The Long Dark

The Long Dark is a survival simulator, in which the action is observed from a first-person perspective. Production is handled by the independent studio Hinterland, founded in 2012 by Raphael Van Lierop, who previously worked on such titles as Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, Company of Heroes or Far Cry 3. The Canadian development team also includes former employees of BioWare, Riot Games, Sony Santa Monica and Volition Inc. responsible for such series as Saints Row, God of War, Knights of the Old Republic or L.A. Noire.

Mechanics

The game tells the story of pilot William Mackenzie and doctor Astrid Greenwood, survivors of a geomagnetic storm that caused all electronic devices to shut down. The player's goal is to survive in a world where temperatures are extremely low, food and water are scarce, and predators also hunt humans.

Sandbox structure of the game creates a lot of possibilities. It's up to us in which direction we go, and the freedom of movement in the snow-covered areas is not limited in any way. Exploration of the vast world, divided into several areas differing in climate and level of difficulty, is the basis of gameplay. We are constantly looking for another shelter from the cold, food, resources to light a fire or useful items, including weapons to protect against wild animals.

However, combat sequences are rare - the developers wanted to create a relatively realistic, challenging survival game. Thus, the player must take into account factors such as weather, temperature, fatigue, condition, energy and durability of equipment, as well as skillfully adapt to the current situation. If the weather conditions are not good, it is good to wait one day longer in a deserted house, warm up by the fire and gain strength for further travel.

Game modes

In The Long Dark, apart from the basic sandbox mode, in which we decide what we want to do, we also have a single player campaign divided into five episodes. During the campaign we play as William and Astrid, whose plane crashes over northern Canada. The heroes must not only survive in difficult conditions, but also find each other and discover the history of Great Bear Island, where the action takes place. The gameplay rules do not change drastically in relation to the sandbox, but in the story mode (called Wintermute) we have to additionally conduct dialogues with encountered characters and perform various tasks for them, and sometimes make moral choices.

Technical issues

Visuals in the production of Hinterland studio were created using the Unity engine, popular among independent developers. Hokyo Lim, whose work we could admire in League of Legends and The Unfinished Swan, is responsible for the artistic side of The Long Dark. The game doesn't try to be photorealistic, but it has its own, slightly exaggerated graphic style, which gives it a fairy-tale atmosphere.