
• PlayStation 5 Up to 60 FPS at 1080p
  

Hello Community,

We just released our v2.12 (112469) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam. Please note that WINTERMUTEs version number has not changed. This hotfix addresses a critical issue following our most recent v2.10 release.

PC/Mac

• [TALES] Fixed an issue in the Tale in Part Two: SIGNAL VOID, where, if already holding an item in their hand, players could get stuck and fail to progress after picking up the Memo and Handheld Shortwave.
  

Hello Survivors,

Today, we launched TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY Part Two: Signal Void.

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY features the first paid content for THE LONG DARK, significantly adding to the world of Great Bear Island and the game's core Survival foundation. New Parts will be added regularly over the course of the 12-month Expansion Pass campaign, featuring new Regions, new Gameplay, and new objective-based Tales.

Each Part of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY includes content that is exclusive to the Paid stream, plus free updates to Survival Mode.


PART TWO: SIGNAL VOID

• The first Tale, SIGNAL VOID: Requires an estimated 5+ hours to complete
  
• Handheld Shortwave Radio: For use with Transponder Cache Gameplay
  
• Transponder Cache Gameplay: Including the Handheld Shortwave, Transmitter sites, and trackable hidden Supply Caches
  
• New Bunkers: Discovered as part of the Tale
  
• Four new clothing items: The Hockey Jersey, Flight Jacket, Aviator Cap, and Technical Balaclava
  
• New Surprise Accessory item: Only found as part of the Tale check out the update video to find out more!
  

• Fire-Hardened Arrows: Good for hunting small game
  
• Enhanced Prepper Bunkers: Including visual updates, loot updates, and a spawn refresh. Prepper Bunkers are now spread out over more regions and there are more hatches than before, however only 3 are fully-stocked.
  
• Enhanced Beachcombing: Watch for new loot and larger items after Blizzards
  
• Acorns & more Oak Trees: Prepare and eat Acorns, or use them to make delicious Acorn Coffee
  

• UI - Added a unique Icon for Cured/Dried Guts.
  
• UI - Updated the Insomnia affliction tooltip to reflect proper duration.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue where Accessibility Options and Keyboard Bindings would reset after updating the game to a new version.
  
• UI - Fixed an instance of debug text that would appear on the Map screen, after finding a Visor Note.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that prevented players from setting a custom Display Number in the Settings Menu, locking the game to the Primary Monitor.
  
• UI - Added the correct Sawing text that displays when using the Hacksaw.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused the wrong audio to play when pressing the 'X' button on a Controller in the Crafting Menu.
  
• UI - Fixed an issue that caused the "Back to Home" button to disappear when using a controller.
  
• UI - Reviewed and adjusted translated text for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY as needed.
  

• Audio - Fixed an issue where wind sound effects would not play correctly when loading from a Save file.
  
• Audio - Fixed an issue where wind was not being occluded while indoors, making it sound like the player was still outside.
  
• Audio - Fixed an issue that would cause the wrong footstep sounds to play when walking on carpets.
  
• Environment - Fixed terrian that could not be crossed near the Brittle Cave in the Forsaken Airfield.
  
• Environment - Fixed floating items found inside Mystery Lake Trailers near the Carter Hydro Dam.
  
• Environment - Fixed graphical texture issues found throughout Forsaken Airfield.
  
• Environment - Fixed an invisible corpse found in the Carter Hydro Dam.
  
• Environment - Fixed loot placement in one of the caves in Broken Railroad.
  
• Environment - Fixed various floating objects found in the Forsaken Airfield.
  
• Environment - Fixed visible texture seams found on some of the distant mountains in Broken Railroad.
  
• Environment - Fixed an issue that would cause the Security Hut to become invisible at certain distances.
  
• Environment - Fixed a light source in the Farm House in Pleasant Valley.
  
• Environment - Fixed an issue that caused the Water Tower to pop-in unexpectedly in Mountain Town at certain distances.
  
• Environment - Removed numerous locations where the player could become trapped in the environment throughout Forsaken Airfield.
  
• Environment - Fixed low resolution textures found on the Safe in the Hydro Dam.
  

• Gameplay - Updated Memento Cache Interloper Spawn Table, and fixed an issue with some Keys spawning for disabled Memento Caches. Please note that players might not see the fix in an existing save if they have already visited that location.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Cat Tails to have the incorrect weight, after being partially eaten.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that would cause the player to teleport to a pre-placed Snow Shelter, if they saved and reloaded, while in a different Snow Shelter.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that prevented the player from breaking down the Scrub Brush found in the Broken Railroad region.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that could cause the player to shift vertically, if they saved the game while crouching.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where spray-painted Markers would not appear correctly when applied to some trees.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused cured Pelts to float above the ground.
  
• Gameplay - Updated the Deer Pelt icon to better match the in-game item.
  

• The Hunted Part Two - Fixed an issue that caused the Old Bear to leave inconsistent blood trails.
  
• The Hunted Part Two - Fixed an issue that caused the Hunted Part Two's journal text to disappear after reloading.
  
• The Hunted Part Two - Fixed missing Rifle Ammo in the Camp Office.
  
• Darkwalker - Fixed an issue that caused erroneous text to appear when completing the Darkwalker Challenge.
  

• Episode 3 - Fixed an issue that allowed Players to inadvertently skip a cinematic during their first time watching it.
  
• Episode 4 - Fixed issue that caused sound effects to be cut off after the end of a cinematic.
  
• WINTERMUTE - Added missing Crafting icons.
  

• Mac - Fixed an issue that prevented players from taking a screenshot using the F8 hotkey.
  
• Mac - Fixed an issue that caused the Press any button and Loading text on load screens to appear very small on retina displays or other high-resolution monitors.
  

Survivors, get ready for a whole new Survival experience. TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: SIGNAL VOID is available NOW!

The latest Expansion Pass update introduces the first Tale, SIGNAL VOID. Explore a narrative-driven challenge that delves into the territory's mysterious past, featuring gameplay objectives that reveal the history of Great Bear Island.

For more information on the first Tale, and a look at the great new content available in Part Two: SIGNAL VOID, check out our new update video below:

[previewyoutube=AV0rCaNjyQs;full][/previewyoutube]

Part Two: SIGNAL VOID Expansion Pass Content

• The first Tale: SIGNAL VOID (requires an estimated 5+ hours to complete)
  
• Handheld Shortwave Radio: For use with Transponder Cache Gameplay
  
• Transponder Cache Gameplay: Including the Handheld Shortwave, Transmitter sites, and trackable hidden Supply Caches
  
• New Bunkers: Discovered as part of the Tale
  
• Four new clothing items: The Hockey Jersey, Flight Jacket, Aviator Cap, and Technical Balaclava
  
• New Surprise Accessory item: Only found as part of the Tale check out the update video to find out more!
  

• Fire-Hardened Arrows: Good for hunting small game
  
• Enhanced Prepper Bunkers, including visual updates, loot updates, and a spawn refresh
  
• Enhanced Beachcombing: Watch for new loot and larger items after storms
  
• Acorns & more Oak Trees: Prepare and eat Acorns, or use them to make delicious Acorn Coffee
  

THE LONG DARK - QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATE 2.08

Hello Community,

We just released a v2.08 Quality of Life Hotfix for THE LONG DARK on PC and Mac, including Survival Edition. This update includes bug fixes, along with game and performance improvements.

CL Versions Displayed In-Game:
You can confirm that you have the latest update by checking the CL number displayed in the top left corner of your Home Screen in-game. Please note that this release does not contain an update to WINTERMUTE.

Steam:

• Windows - Survival Mode / TALES - 111676
  
• Linux - Survival Mode / TALES - 111676
  
• Mac - Survival Mode / TALES - 111676
  

• Windows - Survival Mode / TALES - 111676
  
• Mac - Survival Mode / TALES - 111676
  

• UI - Added missing stats to the Journal screen for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY content.
  
• UI - Fixed the action text that appears when opening a container with the Hack Saw. Sawing will now appear instead of Searching.
  
• UI - Completed a general polish pass on UI items.
  

• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where unexpected items were spawning in Interloper games.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused players to wake up from Insomnia less often than intended.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue that caused Distress Pistol Containers to lose their contents if the player transitioned through a load screen.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where some randomly spawned corpses were invisible.
  
• Gameplay - Fixed an issue where players using a Controller could not add fuel to a Fire.
  

• Airfield - Updated the route travelled by Bears in the Forsaken Airfield Region to help avoid areas where they could become stuck, including rocks in the middle of the river.
  
• Airfield - Fixed an issue where Glimmer Fog would not activate if the player was inside an interior while in the Forsaken Airfield.
  

• General - Fixed an issue that caused WINTERMUTE to ignore Launch Options set in the Steam client, such as video mode and resolution overrides.
  
• Audio - Fixed an issue that caused waterfall sounds to play at unintended locations.
  

Hello Survivors!

We wanted to update you on a few things as we get close to the launch of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: SIGNAL VOID. Below, you will find more details about the new content that will be available as part of the Expansion Pass, along with some helpful information to help you get the most out of your adventures in the Far Territory.

Introducing the First Tale: SIGNAL VOID



The paid content for this part of the Expansion Pass focuses on the addition of our first Tale. We created Tales to give our Survival Mode players more reasons to explore and more objectives to follow, while weaving in some compelling narrative elements. The result is new gameplay that feels something like one of our Challenge Modes. Youll also encounter interesting new locations as you progress, which are exclusive to the Tale.

Our first Tale, SIGNAL VOID, utilizes our new Transponder gameplay, comprised of a series of Transmitter sites scattered across Great Bear and the new Handheld Shortwave. Once a Transmitter is active, the Handheld Shortwave will be able to pick up mysterious signals in that area, leading to hidden caches, crash sites, and other locations that relate to the Tale. All in all it gives you even more to do during an Aurora, which is a fun time to explore the world albeit potentially risky!


Transmitter Repair

Weve also added three new clothing items a Hockey Jersey, a leather Flight Jacket, and a matching Aviator Hat. Youll find them scattered around Great Bear, so you will find them as you explore locations and search containers.

In addition, weve added a few new surprise items that are exclusive to the use of the Handheld Shortwave, one of which is only revealed at the final step in the Tale.

Free March Update

In Survival Edition, youll be happy to hear we have re-enabled the hidden Prepper Bunkers. We have made some significant updates to them, both visually and in the way they spawn into the world. You will now find Prepper Bunkers in nine locations across Lower Great Bear (in appropriately remote spots, of course). However, you wont know until you begin exploring whether the Prepper Bunker is fully-equipped or almost entirely empty. There will only be three fully-equipped Prepper Bunkers across a single game, the location in which they spawn will change with every new game. Each full Bunker you find will also have a unique feel, and the loot inside is themed to reflect that.

Beachcombing has had an update as well. We've added new items that may appear, and tied the respawning of those potential items to Blizzards, so with every big storm there's a reason to revisit the coastline.



Fishing Boat - Enhanced Beachcombing

We introduced Oak Trees into the new regions, and youll find them all over Great Bear. You can also search for Acorns underneath, which after some prep work can be eaten or ground up and used to make some delicious Acorn coffee.

Finally, weve added the ability to craft Fire-Hardened Arrows, so if you happen across a bow early in your playthrough and want to make some Arrows that don't require you to head to the nearest Forge, then you may find these useful. Theyre effective for hunting smaller game like Rabbits, and might scare off a Wolf, but they won't actually damage anything big.

Reminder: Save Compatibility

Note: This section is most applicable to players on Xbox and PlayStation. If you previously downloaded the Expansion Pass or the free December update on PC or Mac, you will not lose your save progress with this update, and you will not need to start a new Survival run to access the new content.

As previously mentioned, we made some necessary changes to help future-proof the save system in THE LONG DARK, and to enable you to receive improvements to the game moving forward. As a result, current Survival Mode saves will not work with the game once you download the update for Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is true even if you do not purchase the Expansion Pass, however, this change will not impact Feats, Feats progress, Achievements, or WINTERMUTE saves.
Since Part One and Part Two are coming to Xbox and PlayStation on March 30th, you have just over a week to wrap up your Survival saves and prepare for your next big adventure on Great Bear Island!

Store Changes
With this next update, we are also separating Survival Mode and WINTERMUTE on Xbox and PlayStation. If you already own THE LONG DARK, you will not need to re-purchase WINTERMUTE or Survival Edition, and you will still get all five WINTERMUTE Episodes, including Episode Five when it unlocks.

For anyone who doesnt currently own the game, SURVIVAL EDITION will be available as a standalone purchase in the coming weeks, with the option to buy WINTERMUTE or the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY Expansion Pass as DLC. This offers a number of good options for new players to come in at different price points, while also offering greater flexibility for updating the game.

At launch, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY will retail on Xbox and PlayStation for $19.99 USD, with a 15% discount for the first week after launch. While we endeavour to keep pricing as consistent as possible, please note that prices are subject to regional store adjustments.

For more information on why we split Survival and Story Mode, please visit this post.

Thank You

Thats it for now, Survivors. We will share the full update list containing details on new paid and free content, along with any game improvements and bug fixes, in the release notes when TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY Part Two launches. We will also share more information on the Expansion Pass launch on Nintendo Switch in the near future. For all other technical issues, please reach out via our Support Portal.

Thank you for reading, and good luck exploring the new content in TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY when it launches on PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation on March 30th!

Hello Community,

We just released our v2.07 Quality of Life Update for THE LONG DARK, including Survival Edition. This update includes some significant bug fixes, along with game and performance improvements.

CL Versions Displayed In-Game:
You can confirm that you have the latest update by checking the CL number displayed in the top left corner of your Home Screen in-game.

Steam:

• Windows - Survival Mode / TALES - 111199
  
• Windows - WINTERMUTE - 111213
  
• Linux - Survival Mode / TALES - 111199
  
• Linux - WINTERMUTE - 111213
  
• Mac - Survival Mode / TALES - 111371
  
• Mac - WINTERMUTE - 111213
  

• UI - Fixed an issue that caused the game to crash with the error message failure to apply graphics settings when a previously available display was no longer valid.
  

• Episode Four - Lost Power Workers: Fixed an issue that caused the game to hang if the player entered the Trailer in Blackrock when looking for the second Lost Power Worker.
  

• General - Fixed a hang when launching the game on Windows 10. Please note that some players will still experience a hang when launching the game using Windows 7, however, we continue to work toward a resolution.
  

• General - Fixed an issue on OS 10.14 that would prevent players from being able to launch the game.
  
• General - Fixed an issue preventing players from accessing WINTERMUTE and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC on OS 10.14 and older.
  

Get ready, Survivors! TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: Signal Void is coming to Steam on March 30th. The latest update features fantastic new content and gameplay for anyone who owns the Expansion Pass, including a new Tale, new Bunkers, new Clothing items, and more. (To learn more about what is included in Part Two, please visit our latest Dev Diary.)

If you dont own TALES, or if you want to gift the game to a friend, now is a great time to start exploring the Far Territory. The Steam Spring Sale is on now, offering great discounts on THE LONG DARK, including:

• THE LONG DARK (including both Survival Edition and WINTERMUTE) at 50% off
  
• SURVIVAL EDITION at 33% off
  
• WINTERMUTE at 25% off
  
• TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY at 15% off
  

Survivors, we have released the v2.06 update (Survival Edition/TALES 108190, WINTERMUTE 108187) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is now available on Mac! Thank you for your support, and we hope you enjoy exploring the wild reaches of the Far Territory.

Along with this update, we have also released the following Mac bug fixes and improvements to address issues in THE LONG DARK:


GENERAL FIXES / IMPROVEMENTS

• Added Mac M1 and Apple Silicon support.
  
• The game now defaults to using the Apple Metal rendering system.
  
• Fixed numerous graphical errors, particularly on legacy systems (OSX 10.14 or earlier) running OpenGL.
  
• Ensured continued support of OpenGL for users on OSX 10.14, or earlier. To run the game using OpenGL, please follow the instructions below.
  

• In Steam, go to your Library
  
• Right Click on the game title
  
• Select Properties
  
• Click Set Launch Options...
  
• Paste the following line into the provided text box
  
• -force-glcore
  
• Click OK, then Close.
  

Hello Survivors,

We have a few updates about the development progress around TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass for Survival Mode, which we launched on Steam (Windows-only) on December 5th.


TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Mac Version

Were happy to announce that we were able to fix the issues that prevented the Mac build of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY from working. The Test Team is finalizing the build and it is due for release on Wednesday, February 15th on Steam and the Epic Game Store. This will bring the Mac version to parity with Windows.


TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part One: Xbox and PlayStation Versions

The team is working hard on finalizing and testing these versions. Weve encountered a few hiccups with the respective store setups, but we have found some workarounds. The current target date for Xbox and PlayStation releases of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is Wednesday, March 15th. This will bring Steam, Epic Game store, Xbox, and PlayStation versions to parity. Please keep in mind, Xbox and PlayStation will need to approve these new versions, which may affect the release date. We will provide confirmation closer to launch.

Well have more news on the Nintendo Switch version in the coming weeks.


SAVE SYSTEM OVERHAUL WITH TALES, PART ONE

As a reminder, as part of splitting the game between Story and Survival Modes, we have made some necessary changes to help future-proof the save system in THE LONG DARK, and to enable you to receive improvements to the game moving forward.

As a result, unfortunately current Survival Mode saves will not work with the game once you download the Update for Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is true even if you do not purchase the Expansion Pass.

This change will not impact Feats, Feats progress, Achievements, or WINTERMUTE saves.


TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Two: Launch Date & Features

We are currently targeting a launch for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART TWO on Thursday, March 30th. This will be for the Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Games Store versions. The work on Part Two is nearly complete, and will be entering the Testing phase soon. Please keep in mind that the release date may be impacted by development realities.



Prepper Bunker Overhaul - Available in Part Two of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY


The feature and content set for Part Two will include:

(For those who own TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY)

• Tale: Signal Void (estimated 5+ hours of play time to complete)
  
• Handheld Shortwave Radio
  
• Transponder Cache Gameplay
  
• New Bunkers
  
• Three new Clothing items
  

• Fire-Hardened Arrows
  
• Enhanced Prepper Bunkers
  
• Enhanced Beachcombing
  
• Acorns & Oak Trees
  

• A couple of issues causing an infinite loading screen or failure to progress past the disclaimer screen after launching the game.
  
• An issue in the Episode Four mission, "Lost Power Workers" that caused the game to hang when entering the trailer.
  

Survivors, thank you for your ongoing support following the release of our first Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

We have released the v2.06 (106075) Hotfix to address the issue below in THE LONG DARK.

GENERAL FIXES

• [Survival] Implemented a potential fix for a rare issue where when entering or exiting a Cave, the Player's game could restart and place them in a new location while resetting their progress. With the additional fixes, if the issue is encountered, player progress should now be maintained.
  

Survivors, thank you for your ongoing support following the release of our first Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

We have released the v2.05 (106000) Hotfix to address the issues below in THE LONG DARK.

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed an issue where loading the game in a Snow Shelter could teleport the player to an unexpected location
  
• Fixed a data migration issue that occasionally caused the game to get stuck on the loading screen for some players, and occasionally resulted in a black screen on loading. We are continuing to investigate the source of additional reports.
  
• Fixed issue where some game Settings did not save between launches
  
• Updated text and translations to properly reflect "18-36 hours" for the Insomnia Affliction duration
  
• Fixed an issue where changing the Display Number in Options would not change which monitor the game is displayed on
  
• Fixed a floating book in a Mystery Lake trailer by the Carter Dam
  
• Fixed an issue where books appeared to disappear when dropped as a stack
  

Hello Survivors,

Last week, we launched Part One of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the first paid expansion for THE LONG DARKs Survival Mode. TALES will be released as an Expansion Pass in 6 parts over the next 12 months. The full Expansion Pass roadmap is available here. We also created a Video that outlines everything that has been added in Part One.

Each Part of the Expansion will include content that is exclusive to the Paid stream, and to get that content you need to buy TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORIES.

The launch of each Part will also include Free updates to Survival Mode.


PART ONE FORSAKEN AIRFIELD

The following paid features and content were included in PART ONE of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY:

• Far Range Branch Line. This transition region connects from Broken Railroad, linking Broken Railroad to Transfer Pass.
  
• Transfer Pass. This hub region provides access to Forsaken Airfield, and the two additional new Regions arriving later in the Expansion Pass campaign.
  
• Forsaken Airfield Region. An abandoned airfield on a vast snowy plain. It includes the Hangar, Control Tower, Rangers Cabin, and other points of interest. Watch for the Aurora.
  
• Tool Variants. Vaughans Rifle, Barbs Rifle, Curators Rifle, Woodwrights Bow, Spelunkers Lantern. Modifications of the base Tools, with custom stats and cosmetics.
  
• Glimmer Fog. Beware this phenomenon. It comes during the day, and getting stuck in it for too long will trigger the new Insomnia Affliction.
  
• Insomnia Affliction. Too much time in the Glimmer Fog can affect your sleep patterns.
  

• Complete Loot & Resource refresh. All loot tables have been updated, and the location of in-world spawned objects has been refreshed. The locations and amounts of all high-value Tools and Items have also been modified. Do not expect things to appear in the same place, or quantity, as you may have experienced them before, and also know that an element of randomness to loot spawns is present in any game. Interloper balance has been preserved in the loot refresh. (Additional details below.)
  
• Starting Spawn Points refresh. When you start a new Survival game, the locations you can potentially spawn in each region have been changed. Feel lost again.
  
• Visor Notes (Mementos). Notes will occasionally spawn under car visors (and other places). Finding these will unlock the location of supply caches or other items in the world.
  
• Improvised Crampons. You can now craft your own. Be cautious, Survivors these Crampons are not quite as effective as the ones you find.
  
• Doe. Female deer have been added to the game, replacing the majority of the Stag population.
  

• The majority of container loot tables in the game have had tweaks and updates, so you will find there are new items spawning that didn't used to spawn, and some rare items are slightly rarer.
  
• Positions of placed gear items have been refreshed, so expect to find things in different places to before.
  
• Note that we do still have approximately the same amount of basic tools as before (hatchets, knives, prybars, etc), but their locations are updated.
  
• The quantities of plants is also unchanged (saplings, rosehips, reishi, etc).
  
• Weapons have had a significant rebalance rifles are much rarer so they are no longer guaranteed in every region. Revolvers are now more common, and Distress Pistols are also found in a few more places than before.
  
• As has always been the case, it is important to note that most loot placements and containers have a large degree of randomness, and this does result in a significant variance of what is a normal amount of loot and what type of loot you get. So you can just have very lucky or very unlucky runs in the game.
  
• Interloper has had its loot positions refreshed and more position randomness added to its important items (like hammers) to add less predictability.
  
• Overall, Interlopers difficulty should remain the same as before (if anything, it will be slightly harder given the increased randomness from the important item placements).
  
• On Interloper, guaranteed item spawns for items like matches have not been increased (or decreased), however, please be aware that there are random match spawns that can come from containers that might result in lucky rolls where you find more. This is not some thing that was changed for this update.
  
• If you find items that did not used to spawn an interloper in an interloper run, it is most likely a bug we especially did not intend for weapons to spawn into interloper games (a bug we addressed in one of our earlier hotfixes).
  
• We have not adjusted the weather tunings for any of the Experience modes, so temperature range (which is quite broad) and temperature drop over time remain as they were before this update.
  
• We have intentionally removed prepper hatches for now, but they will return soon.
  

• If you see a revised menu in-game when you start, and it says TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, you have added the Expansion Pass to your game.
  
• If you see the Mystery Lake Trappers Cabin menu, and it says DECEMBER UPDATE, you have the base THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION products, and you do not have the Expansion Pass.
  

• Upgraded to Unity 2021.3.6f1, fixing numerous engine-side issues.
  
• General - Updated the game to use more asset bundles, improving load times and future update size.
  
• Audio - Cleaned up various audio to improve quality and consistency.
  
• Environment - Corrected multiple locations where the player could become stuck.
  
• Environment - Fixed multiple locations where items or projectiles could fall below the ground when dropped or shot.
  
• Environment - Fixed numerous clipping or missing texture issues.
  
• Environment - Fixed multiple unreachable item placements.
  
• UI - Ensured stats tracked the correct game values on Journal and Status screens.
  
• Save File - Updated the save system to better manage the size of saves, avoiding issues where saves could grow too large for safe cloud storage or become corrupted.
  
• Custom Game Mode - Fixed an issue where players were unable to reduce Cabin Fever Risk while Endless Night was enabled.
  
• Custom Game Mode - Reviewed all Custom Game Mode tuning values to ensure they are working as designed.
  
• WINTERMUTE - Fixed sev eral issues in Wintermute missions that could cause a Players mission progress to become stuck.
  
• WINTERMUTE - Fixed an issue that would cause the Episode Progression stat for a save to display incorrectly when viewing a Load Menu.
  
• Steam Deck - Optimized general performance for Steam Deck.
  

Hello players,


TL;DR:

• Im sorry about the issues around launch.
  
• If you owned THE LONG DARK before Monday, you still own it and also own WINTERMUTE. You do not have to repurchase it.
  
• THE LONG DARK includes both Survival and Story. SURVIVAL EDITION is only Survival, and you can upgrade this by buying the WINTERMUTE episodes as DLC if you like.
  
• TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is completely optional. Both paid and free content is being released in multiple Parts over the next year.
  
• Were still fixing some bugs. If you encounter any, please report to: hinterlandgames.com/support
  

Survivors, thank you for your ongoing feedback and patience as we continue to make improvements following the release of our first Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

A more comprehensive change list is still on its way, however, we have released the v2.04 (105814) Hotfix to address an issue in THE LONG DARK.

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed issue where items appeared in the incorrect location in the Radial Menu.
  

KNOWN ISSUES - TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY

Hi, Survivors! Following the recent Expansion Pass Update, which included both paid and free content, we are now able to provide faster Hotfixes for THE LONG DARK. This is very exciting, and we want to make sure you can still find relevant info quickly and easily as we continue to work to improve your experience in the Far Territory.

Please refer back to this post for the latest information on recent Hotfixes and Known Issues. As a reminder, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY has not yet launched on consoles. For more information on when TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY will be available on your chosen platform, please visit the Expansion Pass FAQ.


RECENT HOTFIXES

Hotfix v 2.04 (10574) (Dec 7)
Today's fixes listed below are for Steam PC/Linux and Epic Games Store PC.

• Fixed objects and textures appearing at lower resolution than intended when the game detail is set to "Low." Low-resolution textures can also be manually addressed by re-applying High or Ultra visual settings, which might have been reverted in the Expansion Pass Update.
  
• Fixed an issue where TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY did not initialize correctly for some players when launching on Steam.
  
• Fixed a number of locations in the Airfield Region and Long Rail Transition where players could become stuck.
  
• Fixed an issue where items spawned unintentionally in Memento Caches on Interloper games. Items will consistently spawn correctly on new games.
  

• Epic Games Store (PC) - Fixed an issue where new rifle variants appeared lined up inside a trailer by Carter Hydro Dam in the new Updated Survival Mode.
  

• Steam (PC) - Fixed an issue where new rifle variants appeared lined up inside a trailer by Carter Hydro Dam in the new Updated Survival Mode.
  

Survivors, thank you for your patience as we navigate the release of our first Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

We can confirm that a more comprehensive change list is coming, however, we have released the v2.03 (105581) Hotfix to address a couple of key issues in the new Expansion.

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed an issue where new rifle variants appeared lined up inside a trailer by Carter Hydro Dam in the new Updated Survival Mode.
  

• Please note that if you previously purchased THE LONG DARK, you will not need to re-purchase WINTERMUTE. If WINTERMUTE is not showing up in your library on Steam, please right-click on Properties for THE LONG DARK, ensure WINTERMUTE is selected, and restart Steam.
  
• Please note that the Mac build isn't currently live for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, and Mac players should not attempt to download the update.
  
• As a reminder, your previous Survival saves WILL NOT work with the game once it has been updated. This is true even if you don't buy the Expansion Pass. You will, however, be able to continue to use your current Save Games on an older version of the game on Steam, using our Time Capsule feature. Since this is an older version, you won't have access to any of the new content or enhancements that are going into both the Base Game, and the Expansion Pass.
  

Survivors, its time to start your adventures in the Far Territory. TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is available now on Steam. Purchase and download the Expansion today and start exploring Part One: Forsaken Airfield!

Part One introduces the brand-new Airfield Region, featuring plenty of open space, a Control Tower, and new mysteries waiting to be explored. For more great details, watch the Part One Update Video below:

[previewyoutube=GHM3vOcqvT8;full][/previewyoutube]

Releasing in multiple Parts over the course of a 12-month campaign, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY includes both paid updates for those who own the Expansion Pass, and free updates for anyone who owns THE LONG DARK (or SURVIVAL EDITION). Updates are currently planned for release every 8-10 weeks.

Thank you for your ongoing support, Survivors. We are very excited to share this new adventure with you. For more information, including details on availability, pricing, and the full planned content Roadmap, please visit the official Expansion Pass website: https://www.thelongdark.com/expansion/

Survivors, we are looking forward to launching the upcoming Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. Thank you for your support, your excitement, and for adding it to your Wishlists.

Unfortunately, we have encountered an issue with the Unity engine that impacts only the Mac build of THE LONG DARK. We are working with Unity to resolve the issue, but this means that TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, and the free updates to THE LONG DARK, will not be available for Mac on December 5th.

Although we cannot provide a firm date at this time, we do not currently expect that this Unity issue will be resolved before the Holidays. Our current ETA for the Mac version is early January. We will provide an update as the situation unfolds.

We understand this is disappointing, and we will do everything we can to ensure that the update is available on Mac as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding, and thank you for your support!

Survivors, mark your calendars and get ready to expand your adventures in the Quiet Apocalypse.

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY launches on Steam on December 5th, 2022. Look ahead at fantastic upcoming content in the campaign Roadmap, and don't miss the full trailer below, featuring a glimpse at new Regions, new Gameplay, and new objective-based Tales.

[previewyoutube=xuf9HnNsNYI;full][/previewyoutube]

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is the first paid expansion pass for Survival Mode in THE LONG DARK.Releasing in multiple drops over the course of a 12-month campaign, the expansion will significantly add to the world of Great Bear Island and the games core Survival foundation.

Want to be notified at launch? Add TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY to your Steam Wishlist, and don't forget to visit the officialExpansion Passwebsite for answers to Frequently Asked Questions, updated info, and more.

It's almost here, Survivors. Don't miss your opportunity to add TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY to your Wishlist, and be the first to experience the first paid expansion pass for Survival Mode in THE LONG DARK!



Handheld Shortwave


Releasing in multiple drops over the course of a 12-month campaign, TFTFT significantly adds to the world of Great Bear Island and the games core Survival foundation, with new Regions, new Gameplay, and new objective-based Tales.

Specific additions coming in the Paid stream include:

• Three new Regions: Airfield, Mine, Mountain Pass
  
• Three new Tales: Narrative Challenges that reveal mysteries of the Far Territorys strange history.
  
• New Gameplay Systems: Electrostatic Fog, Insomnia, Handheld Shortwave, Travois, Trader, Safehouse Customization, and more!
  
• New Clothing and Food items, and Rare Tool variants.
  
• 20+ minutes of new Survival music.
  
• ...and much more.
  

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your patience as I put this dev diary together. It took a while. As youll see below, there is a lot of information to share, and we wanted to make sure we crossed all our Ts and dotted all our Is before we put it in front of you.

First thing, thoughIm excited to reveal the title and key art for the first Expansion Pass content for THE LONG DARK. We call it, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.



Plus, check out the teaser trailer below:

[previewyoutube=pc47uXSOLEY;full][/previewyoutube]

TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY is the first paid content for THE LONG DARK since we launched on Steam Early Access back in 2014. Those of you who read my dev diaries or follow me or Hinterland on Twitter know weve been considering ways to create a more long-term sustainable model for ongoing Survival Mode improvements, and in my last dev diary I hinted at the form this might take. Since sharing that info, weve had more time to refine our thinking and planning, and so today Im proud to be able to share the results.

But first -- the obligatory marketing blurb:

Deep along the spine of Great Bear tracks a steep mountain range that bisects the island.

This is the Far Range, an imposing wall of rock that stands vigilant over Great Bears priceless resource riches.

Over the decades, many have tried, few have succeeded to crack open the wealth within these rocks. And mysteries abound. Dark stories told around campfires, about abandoned mines and remote airfields that hold many secrets.

Now, with the aurora blazing across the sky, is the Far Territory ready to surrender its stories? Will you survive long enough to wrest any truths from the rocky grasp of this old, dark territory?

Makes you feel cold just reading about it.

WHAT IS THE EXPANSION PASS?

The Far Territory is our first attempt to expand the world of Great Bear Island with something entirely new. To get there, you must take a long and treacherous journey along abandoned railway lines, tunnel systems, and caverns, to get to the hub region that then connects to three other large regions. Well be revealing this new part of Great Bear Island to you over the course of the 12-month Expansion Pass campaign. Some of the things you can expect to see added in TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY include:

• Three new Regions, connected by the long travel zones and hub region. The first of these Regions, Forsaken Airfield, and the travel zones all launch with the Expansion Pass. The other two Regions will be released over the course of the 12-month campaign.
  
• Three Tales, narrative-themed Challenges that take place within your Survival game, each revealing insights into the Far Territorys mysterious history.
  
• New gameplay systems including: Transponder, Travois, Safehouse Customization, Trader, Complex Recipes for Cooking, and new Item Variants. Well share more info about each of these features on the larger Expansion Pass site well be launching closer to release.
  
• 20+ minutes of new Survival music (10+ minutes included in the first Drop).
  

• Full global loot and wildlife refresh. Weve redone all the loot tables, all the pre-placed loot, and rebalanced the loot economy across the entire game. The Resource refresh will go live for all players when the Expansion launches, and the full Wildlife refresh will come some time next year.
  
• Visor Notes. Youll be able to find notes under visors (and other locations) that point to supply caches and other useful things, hidden all over the world.
  
• New First-Person animations. Weve added a whole bunch of new animations for harvesting actions, and more.
  
• Thermos. You know to keep your drinks warm.
  
• Visual enhancements (focused on high-end systems).
  
• Burdock, a new edible plant.
  
• Improvised Crampons, so you can make them yourself. Watch those ankles!
  
• ...and a range of enhancements to existing systems.
  

• All unlocked Feats, Feats progress, and Achievements will be carried over to the Expansion Pass and updated Survival Mode. You will not lose these!
  
• All previous WINTERMUTE save files and general episode unlocks will continue to work in the updated Story Mode.
  

• Steam (paid): 4,000,000
  
• Xbox (paid): 750,000
  
• Xbox Game Pass (subscription): 2,000,000
  
• PlayStation (paid): 500,000
  
• PlayStation+ (subscription): 1,300,000
  
• Switch (paid): 68,000
  
• WeGame (paid): 125,000
  
• Epic Game Store (combo paid + give-away): 1,500,000+
  

Hello Community,

Note: We are still receiving reports that the Brightness Slider is not working on PS4/PS5. We are investigating this complex issue and will share an update as soon as one is available.

We just released our v2.01 (98664) Quality of Life Update for The Long Dark. This update includes some significant bug fixes, along with game and performance improvements. Please note that it may take time to update across all platforms.

Thank you for your patience and support. We look forward to sharing more information about future updates and other exciting news about The Long Dark in a Dev Diary toward the end of September.

Please remember to visit our Support Portal if you encounter any issues while playing the game. For additional news and information, please sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).

USER INTERFACE

• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented the Surveyed Locations from displaying the correct number of locations when viewed in the Journal.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented the Voice Audio slider from responding correctly when adjusted in Audio Options.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the subtitles to appear underneath the Radial Menu, preventing players from being able to read the subtitles.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Manage Data button (found under Privacy -> Options) to link incorrectly to Unitys Cloud Analytics.
  
• [UI] Added a check to the Fire Starting Menu to prevent players from being able to open the menu if they do not have all of the items required.
  

• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused Carcasses to decay at an accelerated rate.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that prevented players from lighting torches from a lit Stove or Rim Grill.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that allowed players to duplicate Matches by adding a stack to a container, while a Match is lit.
  

• [EP 3] Trauma: Fixed an issue that caused a corrupted save game if the game was saved immediately after the first conversation with Father Thomas.
  
• [EP 4] Donner: Fixed an issue that prevented players from progressing past the planks after the rooftop escape sequence after receiving the call from Jace and retrieving the Hard Case. This should also retroactively fix the issue for players who are currently stuck.
  
• [EP 4] Donner: Fixed the interaction tag on the Prison Gate to prevent it from sometimes appearing below the gate.
  
• [EP 4] The Detonators: Fixed an issue that would cause an item being held by the Player to be duplicated after triggering the Mine Collapse cinematic.
  

April Developer Diary -- The Future of The Long Dark

In a couple of months, itll have been ten years since I submitted the incorporation documents for Hinterland Studio Inc. and the company became a real business. I guess that milestone has me in a pretty pensive mood as I write this.

Ten years is a good amount of time for a game company to exist. I look back at photos of my basement home-office, to the various studio spaces weve grown into and then outgrown, to now looking around at my non-basement home office and big screens with 60+ people Zoom calls, and I reflect back on the journey that has gotten us to this point.

I look at the mix of faces I see looking back at me on that screen during our team Town Hall meetings. All kinds of different people with all kinds of different backgrounds. Every one of them a wonderful human being who is putting their heart and soul into Hinterland, to help create experiences for you, our players, and, in our own way, trying to shift the medium a little more towards thoughtfulness.

A ten-year anniversary seems like the right moment to talk about the future.

Whats Next for The Long Dark

For those of you who know your TLD (and Hinterland) history, you may recall we announced The Long Dark with a Kickstarter (one of the first to use CAD!) in the fall of 2013, and followed up with a Steam Early Access launch of our sandbox mode in September 2014. For the next few years, we continued to expand and evolve the sandbox portion of the game (adding Xbox via Game Preview in 2015) while we also slowly built out the first parts of WINTERMUTE, our story mode. We launched our TLD 1.0 with Episodes One and Two of WINTERMUTE in August 2017 (adding PlayStation), then re-released the Redux versions at the end of 2018, followed by Episode Three in 2019, Switch in 2020, and Episode Four in October of last year. In between, we continued to update the sandbox portion of the game, which we renamed to Survival Mode. Somehow, along the way, we managed to build a community of nearly 10-million players. Without you, The Long Dark, and Hinterland, would very likely not be here today.

When we launched our Kickstarter back in 2013, I promised that all backers would receive the five planned episodes of our story mode for the backing price, a promise we carried over to our Early Access and Game Preview backers. Meanwhile, our plan was to incrementally update the games foundational Survival Mode and align those updates (generally) with features and content we knew we wanted to include in later episodes (sometimes we did the opposite and introduced new features or content into Episodes which later found their way into Survival), and to keep players engaged in between the episodes. But this early 2013 backer promise meant that we have updated the game for free ever since we launched it, despite the fact that the games scope grew with its success and each episode represented a lot more effort and time than we had originally intended. (Keep in mind that our plan for TLD with the Kickstarter was a ~10-hour narrative-driven survival game and no freeform sandbox. Now, each of our episodes can be longer than 10 hours and the sandbox is now one of the biggest available within the entire genre of open-world games.)

Aside from the fact that its important to live up to your promises, I think this free updates paradigm has resulted in a lot of good will with you, our players, and has hopefully strengthened our relationship and your loyalty to us as a team and studio. So, were really happy about this initial promise and were happy to have been able to go above and beyond to deliver on this over the past several years.

But it hasnt been easy. One of the challenges of supporting both Survival and Story modes in The Long Dark has always been managing our resources to sustain both. Delivering WINTERMUTE was a promise, an obligation, but continuing to support Survival Mode was a choice. We did it to ensure our Survival players didnt feel neglected while we worked on the story episodes, but as a result, some of the magic that drove the early years of The Long Darks success, and the growth of the game and the community, was lost. We werent able to update Survival as frequently, as our studio focus was necessarily split between both modes, and these frequent updates were a big part of what helped the game take off.

Last year we ran a community poll, asking how you would like us to dedicate our focus for the future of The Long Dark. Amongst other bits of useful feedback, we discovered that nearly 80% of you wanted us to begin producing paid expansion content for Survival Mode. Weve always felt fortunate that theres been a core group of you that have been asking us to start charging for content for a while now, but this was the strongest indication of what our players wanted us to prioritize for The Long Dark.

Unfortunately, updating Survival mode with paid DLC is not that simple. Due to the decisions we made early in the projects inception, the games survival foundation has been inextricably linked to the story mode, and the story mode has been completely dependent on the core survival game. This has meant that over time, as the game has increased in scope and complexity, with new mechanics, new regions, new challenges, and new episodes, the game has become...unwieldy. Every update requires the entire game to be re-tested. Systems, content, and code have their roots deep into both parts of the game. Our testing times have gone from maybe a week per update (in the projects early years), to more than a month per update. The deep interrelationship between mechanics and content between the two modes has also meant some updates we would have liked to make in one area, couldnt really be done because of how they might impact the other. In short, the game has just become too big for us to maintain well.

To address this, the team has been hard at work since we launched Episode Four, to decouple Survival and Story from each other. Its been a huge amount of work, involving careful separation of content but in some cases also the wholesale refactoring of code and entire systems. The good news is that we are now at the point where Survival Mode runs as a standalone experience, with no linkage back to Story mode. What this means is that we can now update Survival independently of Story. Updating will be easier, and faster. Testing will be simpler and more streamlined. And it means we can make changes and improvements specifically for Survival, without any concern about how they might impact WINTERMUTE.

The opposite will also soon be true. The WINTERMUTE episodes will be completely separated from Survival, and when we update to Episode Five, well be able to do that without concern for how it might impact (or be impacted) by Survival. This also means that the WINTERMUTE episodes can potentially receive targeted updates without concern for how those changes might impact Survival Mode.

This process has been a ton of work for the team, and unfortunately its all behind-the-scenes work to the extent that you are probably asking yourself but how does this impact me?

Well, how it impacts you is that the split opens the door to a whole new era of Survival Mode content updates that will bring new life and new energy back into The Long Dark. It doesnt change anything about content you already own, and everyone who owns The Long Dark (on all our supported platforms) will still get Episode Five when it releases.

And this split means we can finally deliver on your request that we start producing paid content for Survival Mode. So thats what were doing.

Later this year, well be launching a paid update path for Survival Mode. This will be the first paid content weve added to The Long Dark (apart from our soundtracks) since we launched it nearly 8 years ago. Were still working through the details of the roadmap and our release plans, but I can tell you this much with a high degree of confidence:

• Itll be some kind of season pass-type approach (actual name TBD), where we have a ~15-18 month campaign of updates that unlock for anyone who has purchased the pass. The updates will come on a regular cadence over the course of that period.
  
• The pass will include a combination of content and gameplay system updates, including new regions, new challenges, new mechanics, etc., as well as general improvements and updates to core systems in the game.
  
• Additionally, for anyone who doesnt like the season pass style approach and prefers to only pay for content when its complete, we will re-package the seasons content into 3-4 individual paid DLC packages.
  
• Were still working on pricing, but the season pass will provide a discount on the combined price of the DLC, and each piece of paid DLC will be very fairly priced.
  
• We want to make sure our existing players who choose not to buy any more content (or are unable to afford it) are still going to have a great experience of The Long Dark, and wont feel left behind. So well also continue to provide some free updates to the base Survival game, so anyone who doesnt buy the pass will get something. These updates will generally be smaller, more modest improvements compared to what you will see being added to the paid content stream, which seems only fair.
  

Hello Community,

We have released our v2.00 (91441) Quality of Life Update for The Long Dark. This update includes some significant bug fixes, along with game and performance improvements. Please note that it may take time to update across all platforms.

Thank you for your patience and support. Please remember to visit our Support Portal if you encounter any issues while playing the game, and visit our Forums for a list of Known Issues. For additional news and information about The Long Dark and Hinterland, please sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game | Studio).

A note about the Unity Upgrade:

This Quality of Life update includes a major update of the Unity Engine, to version 2019.4.34f1. Updating Unity touches every system we have in the game, and requires the entire game to be tested. Despite our best efforts, it is possible that such a major update to core technology may have unforeseen outcomes. If you experience any bugs or unusual behaviour that you think might be the result of this Unity update, please submit a Bug Report to our Support Portal.

Please note that this update will likely impact any mods you may have installed or have created. While we dont provide any official support for mods, please feel free to visit our Mod Forum with any questions and we will monitor questions to help where we can.

GENERAL FIXES

• [Update] Updated Unity to 2019.4.34f1
  
• [Rendering] Fixed an issue that caused excessive Z-Fighting (flickering) to appear on numerous objects and the environment when playing the game on Linux.
  
• [Rendering] Updated Linux builds to use Vulcan by default.
  
• [General] Optimized save data to help reduce the overall size of save files.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that could cause stuttering or freezes when Lighting a Campfire or Torch.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that caused containers that the Player had already searched, to re-randomize their contents.
  
• [General] Fixed the issue where explosion decals from Noisemakers disappeared between game sessions.
  
• [Gameplay] Added measures to prevent Players from falling through objects when they wake after sleeping.
  

• [Map] Fixed an issue that caused the Prepper Caches to appear on the Map, even when the Player hasnt Surveyed that area.
  
• [UI] Blackrock Region: Fixed an incorrect button icon for the Go Down prompt when using the Elevator found in the Blackrock Mine.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused some text on the Main Menu to render at a lower resolution than expected.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from properly opening the Radial Menu when Steam Input was enabled.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Crafting Filter to default to the Ammunition Crafting Filter for all benches, after interacting with the Ammunition Crafting Bench.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused Subtitles and Closed Captions to no longer appear when the Voiceover audio level was set to 0.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that would cause fuel to automatically be added to a fire when accessing the Add Fuel menu with an Xbox Controller.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused item-related warning messages to appear underneath menus when attempting to use them.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused some locations to report as newly discovered when they had already been discovered.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue where the Journal displayed the incorrect number of collectable Buffer Memories.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue where the Blackrock Region map was missing some roads.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that would cause an empty UI box to appear if the Player pressed Escape when viewing the Cooking Slot menu.
  

• [Enviro] General art and environment polish pass on all Regions.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous locations where bushes and grass would clip through the environment or other objects.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed a number of floating objects found throughout the world.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed a small hole found on the interior geometry of cars.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed an issue that caused light effects to appear in the Steam Tunnels during the Aurora, even if there are no electrical items in the area.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed a misaligned water trigger so that Players will no longer drown before reaching the water below the Power Plant entrance.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed numerous locations that provided Players with access to invalid areas of the Region.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed many floating or misplaced objects.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed many issues where items could fall through the world if dropped at certain locations.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed many issues where players could become stuck or fall through the world.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed many issues where snow wasn't being lit correctly.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed an issue that caused some door frames to disappear, allowing Players to unintentionally see through them.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Adjusted the Level of Detail settings in a number of locations to prevent geometry from unsightly popping-in.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed scaling issues with some of the rock facades found throughout the region.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed an issue that prevented the Player from breaking down the Hand Truck found in the Prison Interior.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed an issue that would cause some materials to float after breaking down an object when in the Old Substation.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed a small hole found in the Steam Tunnel geo.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Replaced a static version of the Car Battery found in some vehicles with the correct (interactable) version.
  
• [Enviro] Blackrock Region: Fixed an issue that would cause Players to sink through the planks found in the Mines if they saved the game and then reloaded while standing on the planks.
  
• [Enviro] Hushed River Valley: Fixed various Birch Saplings that were placed too deeply in the snow.
  

• [Gameplay] Mountain Town: Fixed an issue that would cause the Key for Paradise Meadows Farm to de-spawn, preventing Players from being able to retrieve it.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused pre-existing Carcasses to decay faster than intended. (Still investigating decay rates for animals killed by Players.)
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused the Ballistic Vests buff to remain active even after the vest was taken off.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that prevented the Noisemaker from exploding if thrown at exactly the same time a struggle starts.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that would cause some items found in the Blackrock Mines to create new stacks when added to inventory, instead of stacking with existing items.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused Noisemakers to become unlit if lit before transitioning through a load screen, resulting in inconsistent fuse burn times.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue where players could interact with containers while holding a lit Noisemaker.
  
• [Crafting] Fixed an issue where Crampon Repair mistakenly required a Sewing Kit.
  
• [Crafting] Crafting the Noisemaker will no longer increase your Repair Skill.
  
• [Crafting] Fixed an issue that allowed Players to craft more Bullets then their current supply of Gunpowder would allow.
  

• [EP 2] Fixed an issue that could prevent the Player from being able to open the gate to the Carter Dam.
  
• [EP 2] Fixed missing dialogue audio when asking Methuselah about Wildlife.
  
• [EP 4] Fixed a bug that could cause the game to hang or enter other incorrect states if an autosave occurred while a cinematic was playing. This addresses numerous issues including NPCs becoming stuck or the game loading to a black screen.
  
• [EP 4] Fixed an issue that would cause Players to become stuck in the Suffocating state if they saved and reloaded while suffocating.
  
• [EP 4] Blackrock Blues: Fixed an issue that prevented Players from being able to climb through the window leading to the Infirmary.
  

• [Custom] Fixed an issue so that Voyager and Stalker default difficulty are now correctly set to Random.
  

• [Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from viewing the text warning "Cannot rest when Anxious/Afraid" when suffering from the Anxious/Afraid Affliction.
  
• [Archivist\As the Dead Sleep] Fixed an issue that would cause locations to incorrectly appear as Surveyed at the start of the Challenge.
  
• [As the Dead Sleep] Fixed an issue that would cause the Journal to appear corrupted if the challenge ended while the Journal was open.
  

Are you waiting for your Steam Deck to arrive, or considering buying one?

You'll be happy to know that The Long Dark is Steam Deck verified! Access your Steam library on the go, and use Steam Deck to explore everything the Quiet Apocalypse has to offer. Plus, the Hinterland team has been hard at work on visual and performance improvements on Linux to make your experience on Steam Deck even better.



To learn more, or to reserve your Steam Deck, please CLICK HERE. Great Bear Island is waiting, and there has never been a better time to explore!

Hello Community,

Weve just hotfixed The Long Dark to version 1.99 (87977). This hotfix primarily addresses a potential blocker in Episode Four. Please find the full list below. (NOTE: list may contain spoilers for WINTERMUTE.)

Please dont forget to visit our Support Portal for useful articles, or if you need to log an issue. 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).


WINTERMUTE

** Please note that this section contains spoilers for WINTERMUTE. **

• [Ep 4 - "The Detonators"] Fixed an issue that could cause players to become stuck on a black screen after returning to Blackrock Penitentiary with the Explosives.
  
• [Ep 4 - "The Detonators"] Fixed an issue where an unintended steam effect could occur after closing the third valve in the Mines.
  

• [UI] Updated the Main menu to the latest version for PERILOUS CONSTRAINT.
  
• Please note that the 1.99 update is not yet available for Switch, but we will provide an update as soon as one is available.
  

Hello Survivors,

We just launched our latest update to Survival Mode, called PERILOUS CONSTRAINT. This update includes:

• New to Survival! Blackrock Region added to Survival Mode. It connects to Pleasant Valley via a Transition zone, and to Timberwolf Mountain via a cave system.
  
• New to Survival! The Noisemaker from Episode Four is now available for crafting and use in Survival Mode. Note that the Blueprint unlocks after you find your first Noisemaker, currently only discoverable in Blackrock Region.
  
• New to The Long Dark! The Ballistic Vest. Its the first piece of protective gear in the game and offers strong defense against physical harms from wildlife attacks.
  
• Various quality-of-life improvements, including making Crampons repairable, and a new piece of soundtrack music, along with many bug fixes.
  

• New to Survival: Blackrock Region is now available in Survival Mode. It connects to Pleasant Valley via a Transition zone, and to Timberwolf Mountain via a cave system.
  
• New to Survival: The Noisemaker from Episode Four is now available for crafting and use in Survival Mode. Please note that the Blueprint unlocks after you find your first Noisemaker, which is currently only discoverable in Blackrock Region.
  
• New to The Long Dark: The new Ballistic Vest is the first piece of protective gear in the game, offering strong defense against physical harms from wildlife attacks.
  
• Various quality-of-life improvements, including making Crampons repairable, a new piece of soundtrack music, and many bug fixes.
  

• Please note that on Switch, the Main menu art will not be updated with the release, though the game should still update. Players can verify the correct version via the top left-hand side of the main menu screen v1.98 (86821).
  
• When attempting to repair the Crampons, you need either the Simple Tools or High Quality Tools item. If you do not have these items, you will receive an error message stating the Sewing Kit is required.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas the player could escape/leave the regular game environment.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue in Survival Mode that caused six incorrect Possible Old Bear Locations to appear in the list of Mystery Lake Surveyed Locations.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue when using a Controller that caused the Start Fire menu to skip when starting a fire in a Fire Barrel.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented items from appearing in Inspection Mode when the HUD was disabled in Options.
  
• [UI] Fixed a performance issue that caused the WINTERMUTE menu to become unresponsive when the Player had many save files.
  

• [General] Updated Feats, so they now always save up completion.
  

• [Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that could prevent the game from saving correctly.
  

• [Ep4] Fixed a bug that could cause the game to save in an unloadable state.
  
• [Ep3] Fixed a bug that caused the UI to disappear after exiting various sequences, such as a phone call or a dialogue sequence.
  
• [Dialogue] Fixed an issue that caused the text to appear distorted during a dialogue sequence.
  

Nominations are open for the 2021 Steam Awards, recognizing some of the best the games industry has to offer.

This year, The Long Dark is eligible in one game category: the Labor of Love Award. This award goes to a game that has been out for a while, but continues to grow, improve, and gain new content.

If you feel The Long Dark is a good candidate, please consider submitting your nomination by December 1st at 10AM (PST). As a bonus, you can earn Steam badges and up to 100XP for participating in the nomination process.

Click HERE to learn more, and to submit your nomination.

Thank you for playing, Survivors!

Hello Community,

Weve just hotfixed The Long Dark to version 1.97 [85101]. This hotfix addresses issues that emerged with the launch of Episode Four, addresses certain gameplay bugs, and offers general game improvements. Please find the full list below. (NOTE: list may contain spoilers.) It may take some time for changes to take effect as platforms update. Thank you for your patience.

There are two issues in particular affected players should be aware of:

• For any PlayStation players impacted by missing Episode Four Trophies at launch; we have a way to potentially regain your progress. Please visit this page on our support portal for more info.
  
• [SPOILERS] Episode Four Steam Tunnel puzzle; some players reported that they were unable to open the Control Room door after the ice thawed while solving the Steam Pipe puzzle. If you encountered issues with this puzzle, this document might be helpful.
  

• [Optimization] Fixed a rare issue that would prevent the Players footprints from appearing correctly in certain circumstances.
  
• [Optimization] Fixed numerous performance hitches, which should result in a smoother play experience.
  
• [Steam] Updated the Workshop String Table to include all Episode Four strings.
  

• [Animation] Numerous tweaks and polish to various mission related animations.
  
• [Animation] Fixed an issue where certain climbing animations were broken when the FOV was set to maximum.
  
• [Animation] Fixed an issue where the animation twitched during the Kill/Release choice after catching a Rabbit.
  
• [Animation] Fixed an issue where Mackenzies arms shook incorrectly when climbing various areas.
  

• [Accessibility] Updated Mature Language Filter to include some lines that were missed.
  
• [Art] Optimized render distance on various objects found in Episode Four so they will become visible at the appropriate distance from the Player. This will reduce instances of distant objects popping in to the world.
  
• [Art] Optimized the Steam Tunnels object and lighting draw distance to improve the overall visual quality and performance.
  
• [Art] Tuned lighting in various interiors and fixed mismatched lighting on objects.
  
• [Environment] Fixed an issue that caused the walls inside the Radio Hut to remain visible regardless of what room inside the Radio Hut you were in.
  
• [Environment] Optimized the Mines to ensure the Gas is not drawn when not needed, resulting in performance improvements.
  
• [Environment] Added some extra collision to the pipes in the Steam Tunnel to prevent the camera from clipping into the pipes.
  
• [Environment] Fixed a gap found in the doors of the Power Plant.
  
• [Environment] Fixed large black shadows found on the beds in the Blackrock Prison Infirmary.
  
• [Environment] Moved the Danger Electric Cables Over-Head warning sign in the Steam Tunnel to make it more visible.
  
• [Environment] Fixed numerous floating or clipping objects throughout the Blackrock Region.
  
• [Environment] Fixed an issue where the water splash sound effect was missing when walking through water found in the Abandoned Mine.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue in the Journals exit button on the Collections -> Surveyed Locations screen so Players no longer need to change to a different screen to exit.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue preventing the Region displayed on the Map from updating correctly when using a cave to transition to a new Region.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue where the Mission Status tab would not reflect the state of the current active mission.
  
• [UI] Tuned the icons on the Map screen so Mission Markers are sorted above other Map Markers.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue where the weather could change from the intended calibration preset while adjusting the Brightness in the Main Menu.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue where Open Cans can appear as closed when viewed in the Cooking Menu.
  
• [UI] Fixed unaligned buttons on the Continue to ...? screen that appears after completing an Episode.
  
• [UI] Updated the Hardcase item description.
  
• [UI] Updated the icon for Key 8 found in Episode One to a higher quality version.
  

• [AI] Fixed an issue where Wolves continued to eat carcasses after the carcass is gone.
  
• [Audio] Added audio ducking to the Marine Flare, so its audio is no longer louder than in-game dialogue.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue where water longer disappeared when clicking the Move All to Container button, then immediately transferring the water back to the container.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue where the Maple Syrup would remain attached to the Player, instead of being removed from the world after being picked up.
  
• [Gameplay] Sprain Risk is no longer disabled when taking a phone call.
  

• [Darkwalker] Tuned the wait time between placing a Banish Glyph and the Darkwalker appearing. Players should not have to wait extended periods of time, now.
  
• [Hunted 1/2 and Whiteout] Added Socks to starting inventory.
  
• [Whiteout] Tuned the mission complete percentage to be more accurate.
  
• 
  

• [Cinematics] Fixed several lighting issues across a range of Episode Four cinematics.
  
• [Cinematics] Fixed an issue during Chapter 1: Blackrock Blues that could cause the audio in cinematics to no longer align with the animations, if the Player skipped a cinematic.
  
• [Cinematics] Fixed an issue that would often cause in-game dialogue to be skipped if it was intended to play immediately after a cinematic during Episode Three.
  
• [Environment] Fixed an issue with the Wolf found near the farm during Episode One so it now feeds on corpses, as intended.
  
• [Environment] Fixed numerous locations where the Player could either become stuck or escape the map or intended progression route during Episode Four.
  
• [Episode One] Fixed an issue where Mackenzie would appear without a bandaged hand while picking up the Hardcase.
  
• [Episode One] Fixed clipping that could occur when climbing out of the Crash Site.
  
• [Episode One] Fixed an issue that caused the audio for the fires at the Crash Site to continue to play after they had burned out.
  
• [Episode One] Fixed an issue that would cause the skybox to briefly appear when exiting back to the Main Menu from inside the Grey Mothers House.
  
• [Episode Two] Fixed overlapping audio that can occur while speaking to Jeremiah.
  
• [Episode Two] Fixed an issue where the Active Objective UI element would not appear as intended when bringing up the Radial Menu, after getting the Bear Spear during The Best Defense.
  
• [Episode Two] Tuned the Aurora that occurs during the Return to Dam mission so it will now be fully active, instead of just starting.
  
• [Episode Three] Fixed an issue that would prevent the Player from being able to progress if they saved the game right before answering the Phone at the burnt-out cabin, then reloaded the save during the Phone Call.
  
• [Episode Three] Fixed an issue so that removing the fuse now correctly disables both the electrical visual and sound effects during Aftermath.
  
• [Episode Three] Tuned the mission complete percentage to be more accurate during Forest Talker.
  
• [Episode Three] HUD will no longer remain disabled after speaking to Molly.
  
• [Episode Four] Fixed an issue where the final gauge could appear at full pressure when the valves were still incorrectly set during Steam Valve Puzzle #1.
  
• [Episode Four] Fixed an issue that caused the interaction point on the Valve to shift if the Player entered the tunnels, then returned to the Valves during The Detonators.
  
• [Episode Four] Fixed an issue where weapons and gear were not confiscated properly after completing The Detonators.
  
• [Episode Four] Added safeguards to help prevent the Player from dropping the Bolt Cutters into unreachable locations in The Detonators.
  
• [Episode Four] Fixed an issue that caused the Status bar to flicker prior to returning to gameplay after the cinematic sequence in Donner.
  
• [Episode Four] Dialogue will no longer continue to play on the Death screen if the Player is caught during Donner.
  
• [Episode Four] Increased the range at which the entrances can be seen during Convict Caches.
  

• [General] Fixed an issue where the game crashed for some players on launch.
  
• [General] Fixed a potential crash that could occur when throwing an item.
  

• [General] Fixed an issue where players using Windows 7 would become stuck on an unskippable black screen when playing an in-game video, such as the opening credits.
  

• [Rendering] Fixed an issue that would cause rocks to not render on OpenGL systems.
  

Hello everyone!

Octobers been a big month for Hinterland and The Long Dark. In case you missed it, we launched Episode Four: Fury, Then Silence. So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and were grateful for that.


[h3]Current Issues[/h3]

With Episode Four, like most of our big releases, we tend to find issues post-launch. I wanted to address a bit about how this can happen. Right now we are tracking 3-4 issues that are impacting a small number of players but in highly visible ways. They include:

• Windows 7; there is an issue with video compatibility on Windows 7 which prevents certain videos (like the opening credits) from playing correctly. We have provided a work-around here, but we understand that its not very satisfying. This issue disproportionately impacts players in parts of the world where Windows 7 is still commonly used.
  
• Mac rendering issue; some Mac users have encountered a rendering issue that can result in weird visual glitches, and a separate issue can result in missing geometry. Weve suggested a workaround for the first issue.
  
• PlayStation Trophies; these were missing at launch but have since been added.
  
• In addition to these, there are other miscellaneous issues that we have been tracking and working on.
  

Today is a big day for Hinterland. After two years of development, we are finally launching Episode Four of our WINTERMUTE story mode for The Long Dark. Fury, Then Silence continues Mackenzies story after his ill-fated meeting with the convict Mathis in Carter Dam. You may remember that meeting didnt end well for Mackenzie. Now we get to see what happens to our everyman bush pilot as he tangles with some very unpleasant people in a prison complex at the end of the world.

Developing the majority of this episode during a global pandemic has been a challenging experience to say the least. All the while, the team has banded together to support each other during the ups and downs. Within our small team, weve experienced the highs of births and new life, and the deep lows of losing people we love. And all the while, we pushed forward to tell the story of Mackenzie and Astrid, the quiet apocalypse, the wintery wilderness of Great Bear, and the mysterious aurora in the sky, all to the best of our ability. The parallels between our isolation and fears of the outside world and Mackenzies experience in the episode were not lost on us.

For us, Episode Four will always be the pandemic episode. The experience of making it, and of playing it, will always be coloured by this time. Art doesnt exist in a vacuum, so maybe you will feel some of those influences as you go through and experience Blackrock for yourselves.

Today is a bittersweet day. We give you the fourth episode of our survival odyssey, and we come one step closer to the final part of our story. We have set the table for Episode Five, and now we turn our attention to bringing it to a close. There are still many challenges ahead.

In the coming weeks, Ill be sharing more information about our plans for the future of Survival Mode, next-gen enhancements, mod support, and other things were doing at Hinterland. But today is about Mackenzie, a prison in the mountains, and a tough journey that will push him -- and you -- to your limits as a survivor.

We hope you enjoy the experience we have created for you, and on behalf of the entire team at Hinterland, I thank you for all your support and patience as you waited for this day. Thank you for believing in us, as we believe in you.

All the best, and safe travels.

- Raphael


The Long Dark, Episode Four: FURY, THEN SILENCE is available now on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Epic Games Store, and Nintendo Switch. Watch the full trailer below.

[previewyoutube=-AzzG1Iaczw;full][/previewyoutube]

Visit our Support Portal to find useful articles or to log an issue you encountered.

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 @IntoTheLongDark | @HinterlandGames


Accessibility Features

Weve organized all of our accessibility features into a single menu available through OPTIONS->ACCESSIBILITY. Weve also added two new options to assist players:

• Swear Filter - Disables swear words in both spoken dialogue and subtitles
  
• Misophonia Filter - Turns off the sounds that often play when eating or drinking food items in the game. There may be other sounds that trigger misophonia (ex. yawning when the Survivor is tired, lip-smacking when they are thirsty) and we will address those as we are able.
  

• The In-Game News Messages will appear as placeholder text
  
• When setting the Gyroscope Controls to Aim Only they will act as if they are set to Always On
  

• The game will freeze after the disclaimer screen, when trying to play the Intro videos. Please see this support article for a workaround https://hinterlandgames.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408005055636-Windows-7-Black-Screen-After-Disclaimer-or-Starting-WINTERMUTE-Episodes
  

• If the Player unlocks a Feat and then exits the game before saving, the Feat will not be unlocked and progress may appear incorrect after restarting the Long Dark. To avoid this issue trigger a save after earning the Feat to ensure it is saved, before exiting.
  

The long wait is nearly over. The next Episode of THE LONG DARK's Story Mode: FURY, THEN SILENCE is coming to Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch on October 6, 2021. (Free for all current owners of the game.)

A murderous gang of convicts have captured Mackenzie. Desperate to escape one of the darkest corners of Great Bear Island, he must somehow survive his fiercest enemy yet. Can Mackenzie recover the Hardcase, continue his search for Astrid, and save the innocents caught up in this deadly confrontation?

Click to watch the teaser below.
[previewyoutube=zV3-8ZW4ZVE;full][/previewyoutube]

For more info on Episode Four, visit the September Dev Diary on our forum and connect with other Survivors around the world.

Hello everyone!

The long wait is nearly over. Today we reveal the key art and title for Episode Four of The Long Darks WINTERMUTE story mode:




Episode Four: Fury, Then Silence

A murderous gang of convicts has captured Mackenzie. Desperate to escape one of the darkest corners of Great Bear Island, he must somehow survive his fiercest enemy yet. Can Mackenzie recover the Hardcase, continue his search for Astrid, and also save the innocents caught up in this deadly confrontation?


The episode takes place in a brand new region dominated by an old prison complex built under the shadow of Blackrock Mountain. Featuring 7-10 hours of gameplay, 60 minutes of narrative cinematics, and over 40 minutes of new music, Episode Four also introduces new key characters to the WINTERMUTE storyline, and puts the final narrative threads in place that will later be resolved in Episode Five (ship date TBD).

The team is heading into the final stretch of the episode. Most of the bugs are fixed, and were in the final stages of localization, optimization, and preparing things for launch.

True to our typical tradition, we arent announcing a release date until we are very close to launch, so stay tuned for that. For our Survival Mode fans, Blackrock Region will be added to Survival Mode before the end of the year, along with a few other additions.

UPCOMING PRICE CHANGE

When we had THE LONG DARK in Early Access on Steam and on Xbox Game Preview, it was priced at $19.99 USD. When we launched our 1.0 in August of 2017, we bumped the price up to $29.99 USD. With the launch of Episode Four, were increasing the price for THE LONG DARK to $34.99 USD ($5 increase). We feel this is more reflective of the current state of the game in terms of quality and the scope of content. The new price will take effect when Episode Four ships, so this is your last opportunity to purchase THE LONG DARK at its current $29.99 price. Please note that this price increase will not impact you if you already own the game. (Your local pricing may vary.)

ROADMAP AFTER EPISODE FOUR

After we launch Episode Four, Ill post some details about our plans for THE LONG DARK, onward to Episode Five and beyond, including how we plan to update Survival Mode in the future, our plans for Mod Support, and more.

Now, back to preparing Episode Fours launch. Well see you soon!

- Raphael

Weve released our v1.94Hotfix for The Long Dark. If you encounter any issues while playing the game please visit ourSupport Portal.

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



*****


GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Fixed a systemic issue when tracking time that caused tracked time in Challenges and the Journal screen to be incorrect.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue where liquids would not become Burnt Dry, when being cooked for too long.
  
• [Gameplay] A loaded Rifle will now no longer lose the additional weight of the loaded cartridge, after transitioning between locations.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed a rare issue that could cause a players keyboard controls to become unresponsive, for no obvious reason.
  
• [Audio] Cans and Pots now play sound effects when placed onto a cooking slot, as intended.
  
• [Audio] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from starting Episode 1 if their Master or Voice volume was set to 0.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed several rough geometry locations found in the Crumbling Highway that could hinder the Player's movement.
  
• [Enviro] The Wolfs Jaw Overlook Polaroid location is no longer blocked by terrain.
  

• [UI] Fixed alignment of the Carcass Harvesting trigger to better align with the center of the model.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Technical Packs item description to disappear after a transition to a new area.
  
• [UI] Implemented a check in the Journal to try and recover lost Survival mode stats. Note this cannot recover data from deleted saves, but will try to recover the best values available.
  
• [UI] Menus will now correctly remember the last selected item, when returning from a sub-menu.
  
• [Map] Filters no longer reset when navigating away from the Journal page.
  

• [EP 3] Removed Pass Time as an option when the Player is unable to pass time due to narrative events.
  

• [Nomad] Fixed an issue that caused the Players Journal to appear empty, when first starting the Nomad Challenge.
  
• [Nomad] Fixed an issue that caused the Nomad Challenge to only track half the time spent at a location.
  
• [Darkwalker] Localized several missing strings.
  

Dear community,

Its time for an update on Episode Four progress, which Im sure is the topic at the top of all your minds right now.

[h2]Episode Four Progress[/h2]


The aurora illuminates Blackrock Penitentiary, Great Bears maximum security fortress and the main location in Episode Four.

Were at the stage of episode development where Ive been able to complete a couple of full run-throughs of the entire episode from start to finish. This is an important stage as it shows us what we have as a contiguous experience (this is different from how we build and test during development, which is often more in chunks that are out of order), and therefore highlights what is working and what isnt. When you can experience the full flow of the episode from start to finish, you can get a sense of the overall pacing, the relationship between narrative and gameplay, clarity around objectives and motivations, peaks and troughs in the players activities, and generally a sense of how the whole thing fits together.

This is the period of episode development where we usually change (or remove) things that arent working, and add moments or content here and there where we feel the experience needs to be shored up a bit. It might be something as minor as a single line of dialogue or editing some objective text, all the way to cutting a section of a mission or adding an entirely new piece of narrative (as we did throughout Episodes One and Two when we released the Redux versions in 2019). In the specific case of Episode Four, this includes adding a new section of gameplay and a new mechanic were experimenting with. Its a bit late in the process to be doing this, but we just feel the episode needs a bit more of a punch in some areas so were testing things out to see how they feel, and hopeful that we can make it all work and feel intriguing.

In terms of overall progress, I can say that the episode environments themselves are mostly finished, apart from a few small areas that are getting completed right now. After that well roll into the polish phase for environment content. All the cinematics are complete and have had multiple passes with full voice-over, so were now moving into the lighting phase on most of them, and audio (sound-effects and music) which is the last phase. Were tightening up some objective text, adding collectibles here and there where they are needed, and layering some secondary side mission content to reward you players who like to explore off the beaten path a bit.

[previewyoutube=gol51sjW3zQ;full][/previewyoutube]
We met Mathis in Carter Dam at the end of Episode Two, when he threatened Mackenzie within an inch of his life. Things have not improved for Mackenzie since then.

The whole team has done a great job despite the challenges of COVID, but Im particularly proud what the animation team has managed to pull off in Episode Four, despite not having access to our motion-capture equipment (due to COVID and it not being safe to travel to the studio). Instead, they used home-based capture suits and a lot of keyframed (i.e. hand-made) animation including for facial animation, which is a big departure from some of the time-saving tools and tech we were able to use for our Episode Three development. The narrative moments in Episode Four are some of the most complex weve produced yet in The Long Dark, many involving multiple characters with heavy acting beats, so seeing them turn out so well is a real testament to the teams work ethic and creative problem-solving. We also hired our first lighting specialist at Hinterland for Episode Four, so you can expect the general quality of the lighting to improve significantly, both in terms of execution and how its used to highlight atmosphere and the sense of drama.

We have at least a couple more months of production and then a testing and optimization phase, which could take a long time or be resolved quickly, depending on how things go. Being on the Switch now, and also continuing to support a low-spec on PC that goes back to our Early Access launch in 2014, means every major addition to the game introduces a lot of extra optimization and testing work. So, as per our usual studio policy with regards to release dates, Im not going to guess at this point -- well share a date when we are closer to launch. But, were in the final stretch now. You can expect a teaser trailer and a date announcement before we launch; we arent planning a surprise launch.

[previewyoutube=vdQfhPcRKjw;full][/previewyoutube]
Just like everything in The Long Dark, theres more to Blackrock than meets the eye.

[h2]What Comes Next?[/h2]

With Episode Four development coming to a close, Im finishing up the writing on Episode Five so the team can roll into that development. But, this also brings to mind a big question for Hinterland -- with the end of WINTERMUTE in sight, what comes next for The Long Dark, and for our studio?

This is obviously a lot on my mind lately, not only because Ive been working on The Long Dark for nearly 8 years at this point, but because incubating new project ideas and building prototypes to prove those ideas is a time-consuming process. Its important that these things have the space and resources they need in order to find success. The expectations around our work are a lot different in 2021 as compared to when we first launched The Long Dark in 2013. Weve also learned a lot in the past years, become a stronger studio and better developers, and want to build more sophisticated and more meaningful experiences for our players. These things require time and resources.

One of the gifts of The Long Dark is just how expansive it has the potential to be. The world and gameplay systems themselves are highly extensible, although we have run up against some technical limitations going back to decisions we made in the early years of the project -- things wed do differently if we were building something from scratch today, but things that we cant really change at this point without tearing the entire game apart and rebuilding it. That would be time-consuming, expensive, and would delay a lot of other things wed like to be doing.

Weve been hearing a lot from our players that you would like to see more content beyond WINTERMUTE and the free Survival updates and events we produce a few times a year. Given that weve never charged for content beyond the purchase price of the game, our revenue has come entirely from new sales of The Long Dark. Were really fortunate that the game still has a vibrant audience and continues to sell really well for us, allowing us to cover our costs and make a tidy profit which we pour back into the business. But in thinking about new projects and how wed like to build them, and how important it is to maintain our independence and avoid putting ourselves in a financial position as a studio where we lose that independence, we have to start weighing the future of The Long Dark against the future of the studio.

To be clear -- we are 100% committed to shipping Episode Five for all our players, as part of your game purchase. Thats a promise we made back when we did our Kickstarter in 2013, and thats a promise we will deliver on. What Im talking about here is what comes *beyond* Episode Five. Since so much of what weve done as a studio has been informed by what youve told us about what you hope for the game, wed love to hear from you.

Weve set up a simple survey that will give us some idea of what youd like us to do with The Long Dark after we finish Episode Five. There are also questions about what youd like to see us do with Survival Mode, which while it can always be improved, has technically been complete for a while now. Please take a few minutes to review the survey and share your thoughts so we can take them into consideration as we plan our future. We arent committing to anything beyond Episode Five, but depending on how passionately you want us to keep expanding The Long Dark, and provided we can make it work from a business perspective, we are open to considering a variety of things. We love The Long Dark as much as anyone, and would love to see it continue to grow and flourish into the future. For us, its more than a game. For me, I still want to push forward and show that Hinterland is the industry leader in creating thoughtful survival experiences.

[h2]Milestones[/h2]

We dont tend to focus too much on these things publicly, but Im really proud of what the team has made and its not often you get to celebrate these achievements, so I just wanted to share with you the exciting news that sales of The Long Dark have now surpassed 5-million units, with another 3.5-million active players coming to us through Xbox GamePass and the Epic Game Store (through the free give-away there at Christmas), bringing the total to over 8.5-million players to date!

That is a shocking number to me, when I think back to the humble origins of The Long Dark (which was then called, simply, Survival Story) back on a whiteboard in my basement home office years and years ago. One of the most exciting things about this number is how international our audience is! Weve been humbled and amazed at how popular our little Canadian survival experience has resonated with players around the world. Thank you for your support over the years, and we look forward to continuing to deliver delightful experiences to you in The Long Dark, and hopefully in other games in the future! For us, there is a joy in exploration in its many facets, and we are excited to continue sharing this journey with you.

[h2]Onward![/h2]

In any case, its back to Episode Four reviews for me! I hope this developer diary has been informative and answered some of the questions you have about our progress, and we hope you like the teaser content weve shared here. Expect more news about Episode Four in the coming months including a teaser trailer, episode name, and a release date. And please take some time to respond to our Future of The Long Dark survey. While well always make our own decisions about what is best for the game and our business, we love to hear from you and feel privileged to have your participation in this virtuous feedback circle.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!

- Raphael

Weve released our v1.93 (71192) Hotfix for The Long Dark. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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).



*****

GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Fixed an issue that could cause players Custom Keybindings to be reset.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that caused the camera to shake erratically, if the player tried to aim while freezing.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that could prevent the Polaroid found in the High Meadow, in Ash Canyon from spawning correctly.
  
• [Genera] Equipping an item in the left accessory slot, while the Crampons are equipped will no longer remove the Sure Footing buff.
  
• [Audio] Fixed missing reverb in Ash Canyon.
  

• [Enviro] Updated caves in Ash Canyon to count as interiors when curing items.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas where animals could path behind cave entrances, in Ash Canyon.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed lighting on some corpses found in Ash Canyon.
  
• [Enviro] Adjusted Cat Tail placement to avoid unintentional clipping.
  
• [Enviro] Environment polish pass on Ash Canyon.
  

• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused external links to not open properly, when playing on the Mac Epic Game Store or GOG release.
  
• [UI] Remove erroneous prompt at the end of the Episode Three credits.
  

• [EP 3] Fixed an issue that prevented players from transferring items to the Community Hall pantry container, during the Coming Storm mission.
  

• [Darkwalker] Darkwalker Feat will now be awarded if youve completed the criteria, but the feat did not unlock.
  
• [Darkwalker] Feat and Badge are now correctly displayed on the summary screen, when the Darkwalker is defeated with a banishment.
  

• [EGS] Some users' login token to the EGS client may expire unintentionally. Were currently with Epic to resolve this issue.
  
• [EGS] Some players have experienced video playback issues during some cinematics. Were currently investigating this issue with impacted users.
  

Weve released our v1.92 (70699) Hotfix for The Long Dark. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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).



*****

GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from unlocking the Dark Walker Feat
  

Dear community,

2020 has been a tough year. But we're nearly through it. And in a year of a global pandemic, we were still able to ship two major updates to Survival Mode, two seasonal events, and launch the game on Nintendo Switch. We also made a ton of headway on Episode Four, which we're excited to share with you in 2021. And in case you missed it, make sure you take a moment to try out the new content we added in our recent update, HESITANT PROSPECT.

This is a good moment to remind you that the team will be off between December 21st and January 4th, and while we have some light support coverage during the holidays, we'll mostly be resting up and enjoying time with our loved ones before we embark on our ambitious plans for 2021.

We really appreciate all the support we've received from you throughout this year. We hope that The Long Dark brings you some seasonal comfort over the winter holidays, and we look forward to seeing you all back in January.

On behalf of the team at Hinterland, we wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday season, and all the best wishes for 2021.

- Raphael

Weve released our v1.90 (70139) Hotfix for The Long Dark. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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).



*****

GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Fixed a crash that would occur if the in-game language was set to Turkish.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that caused players Badges and Feats to disappear
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that would cause Players to spawn inside of the Main Menu scene, after exiting the new Survival game creation flow.
  
• [General] Ash Canyon added to the Random Region list in Survival Mode.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed missing cliff detail on numerous vistas found in Ash Canyon.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous floating and clipping items.
  
• [Enviro] Pass for terrain traps in Ash Canyon.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed floating environment meshes found in Ash Canyon.
  
• [Enviro] Rabbits will no longer climb on the broken fishing hut, in the Main Menu.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed low res textures appearing on the rope bridge, when visuals are set to Ultra.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed an issue that caused item piles to become non-interactable when stacked on top of piles of the same item type.
  
• [Prop] Fixed level of detail popping issue on Camp Fires.
  

• [UI] Fixed missing region name from the You started in journal stat, when starting in Ash Canyon.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented tracking Time Spent in Ash Canyon in the Journal.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented the region text from properly fading out after viewing the Map. This would cause a faint shadow of text to remain on screen.
  
• [UI] Load screen icons will now fade out after loading is complete, as intended.
  
• [UI] Localized text now correctly appears when selecting Timberwolf Mountain in the Region Selection.
  
• [UI] Added missing localized strings and fixed several translation issues.
  
• [UI] Loading into Ash Canyon now uses the correct load screen art.
  

• [General] The Sure Footing benefit will no longer expire and then reactive after a transition.
  
• [Ash Canyon] Items can no longer be dropped when on a bridge, as intended.
  
• [Ash Canyon] Pass for missing environment sound effects.
  
• [Ash Canyon] All Abandoned Fires now appear as burnt out, as intended.
  

• [Darkwalker] Fixed an issue that could cause the Player to become stuck on a black screen after dying in a Darkwalker game, if the death animation could not be played in full.
  

• [WINTERMUTE] Placing the last Fuse in Episode Three does not work on Xbox or PS4 and causes the game to hang.
  
• [General] Players on PS4 Pro may sometimes encounter a black screen while playing. The game continues to run, and the Player will be able to hear gameplay. Users can press Start to bring up the Pause Menu to exit, or quit back to the dashboard.
  

The Long Darks 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. Its 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 Survivors 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

Weve made some quality of life improvements to the games Front End, including the Region Selection menu. Youll also notice that weve updated the games 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=1fkqAZ2eSEw;full][/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 Backup
  

• [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.
  

• [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.
  

• [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.
  

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

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

• [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 Bears animation.
  
• PS4
  
• [Enviro] Fixed an issue that caused some waterfalls to appear black.
  

• [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.
  

Weve 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.
  

Weve 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 Players character is coughing from toxic smoke
  
• Updated localization.
  
• Map now centers on the Players 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.
  

Something is hunting survivors in The Long Dark and its not just the games 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 youre 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 weve 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 youll 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.
  

• 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 youre 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 thats hunting you, so be sure to search the Camps carefully.
  

• 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.
  

It's nearly here! The Long Dark's newest Halloween Event ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER is coming later this week. Prepare to be hunted by a mysterious and deadly entity that chases you across Great Bear Island in this limited-time event.

For more details read our latest Dev Diary.

[previewyoutube=5Zo0Nnr4NPQ;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]

Hello everyone,

With the Switch launch behind us, I wanted to update you on our activities around THE LONG DARK for the remainder of this year.

[h3]NEW EVENT: ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER (October 29th - November 12th)[/h3]



This years Halloween event, ESCAPE THE DARKWALKER, is different from what weve done in the past. In broad strokes:

• In an endless night, you are stalked by an invisible, malevolent entity bent on your destruction. Keep your distance from the entity for as long as you can. Once it closes in on you, you die. The only objective is to survive for as many real-time minutes as you can.
  
• You cant hurt the Darkwalker, but you can slow it down. Using special spray paint Glyphs, you can temporarily dispel or attract the entity.
  
• You can play in any region of the world, but you can only stay in a region for 30 real-time minutes (Note: all timings are being tuned based on playtesting and may change before the event goes live) before toxic fog will appear. When the fog appears, youll have 5 real-time minutes to escape the region before you die. Once the fog takes hold, the region is impassible. A lot of your strategy will come down to where you travel and how far ahead you can plan your movements through the world.
  
• Since you cant see the entity, youll have to count on what you can HEAR to stay alive. Listen for the entitys cries, its footsteps, and how the spooky music builds as it approaches your location.
  

After a long slow-burn development process, were happy to announce that The Long Dark is now available on Nintendo Switch!

For the first time ever, you can take The Long Dark with you wherever your own exploration takes you, with all of Great Bear Island in your hands and all the experiences contained in the WINTERMUTE Story Mode, as well as our award-winning Survival Mode. Whether youre sitting at your desk, on your couch, or on the road searching for your next shelter, youll have the same innovative exploration-survival experience regardless of what platform youre playing on.

For more information on The Long Dark on Nintendo Switch, including the announcement trailer, please visit www.thelongdark.com/switch

Keep in mind that your purchase of The Long Dark entitles you to all five episodes of WINTERMUTE (with Episodes One, Two, and Three currently available, and Episode Four around the corner; new episodes will be automatically unlocked as they become available), as well as regular bug fixes and updates to Survival Mode along the way.

Head over to the Nintendo eShop and venture into the Quiet Apocalypse of The Long Dark! And if youre a journalist or a streamer and are interested in giving The Long Dark a try on Switch, please contact us here.

We hope you enjoy The Long Dark on Nintendo Switch!

The Hinterland Team

Hello community,

Apologies that its been a while since you last heard from me.

2020 has been a pretty tough year so far. I have a feeling that most of you will agree. The great news is that everyone at Hinterland continues to be healthy -- no COVID! Were thrilled about this. So thats one really positive thing and I try to focus on that. Were also happy that despite things being pretty upside down, we were still able to release our FEARLESS NAVIGATOR update, as well as run our WINTERS EMBRACE event through July (which also added new content to the game).

We shut down our physical studio back in March and everyone has been in lockdown since then. I remember at the beginning of this quarantine I found myself thinking, Wow, think of how much Ill be able to get done!. Looking back at that time, I realize how naive that thought was. Weve been spending a lot more time on Zoom calls, have been doing as many small things as we can to help make the team more comfortable and to keep morale high, and have adapted as well as possible to exclusively working from home. But Im sure you can all appreciate that this is not a normal way of working. We typically depend a lot on in-person communication for relationship-building, planning, content reviews, and making clear progress towards common goals. Apart from being generally healthy and safe, which were grateful for, I think the team also feels a sense of malaise from being in lockdown for months on end. And while I believe the future is positive, Id be lying if I said that this year has been business as usual for Hinterland as a team, or for our work on The Long Dark.

Pretty recently we came to the conclusion that we dont feel good about releasing Episode Four this year. We had originally hoped to have it ready for launch in December, but with everything thats been going on, its just been tough to work very optimally. Weve lost some momentum and some parts of our production have been slower than usual just because of not being able to work on things face-to-face, nevermind everyone is also juggling their personal situation at home whether its being alone all the time, or balancing parenting duties with work, or whatever new personal dynamic we find ourselves in. Everyone is still focused on the game, and were making progress every day, but I just dont feel good about keeping the team locked to a December release because we dont crunch at Hinterland and the only way to hit December is if we compromise on quality or scope. We dont want that, and you dont want that. So we arent going to do that.

So were not shipping Episode Four this year. Im really sorry about that. We wanted to let you know as soon as we decided to delay, rather than wait another few months.

I hope you and your loved ones have all been healthy throughout this COVID pandemic. I hope that The Long Dark has been able to bring you some solace during these difficult times. Were still here for you. Just fighting through the long dark, in our own way.

Ill send a more uplifting update within the next couple of months, with some more info on our planned activities throughout the rest of 2020, and into 2021.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there.

- Raphael

PS A lot of you have been asking for news about the progress of the Nintendo Switch port of The Long Dark; we created a mailing list you can sign up to to be informed of news about it.

Weve released our v1.83 (64569) Hotfix for WINTER'S EMBRACE. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark please visit our Support Portal.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our first ever Summer Seasonal Event. We hope that you enjoyed struggling to survive in the frosty cold of WINTERS EMBRACE.

A big part of any of these events is player participation and we would love to hear about your experience playing WINTERS EMBRACE in the comments below. What would you like to see us do next time and what would you change about the event?

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 v1.83 (64569) CHANGELIST

GENERAL

• [General] Disable the WINTERS EMBRACE event.
  

Weve released our v1.82 (64400) Hotfix for WINTER'S EMBRACE. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 v1.82 (64400) CHANGELIST



GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Fixed an issue that caused the Disclaimer at launch to appear in the incorrect language.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that could block the Winter in July badge from triggering. If youve met the days survived criteria, but the badge has not triggered yet, it will trigger after the next full day survived.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that could prevent Players from loading or renaming a save file.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that could cause players to crash when transitioning between an interiors and exteriors.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed the missing textures on several logs found throughout the game.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed texture visible seams found in the Echo One Control Tower.
  
• [UI] Fixed issue that would cause the Hunger/Thirst indicators to be hidden if subtitles triggered at the same time.
  
• [UI] Map Filter Labels will now only appear when selected.
  

• [Gameplay] Items left in a cooking slot will now properly cool when the fire has burnt out.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed issue that would cause Players to become stuck if they entered placement on Inedible Burned Stuff.
  

Weve released our v1.81 (64098) Hotfix for WINTER'S EMBRACE. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 v1.81 (64098) CHANGELIST


KNOWN ISSUES

GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Disabled Save performance improvements as they caused some Players sessions to enter an unsavable state. As a result of reverting these changes you may notice a slight pause when saving. We are continuing to investigate the cause of this.
  
• [General] Introduced several safeguards against a potential crash.
  
• [General] Fixed duplicate cargo containers appearing in Timberwolf Mountain, while playing the WINTERS EMBRACE event.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed large sheet of ice blocking the cave entrance found at the top of Timberwolf Mountain.
  
• [Envrio] Fixed missing computer monitor that contained a Buffer Memory, found in the Camp Office.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed missing computer monitor that contained a Buffer Memory, found in the Rural Store.
  

Weve released our v1.80 (63997) Hotfix for WINTER'S EMBRACE to turn off Cabin Fever for players while participating in the Event.If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark please visit ourSupport 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 v1.80 (63997) CHANGELIST



GENERAL FIXES

• [General] Cabin Fever disabled when playing WINTERS EMBRACE
  
• [General] Players who are currently suffering from Cabin Fever while playing Winters Embrace will automatically recover after loading their WINTERS EMBRACE save.
  

Hello players,

Were excited to share our new month-long event in The Long Dark. Running from 10am Pacific on Monday June 29th, and lasting until July 31st at 10am PST, WINTERS EMBRACE makes the harsh Winter environment of Great Bear Island even harsher, with:

• Average world temperature is reduced by 10 degrees Celsius
  
• Interior temperatures are reduced by 10 degrees Celsius
  
• More frequent, and longer-lasting Blizzards
  

• Maple Syrup
  
• Ketchup Chips
  

• Canadian Feast: Find and consume 25 bottles of Maple Syrup and 25 bags of Ketchup Chips across multiple saves while WINTERS EMBRACE is active.
  
• Winter in July: Survive 25 consecutive days across a single WINTERs EMBRACE save, while the event is active.
  

• Added WINTERS EMBRACE Content & Event.
  

• [General] Added collision to the car's hood, so the Battery can no longer be interacted with through a closed hood.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed various floating or clipping objects found throughout the world.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas where small chunks of rock appeared to unintentionally push through the snow.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas Players could become stuck on terrain.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed issue that caused Backpacks to clip into objects they were placed against.
  
• [Enviro] When spray painting the hood of a truck, the decal will no longer clip through the snow.
  

• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Pleasant Valleys Prepper Cache map icon to not appear on the map after discovery.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused an incorrect UI callout to appear after lighting a Match, and then opening and closing the Inventory.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from editing Rock Cache notes when using a controller.
  
• [UI] Fixed overlapping between Stamina UI and Spray Paint UI.
  
• [UI] FIxed an issue that caused Mysterious Signal Fire to appear twice when viewing Surveyed Locations in the Journal.
  
• [UI] FIxed an issue that caused the Map screens help to appear too low on the screen, cutting off text.
  

• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused clothing to become wet when left in the Trailers found next to the Cannery.
  
• [Gameplay] Spray Paint Cans weight and durability now decrease at the same rate when used.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that prevented Timberwolves Pack Morale from being drained when using the Flashlights high beam.
  

• [WINTERMUTE] Timberwolves will now react to the Flashlight when appearing in WINTERMUTE.
  

• Fixed an issue that prevented feathers from spawning on carcasses after long amounts of time have passed.
  
• Removed duplicated polaroid found in the FM Shortwave Tower, in the Forlorn Muskeg region.
  

Weve released our v1.78 Hotfix for FEARLESS NAVIGATOR. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 v1.78 (62973) CHANGELIST


GENERAL FIXES

• [General] When spraying a Marker with Spray Paint, after shooting a Wolf, the sprayed Marker will no longer appear as a blood drip texture.
  
• [General] Improved stability for Players who were crashing when transitioning from between exteriors to an interior, and vice versa.
  
• [General] Faithful Cartographer Achievement now updates progress correctly, when loading a save file from version 1.75 or earlier.
  
• [General] Removed erroneous output in the debug logs, when inserting a Steam Controller
  
• [General] Improved framerate while inspecting an item.
  
• [General] Draw distance on the First Aid Kit increased, so it no longer appears to pop-in to the world.

• [Enviro] Burnt out cabins now properly show bullet hole decals, after being shot.
  
• [Enviro] Collision polish pass throughout all regions, to remove superfluous collision.
  
• [Enviro] Microwave door state is now restored correctly, when reloading a save.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed a number of locations where the Player could become stuck on the terrain.
  

• [UI] Players can now scroll using the mouse wheel, or clicking on the scroll bar, when viewing the Rock Cache page, in the Journal
  
• [UI] Improved how Markers on the map are clustered together, to reduce crowding.
  
• [UI] Spray Paint Marker localization is now properly updated, when changing the in-game language.
  
• [UI] Discovered locations are now tracked correctly when viewing the Locations Discovered page in the Journal.
  
• [UI] Total available Notes displayed on the Collections page, in the Journal, updated to show the correct total available.
  

• [All Modes] Meat now decays at the correct rate, when stored in a Rock Cache.
  
• [All Modes] Rock Caches can no longer be placed inside a building, by standing outside of the building and entering placement mode.
  
• [All Modes] Crafting Ammo now requires light as intended. Players will no longer be able to craft Ammo without a light source.
  
• [All Modes] When throwing a physics based object, such as a flare, it will no longer appear to stutter.
  
• [All Modes] If the Player enters and exits the Crafting Menu while holding a Lantern, the Lantern is no longer hidden from view.
  

• [Survival] Bleak Inlet Polaroid will no longer spawn in the Quonset Garage, as it was unintended.
  

At Hinterland, we value the diversity of our community of millions across the world. We also value the diversity of the game industry, and the strength of our medium to represent different points of view.

We look on in pain at the current violence erupting against Black people across the United States, and also reflect on the racism that exists in our own country.

We acknowledge that it isnt enough to simply not be racist. We have to actively work to be anti-racist, and to intentionally dismantle the racist structures that we as privileged people are often not even aware of. We also know this statement is just the beginning of the work we must do.

To turn words into concrete action, we have made financial donations to the following organizations: Black Lives Matter (US org), Black Lives Matter (Vancouver chapter), and Minnesota Freedom Fund.
We stand in solidarity with the Black community.

#blacklivesmatter

I believe that creators must be the custodians of their own content, and that developers should be able to determine for themselves which platforms their games are experienced on. In fact, I strongly believe that the continued vibrancy of the independent games industry depends on us being masters of our own destiny.

Back in March I decided to remove The Long Dark from NVIDIAs GeForce NOW game streaming platform, as I disagreed with our game being incorporated into the service without our consent. We discussed our position with NVIDIA, which they respected. This week, NVIDIA announced they are shifting to an opt-in program for getting games onto GeForce NOW. This means developers now fully control whether or not their games appear on the platform. Im thrilled to see NVIDIA move to this model as its best for everyone for players, for the platform, and for the developers who create the games you love.

Accessibility is important to us. GeForce NOW is a great service that offers players with low-spec or incompatible hardware the chance to play the games that might otherwise be out of reach, and were happy to announce that were bringing The Long Dark back to GeForce NOW, effective immediately.

I applaud NVIDIA for embracing this opt-in approach, and for their support of independent creators like Hinterland. I also support any developers who choose, for their own reasons, to withhold their games from any platform, and I hope you will respect their decisions to do so as well. Developer choice is at the heart of a strong independent games industry.

Sincerely,

Raphael van Lierop
Founder & CEO
Hinterland

Weve released our v1.77 Hotfix for FEARLESS NAVIGATOR. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 v1.77 (62748) CHANGELIST


KNOWN ISSUES

Were currently investigating an issue that results in some locations not appearing in the Journal, when viewing the Faithful Cartographers achievement progress. A full list of all locations can be found here.

GENERAL FIXES

• [General] When using a Spray Can to place a symbol, quickly selecting Erase while still spraying will no longer cause a soft lock.
  
• [General] Cap on the Spray Can will now match the colour of the Spray Paint.
  
• [General] Windows found on the Forestry Lookout can no longer have Spray Paint applied to them.
  
• [General] Spray Paint will no longer clip through snow, when sprayed on picnic tables.
  
• [General] Added additional checks to ensure Players can not exit the game while a save is in progress.
  

• [Enviro] Fixed an issue in the Mystery Lake to Mountain Town transition that caused invisible collision to spawn, blocking the Player.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed an issue in Mystery Lake that caused some logs to appear to pop into the world.
  
• [Enviro] The Milton Park Notice Board now checks for collision when retrieving a Polaroid, preventing the Player from being able to interact with the Polaroid from an invalid direction.
  

• [UI] When building a new Rock Cache, errant text will no longer appear briefly on the screen.
  
• [UI] When editing Rock Cache Notes, in the Journal, the character limit is now properly enforced.
  
• [UI] When editing Rock Cache Notes, in the Journal, the Player can now use backspace to delete previously written content, as intended.
  
• [UI] When viewing the Journal, the scroll bar will now animate correctly when scrolling through content.
  
• [UI] When viewing Rock Cache Notes, in the Journal, the Edit option will no longer appear unless there is content to edit.
  
• [UI] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from editing previously written Rock Cache Notes, in the Journal.
  
• [UI] When viewing the Map, the Player no longer has to press Escape twice if they try to exit the Map, while having the cursor over a cluster of icons.
  
• [UI] Fixed overlapping UI when inspecting a Polaroid.
  
• [UI] When deleting a Rock Cache icon cluster on the Map, Delete All now properly removes all associated icons from the Map.
  
• [UI] Text size has been increased on warning messages as it was appearing too small.
  
• [UI] Fixed overlapping Text and Button icons found on the Map, when using a controller.
  
• [UI] Fixed incorrect Map cons for the Coastal Houses found in Coastal Highway.
  
• [UI] When Spray Painting in a previously surveyed area, the New Area Surveyed on Map message will no longer erroneously appear.
  
• [UI] Indoor markers will no longer appear on outdoor maps, after spray painting certain buildings.
  

• [All Modes] A Full Moon during a Snow Storm will no longer allow the Player to perform actions such as crafting or reading a research book.
  
• [Audio] Fixed missing wind sound effects during a Blizzard.
  
• [All Modes] Surveying is restricted during low visibility weather, as intended.
  

• [General] Spray Paint Markers will now appear correctly on the map.
  

Hello Community,

Weve just updated The Long Dark to v1.76 (62505) FEARLESS NAVIGATOR.

For a detailed breakdown of the new features and changes, please review the latest Update video.

[previewyoutube=WBpMFegfykw;full][/previewyoutube]

Full Release Notes are available below.

SURVIVAL MARKERS

Find Spray Cans in the world. Leave markers identifying important survival information such as the location of supplies or dangerous places to avoid. These in-world indicators appear on your map so that you can find things back even days or weeks after youve left a region.

ROCK CACHES

Build a landmark to help you navigate, and create emergency supply caches along commonly travelled routes. Review your Caches in the Journal, and leave notes on what youve stored in them so you can find vital tools or resources in the future.

VISTA SURVEYS

Hard to find Polaroids in the world indicate locations that offer sweeping Vista views of a region. Get to those locations and Survey them to reveal the majority of a regions map!

IMPROVED CHARCOAL SURVEY

The Charcoal Survey action now reveals an enhanced radius on the Map. Surveying from higher altitudes now increases how much of the Map is revealed.

MAP & JOURNAL IMPROVEMENTS

Turn layers of information on and off in the Map. Locate and rename Rock Caches. Keep track of all Surveyed locations to know if youve found them all. Especially useful if you are hunting locations for the Faithful Cartographer achievement.

TELEMETRY & QUALITY OF LIFE

New Autowalk accessibility feature ensures comfort for players with hand or wrist issues. New Opt-in Telemetry gathers gameplay data the development team will use to inform future balance and feature development efforts (Note: Telemetry is defaulted to OFF and needs to be turned on in the Options>Privacy settings.)

in addition to the dozens of general improvements listed below.



*****



THE LONG DARK v1.76 (62505) CHANGELIST



KNOWN ISSUES

These are issues were currently tracking and will be addressing in an upcoming hotfix:

• [UI] When viewing the Rock Cache Notes in your Journal, the scroll bar will not scroll.
  
• [UI] When viewing the Rock Cache Notes in your Journal, the edit button will appear, even if there are no notes to edit.
  
• [Audio] Sometimes during a blizzard, ambient wind sounds may become muted.
  

• [General] Fixed stuttering when looking towards Wolves, while in Milton.
  
• [General] Fixed null exception that would occur when lighting the Pot Belly Stove.
  
• [General] Bear sound effects no longer play when a carcass is removed from the world.
  
• [General] Updated Steam Controller profile.
  
• [General] Fixed an issue that prevented Players from being able to save or load their game if the save contained invalid data.
  

• [Enviro] Numerous optimizations to improve performance.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas the player could become stuck in.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous areas the player could get outside of the intended play area.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed numerous clipping and floating objects.
  
• [Enviro] Performed various optimizations to avoid texture popping.
  
• [Enviro] Added casting shadows to numerous trees.
  
• [Enviro] Improvements to item placement system to reduce frequency of out of reach items.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed many minor art bugs to improve general polish in Bleak Inlet region.
  
• [Enviro] Environment art polish to improve sight-lines between major visual landmarks in Bleak Inlet.
  
• [Enviro] Removed extra window outlines that could appear on Trailers.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed several instances of trees placed incorrectly in Coastal Highway.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed several instances of collision being incorrect on porches in the Milton townsite.
  

• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused icons on the Map to no longer populate, after mapping or discovering a large number of locations.
  
• [UI] Updated alignment on help text to make it consistent.
  
• [UI] Added missing Map icons found in the Town of Milton.
  
• [UI] Added missing Map icon hover text, when viewing the Derailment in the Ravine Crummy.
  
• [UI] Fixed missing UI elements when viewing notes, while the HUD is disabled.
  
• [UI] Fixed an incorrect tooltip found in Options->Display menu.
  
• [UI] Cooking UI now displays updated weight of items, instead of always showing the base weight.
  
• [UI] Added Audio options for selecting Headphones or Speakers.
  
• [UI] Fixed incorrectly named transitions areas on the Bleak Inlet Map.
  
• [UI] Updated labels on transition zones to be more consistent.
  
• [UI] When Crafting Tinder Plugs, the craft value will no longer appear as Rounds.
  
• [UI] Updated scroll bars to work consistently across all menus.
  
• [UI] Removed an extraneous line in the Skills menu.
  
• [Loc] Fixed multiple instances of overlapping Russian text.
  

• [All Modes] Added Lost and Found boxes to all remaining scenes.
  
• [Gameplay] Players will no longer lose Stamina if they are holding shift, while lighting or extinguishing a Lantern.
  
• [Gameplay] Replaced the non-interactable stack of papers found on the Workbench, with an interactable version.
  
• [Gameplay] The Cooking Pot now provides the correct bonus when cooking meat.
  
• [Gameplay] Breaking down items will no longer cause nearby gear items to drop through the ground.
  
• [Gameplay] Updated the water in the Mine Tunnels to deal less cold damage.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed bug where Revolver Bullet weight changed when added to your inventory.
  
• [Gameplay] Improved moving items to the Lost and Found box, if they have fallen outside of the world.
  

• [WINTERMUTE] Completing an Episode 1 or Episode 2 Side Missions now displays a completion message.
  
• [EPISODE THREE] Fixed an issue in the Mine exiting Pleasant Valley, where players would be repositioned after reloading a saved game.
  
• [EPISODE THREE] Added missing foley to the second part of the Mine Tremor cinematic.
  
• [EPISODE THREE] IDs are now removed from the Players inventory when completing the Fallen Star mission in Episode Three .
  
• [EPISODE THREE] Removed access to Timberwolf Mountain from Pleasant Valley.
  
• [EPISODE THREE] Fixed the spawn condition of the Revolver found in Mollys basement.
  

• [Survival] Fixed incorrect spawn rate for the Prepper Cache found in Pleasant Valley.
  
• [Survival] All cabins now display smoke coming out of their chimney, when a fire is lit inside.
  
• [Survival] When sleeping, the save file screenshot will now occur after the player transitions from sleep, instead of during the transition.
  
• [Survival] Players can now place a Rifle on the gun rack found in the Hunting Lodge.
  
• [Survival] Cancelling while drinking Coffee will now award the appropriate amount of progress to the Straight to the Heart Feat.
  
• [Survival] Pre-Spawned campfires will no longer respawn, when loading a save where they were previously broken down.
  
• [Saves] Implemented a check to force the Aurora to be enabled on Survival Mode save files created prior to the Aurora being enabled.
  

Hello everyone,

I hope youre all doing well in these strange times we find ourselves in. Its time to update you on some of the goings-on at Hinterland these days.

COVID-19

Like many of you, our entire team is currently in Lockdown. British Columbia was one of the earliest Canadian provinces to have verified cases of COVID-19, back in January, so we were pretty aggressive in shutting down the physical studio. We had everyone work from home for half of February, and then by the first week of March we decided to just shut it down for at least a few months (back then everyone was still thinking week-to-week and this was tricky for planning so we figured it would be less disruptive just to assume wed all work from home for at least a few months). Weve all been doing this for about eight weeks now so that few months is probably going to end up being a few months more than that. I dont expect us to go back to working in the studio until the Fall or later. Even when it becomes safe to start slowly re-integrating into our old lives (as much as that will even be possible), our priority will continue to be ensuring our team is safe and protected. We wont go back to work in the studio until we know we can ensure our staff will be safe.

Were pretty fortunate that our work can be done largely virtually, although we do miss sharing time together in our physical workspace. During pre-COVID times, everyone at Hinterland had the option to work from home a couple of days per week, so everyone was already well equipped with home offices and our internal communications and development tools were already set up to support working from home. As a result, this transition hasnt been as disruptive for us as it has been for a lot of businesses.

That said, Id be lying if I said the lockdown situation hasnt impacted the team or our production. We all suddenly find ourselves working from home, with our kids and families around us, worried about their safety, access to supplies, what school will look like this year, what itll look like next year, and how this global situation may change how we live and work togetherpotentially forever.

We were able to add a counselling component to our employee benefits package, which gives the team access to professional support if they feel like they need to talk to someone. We also got everyone on the team an annual pass for MasterClass, and weve set up Zoom rooms for things like a Friday Happy Hour hangout. Theres been a lot more sharing around hobbies and personal interests and its been great to see how everyone has pulled together to support each other.

Weve been thinking about the world at large, and the disadvantaged people who are most affected by this situation. Earlier this month, we ran a fundraiser on Steam to raise money for the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organizations fight against the spread of COVID-19. We donated 100% of the proceeds from that sale (including the 30% platform cut) and managed to raise nearly $200,000 to put towards these global efforts. One of our core values is taking care of others, and we feel really fortunate to be able to harness the work we do the creation of video games into something that can make a positive contribution in this challenging world. It makes us feel a little less helpless, I guess.



Weve also been thinking a lot about you, our players. We know a lot of you are feeling trapped at home, and so weve been trying to keep you engaged by running various activities on our social channels, including game key give-aways, and suggestions for ways to make the most of Social Distancing. Weve also been working on some new game content to keep you occupied.


NEXT SURVIVAL UPDATE

The team has been working on a Navigation-themed update to Survival Mode. Without spoiling things too much, I can tell you that its a suite of new features that will enhance the usefulness of the in-game Map, without sacrificing our current Landmark-based navigation paradigm. Also, the new features will all be optional, so any players who enjoy the game as it currently is can choose to ignore them. Were also finally adding an Autowalk accessibility feature, as this has been requested by various players in our community who struggle to play the game without this functionality.

The team is currently tracking towards a mid-May release for the next update. Well share more details as we get closer, so make sure you follow the studio accounts if you want to see those. As always, well release a fully narrated update video along with the update launch, to help explain how some of the new features work.


EPISODE FOUR

The team has also been hard at work on Episode Four, since wrapping up the Episode Three launch at the end of last year. I spent the first couple of months of the year completing the outlines for Episodes Four and Five to make sure we wrap things up in a satisfying way, and also leave some questions for the future. Since I completed those, the team has been working on creating the Episode Four mission content and world assets since then. In Episode Four, we also take up some of the hints we laid out in Episode Three, and begin answering some of those questions and mysteries.

One unexpected issue weve encountered due to the COVID situation is that we dont currently have a good way to create our story content, like cinematic sequences or dialogue mode, as these depend on being able to get into the studio with our actors, record their performances, and then process those performances into data that we can then apply to the 3D characters. Weve been working on some fallback plans to figure out how to do as much of this as we can while maintaining social distancing, but this will definitely put us behind schedule. Were still aiming to get Episode Four out this year but were not committing to any specific dates at the moment, because were still trying to understand how this will impact our production schedule.

In any case, well keep you apprised of our general progress. For the time being, Ive focused the team on what they need to do to stay healthy and to take care of themselves and their families, while doing the best to continue making progress towards our shared goals. Our plan is still based on delivering Episode Four in 2020, and well continue to work towards that.


MOD TOOLS

As an update on this topic thats popular amongst some people in our player community, weve created a small internal team to focus on carrying out our Mod Support/User Generated Content strategy for The Long Dark. Weve also been working on a global strategy for the studio, so that the effort we put into mod support/UGC for The Long Dark extends into the future as well.

The first step is to outline what we believe the right kind of modifications and user-created content types we can support with the game, as the engine (Unity) and the game itself were not really designed with Modding in mind. Weve also begun to identify the tools and technology well need to create to support this effort. When the time is right, we will present our plan and begin consulting with the community to learn more about what you would like to see out of our Mod Support efforts. While we may not be able to do everything you want, well do our best.


MAILBAG



Many of you might have followed my (almost) weekly Milton Mailbag post in the official forums. Unfortunately, due to the weekly time commitment required (each Mailbag post typically took me 2-3 hours to put together), I wasnt able to maintain regular updates as we were finalizing Episode Three, and I just havent been able to justify the time since then, for the relatively small number of people (around 1,000-1,500 per entry) who would read the posts. But, I still want to respond to questions and engage with you around The Long Dark I just need to find a more efficient/effective way to do this. One option we are considering is switching this to a video format essentially, I would put together a video (it would not be anything fancy, as Id be recording it in my home office) on a monthly basis (more often if were able), where I respond to 3-5 community questions. I might not end up going into as much detail in this format, and I may not be able to respond to 20-30 questions each week, but I think this will be a pace and time commitment I can sustain. If any of you would like to see the Mailbag become a regular video segment on our YouTube channel, please let us know on social or in the forums.


SWITCH VERSION

Not much to say here. The game is pretty much ready to go, apart from performance. Were still working on that, trying to hit a reliable 30 frames-per-second in all areas.


XBOX GAME PASS

We recently brought The Long Dark to Xbox Game Pass. This is an evolution of our ongoing relationship with Microsoft, going back to helping them launch the Game Preview program back in 2015. Were excited to welcome a new generation of Xbox players into our community, and we look forward to learning more about the specific pros and cons of having a game inside a subscription service. While I have concerns about what this business model might mean for independent developers like Hinterland, Microsoft has been a great, respectful partner for us over the years and were excited to bring the game to a new audience while also gaining some key learnings well need as we adapt to new industry business models in the future.

To any Xbox Game Pass subscribers reading this dev diary right now welcome! We hope youll stick around for the long term. Please join us in our Official Community, sit by the fire, and stay a while.

###

Thats pretty much it for this instalment of my Dev Diary. Keep your eyes peeled for the May Survival Update. It should land in the second half of the month. Apart from that, if you want to stay abreast of the goings on at Hinterland, please feel free to sign up for our newsletter, join our Official Community, or follow our social channels.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the next update!

Raph

We all have to do our part to fight the spread of COVID-19. To that end, we are proud to have raised $194,619 USD through our recent Social Distancing Fundraiser on Steam, to support the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organizations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.

In the face of this global pandemic, we all have to do our part to support each other, and this is a time where game studios and the experiences we create can make a real difference in peoples lives, said Raphael van Lierop, Hinterland Founder & CEO. Were proud to be able to donate 100% of the revenue from this Fundraiser, and to join other world-leading brands in the fight against this terrible virus.

With the original pledge being for $100k USD, the fundraiser ended up raising $194,619 USD, the amount which Hinterland is donating 100% (including covering the 30% platform royalty) in order to maximize the impact.

This infographic illustrates the breakdown of how donations are being allocated by the WHO so far. Hinterlands contribution will help the WHO to understand how the virus spreads, provide patients the critical care they need, and also supports frontline workers with essential supplies and information.

We launched the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund seeking support for the World Health Organizations life-saving global response, said Elizabeth Cousens, President & CEO of the UN Foundation. We are thankful that donors big and small have answered that call. And, we are grateful to Hinterland for generously increasing their original donation to do even more good.

Our thanks goes to our community of players, and all those who bought The Long Dark to contribute to their crucial work to combat this pandemic.

The Hinterland Team

We all have to do our part to help in the global fight against the spread of COVID-19. Hinterland is partnering with the United Nations Foundation to raise money for the World Health Organizations COVID-19 response.

For one week starting Tuesday, March 24th at 10AM Pacific, you can fight your own cabin fever by buying The Long Dark for 60% off during our special Social Distancing Fundraiser on Steam. All our revenue from the fundraiser goes directly to the United Nations Foundations COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

"This urgent moment calls for urgent global cooperation, said Elizabeth Cousens, President & CEO of the UN Foundation. And we need everyone across all sectors to work together. I am grateful to Hinterland for contributing to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization. Their donation will help make sure health workers on the frontlines have the tools they need to prevent, detect, and respond to this pandemic.

Please share news of this fundraiser amongst your network, as every dollar we raise will make a difference in the fight against this global pandemic. Thank you for your support. Please remember to stay safe during this time, practice social distancing, and wash your hands! We can get through this, together.

Raphael van Lierop
Founder/CEO
Hinterland

Hello community,

So far in 2020 weve released four Hotfixes for The Long Dark's ERRANT PILGRIM Update. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 ).

If you have any other questions or are just curious to know more about the game, please also consider joining our weekly Milton Mailbag Q&A.


FEBRUARY 5th, 2020 - CHANGELIST v1.74 [58755]

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed an issue that caused items to fall through the ground, when breaking down a nearby object.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some items to fall through the ground when transitioning between locations.
  
• Added check to the Lost & Found Box to recover inaccessible items that were lost when breaking down an object or after a transition.
  
• Added additional checks to the Lost and Found Box to avoid moving invalid items to it.
  

• [EP2] Fixed a crash that could occur when the Old Bear charges at the Player, if they had taken a specific path through the cave prior to the encounter.
  
• [General] Fixed a crash that could occur during an active Aurora.
  

• Press confirm to return to the main menu." to appear, after performing a transition.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused foods cooking progress to reset after the Player performs a transition.
  
• Fixed a crash that could occur if a Stag or Rabbit was removed from the world, while being chased by a Predator.
  

• [Enviro] All Regions - Fixed numerous areas where the Player could become stuck.
  
• [Enviro] All Regions - Additional pass for locations where the Player could get outside of the intended play area.
  
• [Enviro] All Regions - Fixed various clipping and floating objects.
  
• [Enviro] All Regions - Fixe numerous texture pop, stretch and flickering issues.
  
• [Enviro] Windows will no longer glow during the night.
  
• [Enviro] Fixed an issue that caused Players to teleport, if they fell off the rope climb in Bleak Inlet.
  
• [Enviro] All Regions - Fixed a variety of floating and clipping objects.
  
• [Lighting] Fixed an issue that caused corrupted lighting to appear on various objects in the world.
  

• [UI] Fixed an issue that caused the Episode 1 intro cinematic to freeze, if the Voice or Master volume slider was set to 0.
  
• [UI] When repairing at the Milling Machine, the correct repaired condition is now shown.
  
• [UI] Fixed missing line break in Bleak Inlet description.
  
• [UI] Updated the Forlorn Muskeg description to include the Bleak Inlet transition.
  
• [UI] Updated localization and fixed typos.
  
• [UI] Full Lantern Fuel now properly displays correct weight
  

• [EP2] Added additional checks to ensure the Old Bear does not become stuck.
  
• [EP2] Aurora lights now appear properly after the Old Bear knocks over the tram.
  
• [EP3] Players can no longer skip the Timberwolf Tutorial, by placing a survivor at the same time the tutorial triggers.
  
• [EP3] Fishing sound effects no longer persist after catching the Big Bass.
  
• [EP3] Players can no longer get stuck after the Mine Collapse cinematic.
  
• [EP3] When loading a save at the Mine entrance, the crates will no longer appear in new locations.
  

• [AI] Stags now animate correctly after being felled by a Wolf.
  
• [AI] Fixed an issue that allowed Timberwolves to become hostile, regardless of game mode settings.
  
• [AI] Fixed an issue that could cause Wildlife to slide under certain terrain, such as ice and steep hills.
  
• [AI] Polished Stag and Wolf animations and transitions.
  
• [AI] Wolves will no longer attack immediately after completing a Crafting or Harvesting action, while near a fire.
  
• [AI] Fixed issue that prevented Timberwolves from attacking the Player, if they have entered and exited a vehicle.
  
• [AI] Timberwolves will now only pick valid locations to wander to, preventing them from becoming stuck.
  
• [AI] Add check to ensure Wildlife is always on navmesh.
  
• [Gameplay] Updated the location count for Faithful Cartographer to include missing Mountain Town locations.
  
• [Gameplay] Interrupted Progress made while repairing an item with the Milling Machine is now saved as progress, instead of repaired condition.
  
• [Gameplay] When reloading a Revolver in a vehicle, the casings now stay in the car.
  
• [Gameplay] Lost and Found Box added to Bleak Inlet.
  
• [Gameplay] Stags now check for collision when falling after death, to avoid falling into objects.
  
• [Gameplay] Torches pulled from fires will now properly randomize their condition.
  
• [Gameplay] Tea will no longer remain hot forever.
  
• [Gameplay] Added check to ensure equipped items used in crafting are unequipped correctly after crafting is complete.
  
• [Gameplay] When harvesting shelves, unrelated items will no longer drop to the floor.
  
• [Gameplay] Added additional checks to ensure Badges and Feats are not removed when moving between game versions.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that caused unusable items to appear in the Lost and Found box.
  
• [Gameplay] Added additional check to ensure Wildlife conditions persist after exiting and re-entering a Region.
  
• [Gameplay] Fixed an issue that prevented Rifles from being placed on gun racks.
  
• [Gameplay] User can longer perform Fix or Repair actions when in the dark, as intended.
  
• [Custom Mode] Bullets now spawn correctly, when Low Availability Resources is enabled, in Custom Mode.
  

Hello community,

Weve released hotfix 1.74. If you encounter any issues while playing The Long Dark 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 ).

If you have any other questions or are just curious to know more about the game, please also consider joining our weekly Milton Mailbag Q&A.


CHANGELIST v1.74 [58755]

GENERAL FIXES

• Fixed an issue that caused items to fall through the ground, when breaking down a nearby object.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some items to fall through the ground when transitioning between locations.
  
• Added check to the Lost & Found Box to recover inaccessible items that were lost when breaking down an object or after a transition.
  
• Added additional checks to the Lost and Found Box to avoid moving invalid items to it.