For the first time, one of the most grueling survival games to date is getting paid DLCs. Hinterland Games’ The Long Dark is about surviving the frozen Canadian wilderness after an apocalyptic event turned off all electricity, leaving the world without computers, cars, lights, and heating. Now all that's left is the endless cold and wolves. Lots of wolves.
Released in 2017, The Long Dark has been getting free updates in the form of episodic entries to its story campaign, Wintermute. Every update to Wintermute simultaneously is added to the game’s Survival mode, making explorable regions available to both. However, things will be different moving forward.
In their developer diary, Director Raphael van Lierop explains that this setup limits the scope of the game, as you can’t new content to Survival mode without it appearing in Story mode. As such, Hinterland will be “decoupling” the two modes so that Survival mode can get paid updates.
The Long Dark’s first-ever DLC will come out later this year, and will 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." Fans can expect more regions, new gameplay mechanics, new challenges, and added improvements to the current game.
Of course, those players who prefer not to get the Season Pass may opt for smaller packaged DLCs, ready for purchase after the campaign is done. Not only that, Hinterland Games will continue to give free updates as well.
Even without the free updates, it's already a sizable game, with 12 enormous regions to explore, craftable clothes, tools, and weapons, and various stand-alone challenges to keep things interesting. It even has a spooky challenge where you must outrun a dark spirit that’s hunting you from region to region. All this is equivalent to hundreds of hours of game time.
Fans can expect the new DLCs to come out in the second half of 2022. If you don’t have it yet, get a The Long Dark PC key and enjoy the five episodes of the Wintermute storyline for free.
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