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The Long Dark

Game overview

The Long Dark

THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.

Survival Open World Survival Craft Open World Exploration Atmospheric
Players now
4,325
All-time peak
14,187
24-hour change
+32.14%
Steam reviews
90.5% positive
112,575 reviews · via SteamSpy

Player count observed . Values marked unavailable are not estimated.

About this game Read the full description

Bright lights flare across the night sky. The wind rages outside the thin walls of your wooden cabin. A wolf howls in the distance. You look at the meager supplies in your pack, and wish for the days before the power mysteriously went out. How much longer will you survive?

Welcome to THE LONG DARK, the innovative exploration-survival experience Wired magazine calls "the pinnacle of an entire genre".

THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.

In THE LONG DARK, you are getting both the genre-defining Survival Mode, honed after years of open development and frequent updates, and the award-winning episodic narrative mode, WINTERMUTE.

THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE brings you the genre-defining Survival Mode, honed after years of open development and frequent updates. Widely considered the paramount Survival game of all time, SURVIVAL MODE gives you pure focus on THE LONG DARK’s Survival Sandbox -- the experience that started it all!

Included with both THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE and THE LONG DARK, Survival Mode is the free-form, non-narrative Survival Sandbox that has defined the genre since launching on Steam in 2014. After years of open development and dozens of major updates, THE LONG DARK now stands at the pinnacle of the entire genre. Survival is your only goal, and death your only end. Make your own survival story with every game.

The game that defined death for the survival genre. When you die in Survival, your save is deleted. Every decision matters.

The game challenges players to think for themselves by providing the information but never the answers. You have to earn the right to survive.

Monitor your Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue, and Cold as you struggle to balance resources with the energy needed to obtain them. Every action costs Calories, and time is your most precious resource. Choose your path carefully.

Over 100 gear items including Tools, Light Sources, Weapons, First Aid supplies, Clothing, and more.

Explore a 50+ square kilometer Northern Canadian wilderness spanning 12 major regions and all the zones that connect them in search of life-saving supplies. Distant mountains, coastal towns, mines, farmlands, and a huge expanse of brutal winter wilderness to test your survival mettle.

Hunt, fish, trap, climb, map, search for life-saving food and gear items, and try to avoid dying from the hostile wildlife, succumbing to hypothermia, frostbite, or dysentery (amongst other uncomfortable afflictions), find and maintain your life-saving gear. Hunt and be hunted by: Wolves, Bears, Moose, Rabbits, Deers, Crows, and more to come in future updates.

Four distinct Experience Modes let you find a challenge level you are comfortable with, such as Pilgrim Mode, which is meant to be quiet and pensive, all the way to Interloper Mode, where only the most experienced survivors have a chance to last a week. If none of the four Experiences suits you, use Custom Mode settings to tailor your Survival Mode game to your specific tastes.

Features the music of Sascha Dikiciyan.

Several standalone Challenge Modes offer objective-based experiences designed to last 1-3 hours each, such as Whiteout -- the race to gather enough supplies to prepare for a monster blizzard. Or Hunted, where you need to escape a murderous Bear. Complete them to unlock Feats that provide long-term gameplay benefits in Survival Mode. Additional Challenges include: Hopeless Rescue, Nomad, Archivist, As the Dead Sleep, and Escape the Darkwalker.

Included in THE LONG DARK The episodic story-mode for THE LONG DARK, WINTERMUTE, includes four of the five episodes that form WINTERMUTE. Episode Five is in development, and is slated for release at a later date. This will bring the WINTERMUTE storyline to its conclusion.

The first four episodes of WINTERMUTE represent approximately 30 hours of gameplay. Episode Five is included in the price of the game, and will be unlocked for free when it is released.

Bush pilot Will Mackenzie (player character) and Dr. Astrid Greenwood are separated after their plane crashes deep in the Northern Canadian wilderness in the aftermath of a mysterious flash of light in the sky. Struggling to survive as he desperately searches for Astrid, Mackenzie comes across the small town of Milton, where he begins to understand the scope of this quiet apocalypse.

Mackenzie’s search for Astrid takes him deeper into the savage Winter wilderness. A mysterious trapper may be the key to finding Astrid, but can he be trusted?

In the aftermath of events in Milton, an enigmatic stranger rescues Dr. Astrid Greenwood (player character) from near death. Facing the blizzards of Pleasant Valley, Astrid must bring all her skills as a doctor to bear on the survivors she encounters. But will she find Mackenzie, and get closer to the mystery that's taking them to Perseverance Mills?

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?

NOTE: Unlike Survival Mode, WINTERMUTE does not feature permadeath. You can save your progress as you play.

Features performances by Jennifer Hale, Mark Meer, David Hayter, and Elias Toufexis (Episode Three), and the music of Cris Velasco.

In addition to releasing the remaining episode of WINTERMUTE, we intend to continue updating Survival Mode with limited free updates alongside our paid DLC Expansion Pass, TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY. This is on top of the over 100 updates we have made to the game over the past 8 years of open development. Keep in mind that your purchase of THE LONG DARK entitles you to all five episodes of WINTERMUTE without extra charge. For more information about the free updates coming to Survival Mode, please visit the Expansion Pass roadmap via our "Visit the website" link on the right of the page.

Hinterland is an independent video game developer and IP creator headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Established in 2012 by game director & writer, Raphael van Lierop, Hinterland is a multi-ethnic, international team united around a singular goal: to create thought-provoking, story-rich entertainment experiences set in compelling original worlds.

Our fictional settings -- our IP -- are conceived from the ground up to exist across multiple mediums. We believe that when people love a world, they want to experience it across as many platforms as possible.

Hinterland's first IP, THE LONG DARK, first launched on Steam Early Access on September 2014. The game's multi-platform 1.0 launched on August 2017. Today, THE LONG DARK has more than 10-million players around the world.

We aim for our games to foster a sense of social awareness, and we aspire to provide immersive, sophisticated worlds for anyone seeking a mature entertainment experience.

Join us on our journey.

Player activity

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Price history

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The Long Dark sequel Blackfrost hasn't been cancelled, but developer Hinterland are shifting a bit more focus onto the original's survival mode The Long Dark will get new DLC again as studio shifts devs away from the sequel to survive an 'uncertain' industry: 'We have to adapt to this' August Dev Diary
System requirements Windows · macOS · Linux

Windows

Minimum

Minimum:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Dual-Core Intel i5 CPU @ 2GHz+
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better
  • Storage: 7 GB available space
  • Sound Card: Any on-board chip will work.

Recommended

Recommended:
  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: Intel i7 CPU @ 2.6GHz or higher
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: nVidia GTX 555 w/ 1GB VRAM or better
  • Storage: 7 GB available space
  • Sound Card: Ideally, something with Surround capabilities.

macOS

Minimum

Minimum:
  • OS: OSX 10.9.3
  • Processor: Core i5 @ 2.2GHz
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000
  • Storage: 7 GB available space
  • Sound Card: On-board.

Recommended

Recommended:
  • OS: OSX 10.9.3
  • Processor: Core i7 @ 2.7GHz+
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Dedicated standalone GPU w/ 1GB+ VRAM
  • Storage: 7 GB available space
  • Sound Card: On-board

Linux

Minimum

Minimum:
  • OS: SteamOS or Ubuntu 16.04 or 17.04
  • Processor: Dual-Core Intel i5 CPU @ 2GHz+
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better
  • Storage: 7 GB available space
  • Sound Card: Any on-board chip will work.

Recommended

Recommended:
    Game details Languages, features & support
    Publisher
    Hinterland Studio Inc.
    Brazilian rating
    14
    Steam Germany rating
    16
    Achievements
    87
    Controller support
    full
    Features
    Single-player, Steam Achievements, Full controller support, Steam Trading Cards, Adjustable Text Size, Camera Comfort, Custom Volume Controls, Adjustable Difficulty, Playable without Timed Input, DualShock Controller Support, DualShock Controller Support, DualSense Controller Support, DualSense Controller Support, Steam Input API Support, Stereo Sound, Subtitle Options, Steam Cloud, Remote Play on TV, Family Sharing
    Languages
    English*, German, Russian, French, Spanish - Spain, Finnish, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese - Portugal, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese - Brazil, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian
    *languages with full audio support
    Compatibility & accessibility Steam Deck, controllers & access features

    Can I Play This?

    Steam declarations and Valve's Steam Deck compatibility result. Missing data is shown as unknown, never unsupported.

    Sources fresh
    Native Steam builds
    Windows: unknown
    macOS: unknown
    Linux: unknown
    Steam Deck
    verified
    Valve compatibility test
    Input
    Controller support: unknown
    Structured language support (19)
    LanguageInterfaceFull audioSubtitles
    EnglishYesYesYes
    GermanYesNoYes
    RussianYesNoYes
    FrenchYesNoYes
    Spanish - SpainYesNoYes
    FinnishYesNoYes
    JapaneseYesNoYes
    KoreanYesNoYes
    NorwegianYesNoYes
    Portuguese - PortugalYesNoYes
    Simplified ChineseYesNoYes
    SwedishYesNoYes
    Traditional ChineseYesNoYes
    TurkishYesNoYes
    Portuguese - BrazilYesNoYes
    DutchYesNoYes
    ItalianYesNoYes
    PolishYesNoYes
    UkrainianYesNoYes
    Steam store page fresh · checked 2026-10-04 PCGamingWiki technical notes External link only; SteamIQHQ does not ingest PCGamingWiki content.
    More analysis Activity patterns, updates & developer tools

    Build a competitor report

    Game Insights

    Buy Verdict

    Buy — $4.99.

    Excellent deal! This matches the historical low price with 75% off.

    ▲ ~45 days until next sale

    Player Health

    Healthy — 2.4K daily average.

    Stable player base with low churn risk.

    ▲ +7% trend

    Multiplayer Viability

    Healthy — 4.4K CCU.

    Strong player base for matchmaking.

    ▬ Stable population

    Update Momentum

    Moderate Updates — 0 patches in last 30 days.

    4 patches and 4 news items in last 180 days. Latest patch effect size: 0.00.

    ▼ No recent patches

    Value Score

    Great Value — 76th percentile.

    Price-to-player ratio ranks in the 76th percentile. Priced as Market at $19.99.

    ▲ Market pricing tier

    Genre Benchmarks

    Player Count Top 71%
    Growth Rate Top 0%
    Value Ratio Top 24%

    Early Access Active

    Time in EA
    236 days
    Updates
    40
    Current Players
    3,532

    Activity Heatmap

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    Developer Analytics

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Is The Long Dark worth buying right now?
    Buy — $4.99. Excellent deal! This matches the historical low price with 75% off.
    When does The Long Dark go on sale?
    Excellent deal! This matches the historical low price with 75% off.
    How many people play The Long Dark?
    Healthy — 2.4K daily average. Stable player base with low churn risk.
    Is The Long Dark multiplayer dead?
    Healthy — 4.4K CCU. Strong player base for matchmaking.
    Is The Long Dark still getting updates?
    Moderate Updates — 0 patches in last 30 days. 4 patches and 4 news items in last 180 days. Latest patch effect size: 0.00.
    How many players are currently playing The Long Dark?
    3.8K players are currently in-game on Steam.
    Is The Long Dark free to play?
    The Long Dark costs $19.99 on Steam.
    What genre is The Long Dark?
    The Long Dark is a Adventure, Indie, Simulation, Strategy game.
    Who developed The Long Dark?
    The Long Dark was developed by Hinterland Studio Inc. and published by Hinterland Studio Inc..
    What platforms does The Long Dark support?
    Available on Steam for Windows, macOS, Linux.

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