The Long Dark

One of the best survival games out there, I enjoy the wilderness, the struggle, the frustration. I guess I truly like to suffer and/or challenge myself. Do not worry, you can choose the level of difficulty. Story mode is great too. Thank you for this masterpiece and for understanding what survival junkies want.

Alright lads, lets be honest here.

The game is extremely boring. There's nothing going for it.
it's basically an over glorified walking simulator that has some item management mixed in it.

The game play loop can basically be summed up to "Go from point A to B, shoot the occasional wolves you encounter. OH and of course don't freeze, starve, etc..."

Now that wouldn't have been so bad if the map wasn't so fuqin big, and empty. It would have been fine if there were any activities that you could do in between the travelling, but nope, nothing, apart from looting some of the houses, cabins, cars you find along the way and even then, there's nothing interesting inside them. OH and did I tell you that travelling from A to B takes at minimum 30 mins? more actually since you're character gets fatigued and cold which you'd have to manage as well.

What pisses me off the most is that the game has so much potential. It manages to catch this perfectly oppressive atmosphere that reminds me of something like silent hill and the last of us. The only problem is there's nothing to capitalize on it. It's like building the best stage in the world but forgetting to hire the performers.

Imagine, you just coming out of your base after 3 days of a blizzard, your supplies are low, and you're trekking through the snow, having not seen a single wolf, deer, rabbit or anything. The area is quiet then suddenly somebody takes a pot shot out of you and now its a fight for your life against another survivor. Can you imagine how much adrenaline that would be?

Maybe you're searching one of the cabins then move QTE, a survivor enters a struggle with you, after winning you can either kill them and take their loot, or spare them and trade with them, depending on your play style.

Hell, lets say the devs forgo combat for exploration, there's nothing to explore, yes there are caves, yes there are places of interest, but there's no reward for exploring them, there's no unique item, no story to latch on to, just the same assets used over and over again.

There's about 5 animals in the game. The most common rabbit, dear, and wolves. The main enemy the bear, and in my entire play through I've only seen one of, the moose. That's it. If the devs were focused on exploration at least add more to the wild life.

overall the game has potential but is extremely bare bones.
There's three solutions that the devs could implement here.

1. If the devs actually cared about making a game, they'd add more interactions; Survivors, more hostile animals, more story telling through the world. (You'd see the bodies of a family inside a car with a revolver in the ground) something like that

2. If the devs are short on time or resources then the most optimal solution is to make the map smaller OR make the charater walk faster.

3. and if the devs can't be bothered. just make the sound track play more often.

BUT I doubt any of these would be implemented or if any additions would be made at all. Rumors in the grapevine is that the devs are already working on a sequel when their first game isn't even finished.

Story mode is tedious with meh writing. For those of you saying that I should play the survival mode or the game was meant to be played survivor mode, I did. It's extremely boring, the story was what added the smallest amount of interest to the game, why would I remove it?



TLDR: The game is an extremely boring walking simulator. although I did enjoy the atmosphere for the first 10 hours or so, after that it just became a slog to play through.

IF you want to experience this game yourself, wait till there's a sale and buy it for less than 5 bucks like I did. Anything higher than that is not worth it. This game's pretty empty.

The devs pissed the entire community off by refusing to finish the episodic story DLC before they released a new game and now they're marking all the negative reviews as "off topic" and deleting discussion threads.

Classy.


It's a great game, but even with the massive discount I don't want to encourage you to support Hinterland Studio.

Not a big fan of this one. I wouldn't say all of it is bad but if given two choices, I take the thumbs down.

I'm a huge survival game fan and I'm a 3rd generation wilderness enthusiast, and I'm Canadian. This game had been calling for me for a long time until I gave in.

First of all, the setting is great. Surviving in a harsh, cold environment is a theme that has always been a fascinating topic to me, from Roald Amundsen's real life journeys to the north to movies such as Never Cry Wolf or Into The Wild. Choosing this theme for a game is a really good idea. However what is great about those stories is the ingenious ways one can find to survive. Here, you are very limited in what you can do with your tools. I could craft a thousand more things with what I'm given in this game, and it's frustrating to not be able to fully exploit your imagination and survival techniques to the max. There are many objects or furniture that you could use in various ways in a more complete survival game, but here you can only destroy those with no benefits. You have hacksaws and you can saw metal, but no chainsaws for some odd reason, when in reality every single house owner in Canada, especially in remote regions, has a chainsaw.

Walking on snow without the ability of crafting snowshoes is by far the worst thing ever.

Even control-wise you are limited, as there are no ways to jump, when in reality you will jump and leap all the time while hiking in the wild. This aspect of the game makes me feel like it's unfinished.

Another thing that makes the game feel incomplete: the amount of animal species is extremely small which hurts the gaming experience because at some point after seeing all those rabbits, wolves and bears everywhere all the time, you are reminded that you're playing a game and your immersion ( a key element in such games, in my opinion ) is damaged. So my question is: where are the many other animals that comprise the Canadian forests, knowing that many more could figure in the game's setting? Why are we limited in such a small number of animals in this game when hunting is so important for your survival? Where are the foxes, the otters and many more? It seems that wildlife diversity should be a prime requisite for such games.

The decay of items in this game is all over the place, with canned food decaying at ridiculous speeds ( within days you see them "slowly" decaying ) when in real life you could keep canned food for several years. The idea of storing items goes out the window when you realize this, and it removes a fun part of ANY survival game, which is to create huge stockpiles and just gazing upon them afterwards. The game forces you to play in a semi-nomad manner when in reality a true sandbox open world would actually let you play the way you want, and the very setting of survival within a hostile cold environment would naturally and normally imply sedentarization with few excursions once in a while. Here you can't really stay at the same cabin, because, once again, the game won't let you through its limited crafting and tools, so you can pretty much only use cabins as outposts and going from one to the other in a neverending, excruciatingly long amount of time walking from one place to the other with nothing much to do in-between.

Those involved in the creation of this game have absolutely no knowledge of survival techniques, even less real crafting techniques. You can't make bow strings with intestines, no matter how dry they are...

I often felt like the makers of this game made it based on Canadian stereotypes and lack of understanding of what real Canada is. The vast majority of houses/cabins are the exact same but with different items to loot when in real life any real Canadian knows there's not a single house that looks the same, especially in more remote regions. You stupidly drink entire maple syrups as if it was a bottle of water. There are no snowmobiles. No snowshoes ( I can't stress enough how bad it is to make such a game without giving us snowshoes to wear ), the technology is inexistent except for ( oddly ) broken flat screen TVs so clearly we are in the 21st century and now my question is... Where's the rest of the technology? Are we Canadians really buffoon enough not to have generators, chainsaws, solar power, etc.? Yeah, I don't think so. Putting a tiny Canadian flag on a home doesn't make it any more Canadian to me. This looks more like the deepest confines of Siberia, maybe. Not Canada.

I haven't found anything that reflected our Canadian history or heritage, no historical pieces of evidence that made me think "Oh yes, this is Canada after all" except for the stereotypes. No mention of the first nations whatsoever. French speakers are nonexistent. Oh and by the way, the french translation uses words nobody in french-speaking Canada, from one coast to the other, uses. That translation must've been made either through Google Translate or by some dude from France who believes we go to work by riding our own private moose mount. And to think they got money from Canadian taxpayers to replicate all those stereotypes. Even the wolves aren't spared, and we go back decades ago when the big bad wolves would be part of old wives tales! All we need now is Big Foot, heh!?

Look, it's not that bad. It's fun for what it is. But man, there's just too much bad about it at every nook and cranny. Whenever I enjoy something in this game, there's three more things about that thing that I don't like. It's challenging, and the challenge is fun. They got many things right, such as wind direction and what it implies, changing weather, the music, the sound effects and a few more things, but to me it's not enough to "survive" for a long time in my library. It'll be one of those games I'll play a little then move on. It could've been much, much better.

This game came out as Early Access when i was in highschool.

Today i have graduated college, have 2 kids and i'm getting married next month.
And the game still isn't finished.

I understand that game development takes time, i know because i used to study video game development.
But man, there are devs out there that can cook up stuff good or even better games in a 1 or 2 years.

I'm trying to discover the magic so many people see in The Long Dark, but I just can't find it. It started off promising, giving me vibes very similar to Fallout 3, one of my first and favorite games for exploration. But it just doesn't seem like there's much to do or see.

The most important thing to know is that there's no goal in this game. You have to come up with your own reasons to play and continue to survive. There's a challenge mode that can give you a direction, but it doesn't use the same difficulty settings as the standard sandbox mode.

The environments I experienced, even across different regions, all looked pretty similar to each other with not many points of interest. The only wildlife I've run into are rabbits, deer, wolves, and bears (crows too, but they seem to only ever be airborne). Their number is also pretty sparse (at least on the voyageur difficulty I was playing on) so there's not much to interact with and not much unique scenery to take in during your treks. EDIT: Stalker difficulty's enemy density is much better, but still lacking at times. I also encountered a moose, but nothing more than that.

The mechanics I experienced mostly amounted to scrapping, crafting, cooking, and fishing, all of which are accomplished by confirmation buttons. I think the game would be more engaging and meditative if minigames were involved with some of the day-to-day activities.

So basically most of the gameplay seems to be collect supplies to survive, hole up somewhere to craft and cook, then move on to somewhere else to gather more. Avoid being killed by wildlife and blizzards along the way. Which honestly sounds nice if the game is really immersive. I think the wind effects in this game are amazing, but there's a lot of other things that feel lacking. There's no way to jump or clamber over small obstacles. There's no losing traction on slopes, so when you're climbing too steep of an incline it feels like invisible walls block your way. The art direction is nice in some ways but jarring in others, like the awkward transitions between snow and rocky mountain. Sometimes it's hard to tell what sort of geometry I'm even looking at. Animal animations when turning aren't very smooth. I just can't get immersed.

One of my biggest gripes is the limitations of the map. Somehow when you spray paint a surface, you know exactly where you are on the map. But at any other time you have to guess based on nearby landmarks. Drawing the map with charcoal is a huge pain. It seems to reveal a small area around you based on what your character can see. If you go to a vista location, you can reveal a huge portion of the map, but ONLY if you first collected a polaroid pointing you to that vista. If you haven't found that polaroid somewhere in the world, tough luck. Even though you can see across the entire region, you'll only reveal a small area around you.

There's also a story mode which is nice as an introduction to mechanics, but it's a slow drip of gameplay and mostly involves walking between destinations, so it's quite boring in my opinion. I also can't stand the main voice actor's tone. He's got a nice voice, but his intonation doesn't match the situations he's in. Another hit to immersion.

I don't know, maybe I'm missing something. I'll give it a few more hours' time. But 16 hours in, it still hasn't hooked me.

EDIT: I've since played another 44 hours, this time on one difficulty higher. I admit it grabbed me a lot more this time. I highly recommend playing harder difficulties to keep things interesting.

I was enjoying myself for the most part, but the endless trekking is what finally did this game in for me. Sprinting is discouraged, so if I want to transport most of my unique tools and materials across regions, I'm slowly trudging my way there while overencumbered.

The final straw was when I was trying to cross the Coastal Highway region to get to the Bleak Inlet. I covered the distance from east to west which took what felt like 20 minutes. At the end of it, I discovered the road was blocked by a landslide. Figuring I had to first travel north to the Ravine region and then back south for my destination, I tried heading that way only to find that the lower and upper parts of Coastal Highway are separated by a steep hill that you can't climb. I started trudging back east to find a way up, and nearly ended up back where I started before I finally found a path. Half an hour or more of slow walking, and not once did I run into hostile wildlife or dangerous elements. The game is a huge time sink.

For reference, when I finally quit for good, I was at day 87 of my Stalker run.

My Rating: 2/5

The Long Dark: A Never-Ending Story?

For a game that’s been in development over 10 years, the punchline is that the story is still incomplete. Only four of the five promised episodes are available — and after a decade, Episode Five is still "coming soon." Charming! Early-access backers must feel really special: ten years later and still no ending.

Meanwhile, instead of finishing the game we paid for, Hinterland decided it was a better idea to pump out paid DLC. Nothing says "respect for your players" like selling new content before delivering what you originally promised. Survival mode expansions, story DLCs — you can buy it all now for a nice little bundle! Too bad you can’t buy closure.

This kind of behavior is exactly why people are losing trust in early access games and indie developers. It’s a masterclass in how to turn goodwill into frustration and cynicism.

Glad I didn’t hold my breath waiting for that final chapter.

If you are looking to buy the game because it has the Co-Op tag, as my friend and I did, know that multiplayer does NOT exist officially, only through a third party mod.

This review is NOT to dissuade people from enjoying the single-player experience, only to clarify for those curious about its Co-Op tag.

Amazing game that has no end,
From super loving the game I still have to give it dumb down.
They never finished the main story which was amazing.
It really pains me to give it thumbs down but I will change it if they ever finish it.

One of the most boring games I have ever played, especially for being a survival game. I understand why so many people like it, it's for a very special type of gamers that really just want to enjoy the atmosphere. But the game itself is more of a walking simulator, yes even for being a survival game, than a game itself. Doesn't make your brain go "weee". But it does make your soul go "nice".

Simply can't recommend it for the average gamer tho.

I love the game. My little world to escape the horrors. Very well worked and I have never encountered a bug. But come the f on! - 12 years or so and still don't have the Wintermute chapter 5 finished?! Very very little content has been added in general except for the new map. The game seems abandoned by the devs and more like being used as a sandbox for other projects. For instance, there could be a lot a lot many more animals in the map already. Add lynxes, squirrels, decent weapons, maybe even a vehicle or damn binoculars. The cougar thing was exciting as a new predator was to add to that lack of new fauna... except that there was no actual cougar! Just a timer to get you insta killed if you don't move to another map... Simply adding a handful of recipes does not make up for the time.

I do see very constant updates from devs, but in the game I see very little actually going on.

on sale 90% off for both games? definetly get it. i got it first on epic games for free. but i wanted it on steam too for 3 bucks. it's a game i always come back to, i sometimes get caught up in a 4 hour gaming session. the music is incredible, the immersion is incredible and they keep updating it to this day. and the story mode is amazing. can't wait for episode 5

so yea devs why tf would you pout co-op in the description of the games content and then its not co-op unles you go download mods yea no instant refund

i heard the game was good I still don't know ? so why leave a bad review, well IT WONT LOAD i have done everything i rolled back my drivers cause i knew the 40 cards were having trouble so i went back and the story mode still wont load i cant get past the intro before it crashes . i know its the game cause i tried some of my others and they worked just good so i cant let someone buy this game then have the same issue . ( if they do fix it i will try but i just cant rn )

Kudos to Hinterland, small independent studio that has delivered a truly genre defining, artistic masterpiece. Having, played over a thousand hours, I have to say it has been an exceptional journey in immersive gaming experience.
This game has ambience and depth with two modes, Wintermute, a story-based introduction to the game and mechanics; and survival mode with multiple difficulty levels to challenge your decision making and will. Survival Mode has an expansion DLC called Tales From the far Territory which is a must for hardened survivors that love the freedom to survive and explore the quiet apocalypse with an additional story line and content.
There are survival games and then there are survival game changers, the Long Dark sits in the latter of the genre and it will not disappoint.

i bought this only because it was 90% off and i was under the influence of the movie ARCTIC played by mads mikkelsen
the game is kinda boring for me after my 1 hrs record time / i was looking for dayz type of content only without zombies which i guess i kinda get it but again i feel this game is boring for me ( maybe i lost the will to play survival games ...
i dont like the Bethesda type of loading you click on some old factory door goes into loading opening some car door goes into loading .... i dont like it
the game is unfinished after more then 5 years of development ...
the game performance is really good under low end hardware thanks for that
oh and one other think does this game have jump? i could not find it in the key binding menu

over all i dont like this but i might change my mind in the future

At first it was hard but like after like 30 minutes of playing I understood pretty much everything. This is a fun game if you like survival and exploration.

This was a generally awful new player experience.
I went to play Wintermute because of it's more structured nature (So that I could learn how the game works) because there is no tutorial otherwise. I started dying of Dehydration, Burns, and Hypothermia. By the time I made it to a small town with some supplies I was within an inch of death.

That isn't the bad part, I actually don't mind games that throw you up shit creek without a paddle.

The game became unplayable when I reached extremely low HP, and started to get flung around at Mach-Fuck. It seems there is supposed to be a kind of 'stumble' or 'clumsiness' mechanic when you get low on health, but the force it applies to the player is way out of proportion.

TLDR: Not a good new player experience and it is ROUGH around the edges.

Shitty developers with dubious takes at best and greedy tendencies that only seemingly gets worse over time. The game STILL isn't finished all these years later and yet they have the audacity to claim they're still working on story mode as they pump the game full of mediocre overpriced dlc and a sequel ngl I regret ever buying this slop and no amount of jennifer hale can carry this train wreck of a studio.

Bought it on a steep discount. Couldn't get the game to run at all, which bummed me out. Tried all the developer's troubleshooting tips and still couldn't pass the first disclaimer screen. Even tried a tip allegedly from a dev on Reddit to no avail (from a few years ago which... didn't inspire me). Each consecutive crash was worse than the last, eventually turning my PC off entirely when attempting to launch. That was about it for me. Had to request a refund. No matter how little it cost me, I'm not into solving a problem that shouldn't exist.

Seems like people are really enjoying the game which is great. I just don't have time to fix a game that's been in development for the better part of a decade. Maybe a younger me would have been more determined.

It's been YEARS, and the story still isn't finished. Releasing DLC for an incomplete game and coming out of Early Access unfinished. Meanwhile, they already have a page for The Long Dark 2. I will never support this company again.

I have, what can only be described as an incredibly abusive relationship with The Long Dark.
The game never truly gets easier. You, as the player become bolder, take more risks, make less calculated choices, gamble with your life. All for the sake of just barely eking out a slightly better situation for the next day. Those small advantages compound. Safety for one day, provides for two, then three, then four, soon you have it for a week. Then you become comfortable, complacent in your daily routine as you roam about in areas you've visited a hundred times in your journey.
But this time, a blizzard hits, or a bear has wandered off its path. A pack of wolves that wasn't there before catches you by surprise and its all over.

You have to start again. You grit your teeth, slam your hand against the table and swear your done, that this will be the last time. Months go by, and the game promises you it'll be different. Surely not every run ends like that, it was a mistake. Soon enough, your back into the cycle, trying and failing again and again and again.

There is a good reason that something as simple as surviving 500 days is an achievement. There is a reason, that achievement is a reward.

No game, in my entire history, keeps you on that knife edge of staying alive like The Long Dark. It is an amazing game, and Hinterland has done an outstanding job.

Solid 10/10

Havn't played all of the chapter's. Only had gotten to Chapter 1, But so far its been amazing, equal story rich and survival and I love it. Definitly reccommend

This should have been a walking simulator. I'm in episode 4 and I don't know if I can finish this... The story might be great, memorable, legendary -- but the game is making me *hate* myself for even trying to play. I'm walking through a blizzard at night at 3 mph (that's, idk, around 5 "clicks" per hour... because I'm carrying something big -- it's a plot thing): I'm stuck holding down the "forward" key until I hit impassable terrain and then trying to guess the shortest route around it (the PC's maps are awful... but that's on purpose :jazz-hands:). I'm stuck in a seemingly endless series of phone calls with characters I couldn't care less about, but I have to ask them every. single. question. that's available. I can't just hang up and continue my current quest... because, fun story, the phone calls are supposed to alter my quest line. There is an insanely decreasing sense of agency as the episodes unfold... I don't know if I'll be able to finish.

I think my ultimate review will be: don't bother, go watch someone else struggle (or excel -- I'm not claiming to be a good gamer) on YouTube for free. This might lead to a great story, but the gameplay hates you, the setting hates you, the locals hate you and go out of their way to remind you that you're an outsider and owe them nothing. Don't bother.

Its a great survival game. Very rarely does an art style matter in game, in this one it does, it is beautiful and it really captures something I have yet to find in anything similar. Also all of my hours are on survival, I think i played 5 mins of the campaign.

I love collection stuff, solving puzzles and unfolding the story. I don't like killing things.

To everyone complaining about them making the second game before the first game is done. you should read the dev diaries more specifically oct 17 2024. episode 5 is gonna be done by the end of the year, also its called having two groups of people each working on separate things. enjoy the game its great

This is, in my opinion one of the greatest games ever made.
Games like this you will find once in a decade, if at all.
The 20 bucks i payed for it gives me far more gaming fun than i could expect from any of those big labels like detesta or any other.
Any survival and crafting game will have to measure itself with The Long Dark, though none of them
came equal.

Amazing game that is true to its indie integrity while providing an ever blossoming and immersive story. All of the updates made over the years have truly improved the game and made it a joy to play! The snow, wildlife, and even movement in the game is well thought out and dynamic. The Long Dark is one of my favorite games that I have ever played and is an experience I think everyone should undertake (watch out for bears)!

I'm absolute dogwater at this game and haven't made it past day ten but I'd like to say that this game has unironically helped me build a better relationship with my best friend and my parents

most defently get this game it's super fun. but there is one thing and that is that there is no multiplayer without mods. overall very fun game highly recommend it.

I've played this game for over 1k hours across multiple steam accounts and it is by *far* my favorite game ever. I've been playing since 2018 but watched other people like StacyPlays play the early access version way before then. This game is like my child, honestly

Absolutely wonderful game, lately in life I have been having terrible anxiety, been battling it with myself and loved ones around me, but nothing has helped me more than the game The Long Dark, it just bring me such peace and quiet, I havent even figured out why XD Highly recommend this game if you like survival and outdoors! 10/10 <3

I did enjoy this somewhat and it isn't a bad game or anything.
It just didn't click with me.

My main issues:

1. Its just too dark to be fun. Even Interiors (with windows) during the day are just too dark.
Yes I realize there's ZERO light pollution that far up north in the wilderness and it gets DARK as hell.
Having grown up in the mountains with NO Electricity, I know first-hand just how dark it gets.

2. It's VERY slow. the "loading bar" to do literally anything is just not fun.

3. It feels less of a survival game and more of an inventory management sim.

4. In the 4 hours I played I wasn't able to craft/find ANYTHING to defend myself with.
Wolves and Bears are freaking EVERYWHERE and they WILL eat you.

Rant start/
Lastly, turning off the "eating noises" in the options didn't do anything.
I'm not sure who eats that loudly but,
PLEASE chew with your mouth CLOSED you damned heathens.
\Rant over

My overall take away is that its just too Dark, Slow and Clumsy/Clunky.

Atmospheric & challenging, a great game to escape into for awhile. The endless cold will claim you, but trying to survive is great fun.

I love survival mode and have just played that, so I would give that a 9/10 for game play loop.

The story mode is still not finished after many years and I see why the community is frustrated especially since a whole DLC is released before the actual story mode is finished. This is why I am leaving my review negative.

I will still probably buy the second game but it is disappointing to see an unfinished story mode after many years of promises.

The Long Dark is a game unlike any other. I am, personally, not a "gamer" but when I play this game, I have a hard time putting it down. The Wintermute portion of the game has a story line and characters that are haunting and wonderful. When you finish the game, you find yourself wanting to go back and play more because you miss the personalities/relationships of the characters. It definitely takes you to another place and time. The survival portion of the game is amazing also but does not have the character development that Wintermute does. They do give you tasks and missions to accomplish that are mysterious and fun. Be ready to put some serious time into this game. It is a super long adventure that you will not soon forget. I have finished both parts of this game and in all honesty, I do still once in a while, go back and play both because it feels like a warm blanket with a mug of my favorite coffee every time I do. I will, for the rest of my life, be playing this game from time to time. It is that good.

I love this game. This survival game is the one that's lasted the longest for me, because its not about feeling powerful, nor is it full of base destruction. Your constant companion is nature itself. You are a wanderer, one of the last survivors of a cold apocalypse. The quiet soothing music as your feet crunch through the snow is the only sound you heOOHHHH MY GOD A BEEARrrrrr phew I made it. *crunch crunch crunch*

Great survival mode, absolutely horrendous story. Buy the survival mode standalone and maybe even the far territory DLC and you're good to enjoy the experience (and by experience I mean getting mauled by a bear for solid 10 seconds and getting chased by wolves for hours, have fun).

Scratches my survival itch real nice. I like the story and look forward to the last episode. I haven't played the DLC episodes yet. I played this game on XBOX when it first came out and they've done a lot to it. I've come back to it a lot over the years. There's a lot they can do like: maybe having the ability to build on the land, make a homestead version, change the weather even. For what it is right now, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and will play this game for expectedly a long time since I already have been.

Love and hate this game at same time, highly addictive.
https://youtu.be/FrIWf4hk1V0

i've been playing this game for years, and it really never gets old. if you love a challenge, or just some easy exploration, this is perfect for you!

My ultimate comfort game, it never gets old.
Each new run is unique, and survival is never easy (especially early game). There are a lot of things to do and explore to keep you busy until late game, and even then there are still threats to keep you on your toes.
Customization is great, so whether you want a chill game without much wildlife and want to focus on exploration, or want an unfairly punishing survival experience, there are game modes and custom games for you.
A game I will always come back to whenever I can.

"The Long Dark feels like being the last heartbeat in a frozen world — every step, every fire, every breath is borrowed time." ❄️🔥 it makes a hard choice between getting loot or doing the boogie down

Really enjoyed 100% this game on PS now that I made the switch to pc looking forward to doing it again. Great soundtrack and looking forward to the next game they release.

A game that gives me a delirious craving for roasted peaches every single time I play it. Engrossing. Incredible. Very spooky. I could lose myself to this game if I wasn't careful. brb I'm going to crack open a tin of apricots (don't have any peaches).

Slow pace cozy survival game very immersive. Knowledge is power u will die until u learn. The wiki is ur best friend.

Survive and immerse yourself in the world.

I recommend it!

very immersive experience. If you're too hot in the summer, don't turn on the AC, just play this game!

i have an intense love hate relationship with this game. to the point it feels like an abusive relationship where my husband beats my ass every couple of days but i refuse to leave him because he sets off fireworks every couple of days and i like looking at pretty lights in the sky. i recommend this game if you like walking around and trying not to freeze to death, which is basically just a north-eastern-united-states simulator but with a canadian flag slapped onto it ; if you live in a cold climate you might just whisper faintly to yourself 'this is just like getting groceries in winter!!'

the positives are that its relaxing, and meditative. the negatives are that most 'gamers' on this website will find this shit boring as all hell. there is litterally nothing to do but walk aimlessly. but im a masochist #gamergirl so my neurons are built different or something, which is why i have allowed myself to be abused by this game for a total of 40 fucking hours.
also i know how to deal with wolves and yet that doesnt make it any less annoying to be harassed by a pack of forty balto ass motherfuckers everytime you dare to step outside. theres no feat progression in custom mode, so the game essentially stops that in-game progression if you dare to turn down [or off] the death-machine-hatecrime-device-4000 'wolves.'

i recommend this game for a highly specific subset of the population, namely: weirdos and masochistic freaks who like being harassed as they walk around in the snow- but if ur like some adhd-enthralled, bayonetta-freak, furry-pilled nonhuman of the male gender who lives in connecticut , go on e621 or something. i hope it brings you some fucking peace. cuz god knows im not getting any