The Long Dark

[Dark Drakan]

I was asking on Twitter for some survival game recommendations and this name was suggested to me so I looked into it and have to say that it sounds intriguing. Its another promising sounding early access title and is being developed by a newly formed Canadian game studio called Hinterland Studio. The studio is consists of Raphael van Lierop, who was the producer of Company of Heroes, narrative director of Far Cry 3, and director of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Among his team are Alan Lawrance, technical director for Saints Row and Red Faction, Hokyo Lim, art director for League of Legends, Marianne Krawczyk, writer for the God of War series, and David Chan, audio producer for Mass Effect and the Baldur's Gate series. In September 2014, Ken Rolston, former lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind joined the game's production team. The voice cast for the game includes Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale, David Hayter, and Elias Toufexis.

OFFICIAL SITE

The game takes place in the frigid Canadian wilderness where the player is a crash-landed bush pilot struggling to survive after a global disaster. The gameplay is stated by the developers to be a "survival simulation that accounts for body temperature, caloric intake, hunger/thirst, fatigue, wind-chill, wildlife, and a host of other environmental factors. The game was funded through Kickstarter in October 2013 and has received some VERY positive reviews.

There are two game modes available to the player, Story mode and Sandbox mode. Story mode will be episodic and is planned to be released late 2014.

For the game's alpha release, the Sandbox mode was made available for play. Sandbox mode allows the player to start off at a random spawn within the first released map called "Mystery Lake". The objective is for the player to survive as long as possible by scavenging and utilizing whatever resources they may find within the world. This includes commodities such as food, water, firewood, medicine, and tools such as weapons, axes, knives and a host of other items. Wildlife is also present, such as deer and wolves, the former which can be hunted for food, and the latter of which is a constant threat to the player as they venture outside. All items and wildlife are randomly spawned for every new game, so no two games will be alike for the player. Tools and items degrade over time, forcing the player to make careful decisions in regards to their condition and their eventual need for repair. Fire, being a primary component, is necessary for warmth and cooking. The player has to forage for wood and fuel on a regular basis to stay alive.

The player can also get sick from food poisoning and disease. The game simulates temperature and windchill, both of which are random during every playthrough, encouraging the player to carefully monitor the weather at all times to prevent death from exposure. The save game system enforces careful decision making by the player as they are only allowed to save when they enter a building or go to sleep in the game. When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game.
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