Things are shifting around a bit over at The Long Dark developer Hinterland Studio. Earlier this year, The Long Dark's story mode wrapped up with the release of Wintermute's fifth and final episode . After that, you may have fairly assumed that focus would have been mostly placed
Things are shifting around a bit over at The Long Dark developer Hinterland Studio. Earlier this year, The Long Dark's story mode wrapped up with the release of Wintermute's fifth and final episode. After that, you may have fairly assumed that focus would have been mostly placed on the sequel that was announced in 2024, Blackfrost. But according to Hinterland, while Blackfrost is still in the works, the main focus will actually be put on The Long Dark's survival mode for a while.
Survival game The Long Dark was supposed to be over when its final story episode was released earlier this year . Developer Hinterland announced its sequel, Blackfrost , two years ago and planned to go the early access route with it just like the first game... Read more.
Survival game The Long Dark was supposed to be over when its final story episode was released earlier this year. Developer Hinterland announced its sequel, Blackfrost, two years ago and planned to go the early access route with it just like the first game... Read more.
August Dev Diary Dear community, Since a bit of rest post Episode Five’s launch on March 31st, the team at Hinterland has been busy working on a variety of things. I’ve been holding off on providing a larger update on our activities as there are a lot of work streams happening ri
August Dev Diary
Dear community,
Since a bit of rest post Episode Five’s launch on March 31st, the team at Hinterland has been busy working on a variety of things. I’ve been holding off on providing a larger update on our activities as there are a lot of work streams happening right now, including general planning for the future, and I wanted to be able to share some more definitive information about what we have in mind. It’s still too early to share too much detail, but I figured you’d rather hear something from us even if the decisions are still taking shape. I’m sure some of what I share here will serve to drive a lot of discussions across our various community channels, and we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on your responses there.
Post Episode Five: It’s All About Survival
Completing Episode Five has opened up a lot of doors for Hinterland and for THE LONG DARK. A lot of work we’ve been wanting to accomplish, a lot of ideas we’ve had for how we’d like to continue to grow and evolve TLD into the future, had to wait until we delivered the final episode of the story, and lived up to our obligations going back to promises we made when we first launched the game. Even the world itself and the true nature of the aurora, finally explained in Episode Five, were ideas we had to sit on until we were able to reveal them properly. Now that they are “out there”, we have to decide -- along with you -- how to carry these ideas forward and weave them into the DNA of the things we’re building in the future.
One of the things that’s clear to us, is that while Wintermute provides the narrative context for the world and helps bring wider meaning to the events of the game while setting the table for future experiences in the TLD IP, Survival is the core engine of the game and the community. It’s what keeps people coming back, and keeps the community and game vibrant. This has always been the case.
Now that the Wintermute story is finished, we’re looking forward to being able to focus the TLD team’s energy on continuing to refine, improve, and expand the core of the game. Wintermute has always been a big part of the “heart” of the TLD experience, but Survival has been the engine of growth and has driven the longevity of the game. Since completing the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC for Survival Mode, the TLD team has primarily had their heads down working on Episode Five and finishing off the Story Mode. Now, with Episode Five behind us, we’re excited to turn our attention back to Survival Mode.
Moving forward, Survival Mode will be the focus for TLD development.
Why Is This Important?
When we first announced BLACKFROST, the sequel to THE LONG DARK, the game industry was in a very different place. In the short time since, entire business models have been thrown into chaos, the geopolitical situation has become extremely complicated, the picture of what the next generation of console hardware will be has become a lot less clear, and the amount of time and money players spend on new games has declined as everyone turns to the comfort and security of games they already know. “Black hole” games are using up the majority of their time, and economic pressures have them looking through their current backlogs or hunting for bargains to maximize their disposable income. All of these factors contribute to making what once felt like a very stable and predictable industry feel a lot more uncertain. We have to adapt to this.
What all this chaos has told me is that we need to take a measured approach to Hinterland’s future. We had already committed to continuing to support THE LONG DARK alongside our work on BLACKFROST, the sequel. Now, I think we need to tilt the emphasis even more towards ongoing support for our existing game and player base, shore up the core TLD experience by addressing longstanding bugs and Quality of Life issues, expand the game in a sustainable and cost-efficient way by creating more DLC and other entry points for players to get into the world of THE LONG DARK, always while continuing to gradually build up BLACKFROST and other new things alongside.
We already have a beloved game and a supportive player community, and we need to continue to nurture this as the lifeblood of Hinterland’s business. This has always been true, but it’s clear that this will be even more important than we thought it would be. THE LONG DARK is as important to Hinterland as it has ever been.
THE LONG DARK, Expanded
To that end, we have three planned streams of TLD work that will be continuing over the coming 24+ months.
One stream, let’s call it “TLD Core”, will be the continued updating of the base Survival sandbox core of TLD. This work will largely take the form of free updates to the base game, and will include a range of bug fixes, Quality of Life improvements, and features or content as we’re able to add them. Things like getting the Shotgun and Crank Lamp from Episode Five into the base game fall under this category, along with long-promised work around things like Mod Support and the enhanced Custom Settings.
The addition of the Episode Five regions in Survival will also fall under this stream (although we’re currently trying to figure out if/how we can include these for free since the conversion from Wintermute to Survival mode is a fair bit of work and there are a lot of regions to bring over!). I’m sure you’ll have some thoughts about the fairest way for us to handle that work, so we’ll be interested in hearing from you about that. In any case, this TLD Core work will be what keeps the base Survival game for TLD healthy and vibrant well into the future. Since most of the work here will be free for players, we’ll be balancing it along with the work we put into the paid DLC.
The other two work streams are focused on the DLCs. We aren’t quite ready to share too many details about our plans for these, but I can say with some confidence that they probably aren’t quite what you are expecting. Both expand the TLD experience in novel ways. At least one of the DLCs will be structured along similar lines as our TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY expansion pass, and the other will be…different from that. I’m being intentionally vague because we’re still locking down our plans. For now, I’ll leave you with two teaser images to whet your appetite and get the theorycrafting going.
(This is from something new, probably not what you think it is, and probably not *where* you think it is.)
(This is also from something new. Also probably not what you think it is.)
The team is still finalizing our plans for these DLCs and for the Core TLD stream, but I hope to be able to share more details in the last quarter of this year, along with a roadmap for Core TLD updates and how the three streams will connect to each other.
As always, we appreciate your patience as we sort out these details, and also your support if you choose to buy the DLCs, since revenue from TLD and the DLCs is how we’ll continue to fund our studio and our work on BLACKFROST.
So, No More Story?
With WINTERMUTE being complete, we’ll be turning our attention to supporting Survival Mode into the future. That doesn’t mean we’ll never come back to the story, or make improvements to what we’ve already built, but we think the healthiest thing for TLD is for us to shore up Survival Mode and continue to get BLACKFROST to a place where we can launch it on Early Access. There are still many stories to tell in the worlds of TLD, and that will always be part of our work and part of what we love about the game, but we don’t plan to do any further work on WINTERMUTE for now.
So What About BLACKFROST?
It might sound like with all this TLD work, that we’ve put BLACKFROST on the back-burner. That’s not the case. There’s a dedicated team continuing to work away on the sequel. We have shifted some internal folks off of BF to support the other Core TLD and DLC work I mentioned in the previous section, keeping a lean and focused team on BF to continue refining the core systems and world leading up to our Early Access launch, which we have now pushed to 2027 (in case you missed this announcement at the beginning of this year).
We haven’t really said much of anything about BF since we first announced it at the Game Awards. It’s been surprisingly challenging to find the right balance of retaining the original core of TLD gameplay while also pushing the survival formula forward in meaningful and innovative ways. Making a sequel to our own game has honestly been a lot harder than we expected! We’re also mindful of how some sequels seem to have been landing with existing player bases, as we look at some of our friends and/or competitors in the space over the past couple of years. This has given us plenty of reasons to proceed slowly and carefully. We care about this game and about our players so much, and we just don’t want to screw it up. This has probably made us a bit cautious. We’re also our own worst critics and don’t want to show anything we aren’t completely happy with.
The team is working towards the first gameplay reveal which we plan to share before the end of this year. That reveal will kick off a series of ongoing development updates focused on BLACKFROST, which will allow us to start sharing more information and also bring the community more into the picture of how the game is shaping up.
Since we announced the project, there’s been a lot of interest from publishers and different potential funding partners to help us pay for and publish the game. While Hinterland has always been independent, with all the industry turmoil over the past couple of years it’s felt wise to consider other options than to carry the financial burden solely ourselves. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen is that the industry instability has only emphasized the power traditional publishers (or non-traditional funding partners) will try to exert over studios making games. We’ve not yet encountered a partner who we feel is truly motivated by what’s best for Hinterland or for our players, so we’ll continue to self-fund and self-publish the game. Our independence is one of the most important factors in how we work and what we make, and we want to preserve that above all other things.
I bring this up within the context of the work we’re doing on TLD and the DLCs; I think it’s important to acknowledge that as a self-funded studio, BLACKFROST development is financed from revenue from the stuff we’ve already launched. So if you want to support our work and the future of games like BLACKFROST, we hope you’ll consider buying our new DLCs. On our end, we’ll continue to strive to give you fair value for money and ensure you never regret supporting our games or our studio.
Price Changes? Maybe?
I don’t want to spend too much more time talking about commercial stuff, but one of the things we’ve been considering as we plan out the business strategy for the new DLCs, is that we’ve priced ourselves into a bit of a corner with TLD. Since we started offering Survival Mode as a standalone product (with the launch of the TALEs DLC), the $25.99 CAD/$19.99 USD price of Survival Mode as the “base game” has also influenced what feels like reasonable pricing for our DLCs. We also priced TALES at $25.99 CAD/$19.99 USD to ensure it wasn’t more expensive than the base game, but we put way way too much content into the Expansion for that price. In short, we haven’t been charging enough for our games.
For the new DLCs, we want to be able to increase their launch prices by a bit, without ending up with DLCs that are more expensive than the base game they connect to. So to support that intention, we are considering increasing the price of Survival Mode. (Obviously this wouldn’t impact anyone who already owns the game.)
We’re also mindful that the economic reality faced by a ton of folks today is that prices are increasing everywhere, and you probably can’t really afford for games to get more expensive as well. We’re really trying to find a good balance here. One of the mitigations is that most new sales of TLD are when the game is discounted. That seems to be the baseline trend for all games that aren’t new, so there’s nothing surprising in that. But it does mean that developers have to price with discounting in mind, and we have to do the same. As always, if we do make price changes, we’ll focus on fairness and value as much as we can.
Nothing has been finalized yet, but I just wanted to share some of the thinking behind the scenes, and if we do end up launching the DLCs at a higher price point than TALES launched back in 2022, we hope you’ll understand and not see it as us being greedy or something like that. We’ll continue to discount TLD and the DLCs regularly, as well as offer “Complete the Set” bundles on the stores that support it, to help keep your own costs as low as possible and to give you options to buy when it hits a price point you can afford. We think this is the fairest way to handle it for us and for you.
Deprecating Old Platforms?
Along with the pricing discussion, we’ve been discussing the development effort required to support the older platforms (Switch 1, Xbox One, PS4), and the diminishing returns in terms of players who are using those consoles. Based on our stats, about 85% of our console players are already playing on the current generation consoles. And with these older platforms being more than 10 years old already, it seems reasonable to us that we’d eventually stop supporting them.
Not having to do the development or testing work to support the older consoles along with all our other platforms will mean we can instead invest those resources in expanding and maintaining the game, which should translate to stronger and better quality launches and updates for the new things we’re building. It should also help our launches go more smoothly as we’ll have fewer platforms to manage and test for.
We haven’t made any final decisions yet, but our current thinking around the new DLCs is that we may not be able to support them on the older consoles, at least not at launch. We’ll share more info about this as the decisions become more clear, but I wanted to get this on your radar in case it influences your own plans. And of course, if we do end up deprecating Switch 1, we won’t do it before we have proper Switch 2 support in place.
For the time being, we have no plans to deprecate the old consoles for ongoing TLD Core development, but if that changes we’ll let you know, and provide as much warning as we can.
Some Podcasts…
I was invited to speak on a couple of our favourite podcasts, and thought some of you might find the discussions interesting. If you enjoy them, please make sure you Like and Subscribe, as it helps these content creators, who put so much effort into creating great videos about THE LONG DARK and other things.
I sit down with Zaknafein, one of the most thoughtful and prolific creators in THE LONG DARK content creator community, to talk about Episode Five and the development of TLD in general.
A nearly 2-hour conversation with the hosts of the Survivor’s Corner, where we cover all kinds of general topics around TLD.
I’m grateful to Zak, Jitwire, and Kirk, for the opportunity to talk about our favourite game, and thanks also to the wonderful moderators who helped out, as well as the great community members who jumped in with thoughtful questions.
If you enjoy these kinds of discussions, let me know and I will prioritize doing more of them.
Merch & Other Physical Goods
The team is working on some new physical TLD merch, and I’m happy to share that we (finally!) have the WINTERMUTE episode posters available for sale at the Hinterland Store. You can order individual posters, or a (discounted) bundle with all five if you like. I’m biased, but I think these look so sharp framed and hanging on the wall.
Please keep in mind tariff stuff makes shipping complicated and expensive, so have some patience as our store team handles this stuff with you in as timely a manner as possible.
We have a few other new items coming, including a very cool new t-shirt for the Suzuki Radio Telescope from Episode Five. Can’t wait to share more about that soon.
And in news that will be especially exciting for any of our old Kickstarter backers who are still waiting for physical items like the Bound Script and Art Book for TLD -- we’ll have a partnership announcement to share about this very soon. And don’t worry, if you didn’t back the game during Kickstarter but would like to own what will be some very very nice collectible items for TLD, you’ll be able to purchase those directly. More news as soon as we can share it!
Thank You & Next News
As always, we’re eternally grateful to all of you who have been with us on this journey of survival and independence, whether you joined us way back in Kickstarter or jumped into TLD yesterday for the first time. We’re really excited about the things we’re building for you, and can’t wait to share more details later this year. Expect more news soon about our plans for the DLC and BLACKFROST reveals! Hopefully the teaser images I shared today will tide you over until then.
Thanks for your support, and see you in the frozen Canadian wilderness.
Dear players, We’re happy to announce the availability of Volume 3 of “Music for The Long Dark”. This volume includes all the music from WINTERMUTE Episode Four: Fury, Then Silence, Episode Five: The Light at the End of All Things”, and from the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC.
Dear players,
We’re happy to announce the availability of Volume 3 of “Music for The Long Dark”. This volume includes all the music from WINTERMUTE Episode Four: Fury, Then Silence, Episode Five: The Light at the End of All Things”, and from the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC.
The total playtime is 1 hour and 56 minutes, and the soundtrack is now available on Steam mp3 and lossless FLAC quality) and at Bandcamp (mp3 and lossless WAV quality). We’ve also updated the previous two volumes on Steam to include the lossless FLAC versions of those tracks (previously only available as mp3s).
We took this opportunity to address a name and track number issue with the earlier volumes. We’ve removed the duplication of the track called “Hope” in Volume 1 which was also included in Volume 2 as “Onward”; the track still exists on Volume 1, and to make up for removing the duplicate version on Volume 2, we’ve added the never-before-released Survival Mode music for Ash Canyon and Blackrock regions.
The music for WINTERMUTE is composed and recorded by Cris Velasco. The music for Survival Mode is composed by Sacha Dikiciyan. Both have been fantastic collaborators throughout the creation of THE LONG DARK and we’re beyond excited to share their music with you here today.
Anyone who already owns the Quiet Apocalypse Bundle on Steam will be able to use the “complete the bundle” option to get Volume 3 at a discounted bundle price. Otherwise, you can purchase Volume 3 of the soundtrack for $9.99 USD, with a week-long 10% launch discount bringing the price down to under $9 USD!
We hope you enjoy the music, and stay tuned for news about future special editions of the soundtrack which we hope to be able to share with you soon!
Hello players, We have just updated THE LONG DARK to: Survival: 2.55 181032 Episode Five: 2.54 181117 WINTERMUTE: 2.24 181038 This is a Hotfix for THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, addressing bugs introduced with the Episode Five release. Known Issues Spoilers Ahead! The team is current
Hello players,
We have just updated THE LONG DARK to:
Survival: 2.55 181032
Episode Five: 2.54 181117
WINTERMUTE: 2.24 181038
This is a Hotfix for THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, addressing bugs introduced with the Episode Five release.
Known Issues
Spoilers Ahead!
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game and hard at work addressing them:
Players who Alt-Tab away from the “Previously On” cinematic shown when beginning Episode Five, will find that the video restarts upon returning to the application.
Bug Fixes
This Update includes fixes for the following issues:
CRASHES
Fixed an issue that could result in a crash when a timer was invoked by a Mission objective.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue that could result in a crash during the Cable Car hand-over-hand section.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue that could cause a crash if a manual save was created just prior to receiving the "To Those Who Are Missing" Mission.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue that could result in a crash when entering the Train with HUD settings turned "Off".
Fixed a rare issue that could cause a crash if players opened their Journal in specific circumstances.
Fixed a hang when loading an Episode One to Four save file from a death screen in Episode Five.
GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS
Survival - Fixed an issue where bloody hands from Harvesting persisted between save games and could only be cleared by exiting the application entirely. The Survivor's hands will now be cleaned off after Harvesting is complete.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue where Cable Car closed captions were running in conjunction with the cinematics during that section, when the cinematic dialogue should take priority.
[Conflagration] Fixed an issue that allowed players to interact with and enter burning Vehicles.
[Conflagration] Fixed an issue where loading a save file made after conducting a takedown on a convict during "Conflagration", would result in that convict returning to a standing position.
[Cargo Ship] Fixed an issue where the Medical Log would remain floating mid-air after interacting with it on the Cargo Ship.
[Cargo Ship] Improved performance during the Cargo Ship sections
[Cargo Ship] Fixed an issue where reloading any save while in the Cargo Ship would result in the Locker Key disappearing.
[Geothermal Mission] Fixed an issue that resulted in a soft-locked state if a player loaded the checkpoint created near the end of the Geothermal section.
[Geothermal Mission] Fixed an issue where the Aurora was not active as intended after returning from the Geothermal section.
[Geothermal Mission] Reduced the amount of Shotgun Ammo during the Geothermal section to make it appear less frequently.
[Geothermal Mission] Updated the Shotgun muzzle flash and shell ejection smoke.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue that could result in the gate to Perseverance Mills being locked after loading an autosave made once "Atwood's Story" cinematic has completed.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue that resulted in a soft-locked state if a player loaded the checkpoint created after delivering the "Wintermute" message to Dr. Atwood.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue where a closed caption was missing from Mackenzie’s pained screaming during the Tuner section.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue that could prevent the player from progressing in the game if they loaded the checkpoint after their first conversation with Dr. Atwood.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue that could cause Dr. Atwood to close the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility door on Mackenzie if he took too long to enter. The door could still be opened, but could be confusing.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue that caused the Suzuki Radio Telescope icon to have no name when not the current objective location.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue where the map marker for "Get Ready for the Geothermal Substations Mission" referenced the incorrect objective.
[High Energy] Fixed an issue where the "Get Ready for the Geothermal Substations Mission" objective would not progress after entering the Supply Room.
[Mine Mission] Fixed a very rare issue that could prevent Jace from acting if an autosave occurred during one of her voice lines.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where Jace could fall into a pit if the player purposefully blocked her movement in certain sections of the Mine.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where the Bolt Cutters would not appear in the Collections Journal after picking them up in the Mine section.
[Perseverance Mills] Updated the "second broken bridge" for visual clarity showing that it can be crossed in one direction.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue where players could interact and enter broken Vehicles in Perseverance Mills.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue that could result in players never receiving the "Those Who Are Missing" mission if they manually saved the game just after completing the "Perseverance" Mission.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue that caused two of Jane's closed captions to be swapped.
[Perseverance Mills] Updated map markers to accommodate for cases where players complete "Perseverance" Mission objectives in a specific order.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue that caused an incorrect map marker on the Constable's Office when reloading a save made after completing that section of "Perseverance".
[Perseverance Mills] Improved performance during Perseverance Wilds sections.
[SAR Mission] Increased the amount of Matches spawned in the "To SAR and Back" Mission.
Fixed an issue where the Side Mission menu tab could be opened, though no Side Missions exist.
Fixed multiple issues where map markers would not update appropriately at certain points during the story.
Added entries to the "People and Places" section of the player Journal specific to Episode Five.
Fixed an issue that caused notification badges "!" in the Collections tab of the Journal when swapping to a new character (Mackenzie to Astrid).
Fixed an issue that prevented notification badges "!" from being removed after viewing their associated item in the Collections Journal.
Fixed an issue where some closed captions would not trigger if volume settings were set to 0.
Fixed an issue where closed captions appeared too early during some cinematics.
Fixed an issue that prevented older WINTERMUTE save files from being resumed or loaded from the Episode Five application.
Fixed an issue that caused some Episode Five save files to display "unknown" in the “Location” save information section of the Load Menu.
Fixed multiple issues that caused save file key art to be missing or incorrect in the Load Menu.
Fixed an issue that caused lower than intended brightness if a player quickly skipped through the Radio Hut cinematic.
Fixed multiple cases where the player's location on the Map could be incorrect if they viewed it from an interior.
Fixed a rare issue where players could be placed at the incorrect location after loading a save.
Fixed an issue that caused the "Near Death" effect and filter to persist during cinematics and after changing to a new character (Astrid to Mackenzie.)
Fixed an issue where unfinished Crafted Clothing would be auto-equipped if no associated clothing was already equipped to that location.
Removed the erroneously placed Spray Paint Glyph Can from Blackrock Foothills and the Mine.
Fixed an issue where dying from falling through ice and then reloading the last available save file would result in the ability to walk across weak ice without limit.
ART & ENVIRONMENTS
Fixed multiple terrain traps in Perseverance Mills.
Fixed multiple issues in Perseverance Mills where snow would not blend against building bases.
Fixed an issue where players could become stuck under a broken bridge in the Perseverance Wilds region.
Fixed multiple issues in Desperation Bay where terrain seams could be seen.
Fixed multiple issues in Desperation Bay where certain terrain had low resolution textures.
Fixed multiple issues with terrain and foliage in Desperation Bay.
Fixed an issue in the Geothermal region where one instance of Ravaged Deer Remains was incorrectly buried under snow in the lead-up to the Cougar encounter.
Fixed an issue in the Geothermal region where Substation catwalks and stairs were not properly anchored to the building.
Fixed an issue where players could trap themselves on a rock in the river, just prior to the Cable Car section.
Fixed an issue in the Mine where a player could become stuck after surviving a fall from a bridge that should result in death.
Fixed multiple cases of floating items in the Mines section.
Adjusted the terrain near the return from the crane in the Mine section so it is smoother to traverse.
Fixed multiple visual, terrain and floating object issues in Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility.
Fixed an issue that caused a duplicated fence gate at the beginning of "To SAR and Back".
Fixed multiple issues in "To SAR and Back" where snow would not blend against some building bases.
Fixed an issue where lamp posts would present sparking effects during the day when no Aurora was present during the "To SAR and Back" Mission.
Fixed an issue where objects destroyed by the Train would disappear rather than remain in a broken state.
Fixed an issue where the player could walk over a fence in Perseverance Mills and become stuck in "Conflagration".
Fixed multiple instances of circling Crows flying through terrain such as cliffs.
ANIMATION
Fixed an issue where the Aurora was conspicuously missing from the first cinematic with Methuselah.
Fixed an issue that caused the screen to blink to black momentarily during Atwood's Wintermute exposition cinematic.
Fixed an issue that caused the back face of Mackenzie's arms to be visible when aiming the Flare Gun.
Fixed an issue that could cause Jace and Dr. Atwood to lock their gaze to Mackenzie if the player exited and re-entered the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility when first welcomed in.
Fixed an issue that prevented some NPCs from moving their mouths when voice volume was set to zero.
Fixed an issue where the Wolves in the Geothermal section of "High Energy" could appear malformed.
AUDIO
Fixed multiple issues that caused the current character to comment about their physical status at inappropriate times.
Fixed an issue where sound effects would trigger without cause as a player transitioned from one location to another.
Fixed an issue that caused Astrid's voice line to be cut off at the end of the autopsy in the Those Who Are Missing Mission.
Fixed an issue where waterfall sound effects were missing from a location in the "To SAR and Back" Mission.
Fixed an issue where the music intended to be played for the Tuner room could trigger prematurely.
Fixed an issue where the sound effects of Jace knocking on the Suzuki Radio Telescope door was out of sync.
PLATFORM-SPECIFIC
Steam Deck - Fixed an issue that caused the Mission Panel Log to close, rather than return to the previous menu, when pressing the back button on a controller or handheld device such as the Steam Deck.
Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game.
Hello players, We have just updated THE LONG DARK to: Survival: 2.54 180535 Episode Five: 2.23 180559 WINTERMUTE: 2.53 180603 This is a Hotfix for THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, addressing bugs introduced with the Episode Five release. Known Issues Spoilers Ahead! The team is current
Hello players,
We have just updated THE LONG DARK to:
Survival: 2.54 180535
Episode Five: 2.23 180559
WINTERMUTE: 2.53 180603
This is a Hotfix for THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, addressing bugs introduced with the Episode Five release.
Known Issues
Spoilers Ahead!
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.
We are aware of some potential issues with loading Checkpoint saves created when Jace leads Mackenzie to the bunk room in Suzuki Facility. As we work on fixing this issue, it would be best to avoid loading checkpoint saves created during this section of Episode 5.
Players using controllers (or those playing on handheld devices like the Steam Deck) will be unable to navigate back to Survival Mode using the controller face buttons. The "Back to Home" option can still be used via touch screen or mouse and keyboard.
The player location indicator may be displaced or incorrect when viewing the Map screen from some interior locations, such as the Abandoned Mine or Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility.
Some Mission objectives are missing Map objective markers and have been added, however additional markers will be included in Hotfix 2.
PlayStation 4 players will find Jace’s dream cinematic plays with no visuals if they play without loading or restarting the game from the start of Episode Five until that point.
Bug Fixes
This Update includes fixes for the following issues:
CRASHES
Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when saving the game just after finding the missing bodies in the "To Those Who Are Missing" Mission.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue that could result in a potential hang when exiting the Constable's Office.
Fixed an issue that could cause a crash if the player opened their Journal after loading the autosave created after Dr. Atwood explains the origins of "Wintermute".
Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when shooting a "near miss" on a charging Cougar.
GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue that allowed players to skip to the Cable Car section earlier than intended.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue that could cause the player to die suddenly during the Cable Car section if they held "forward" during the cinematic where Mackenzie is shot.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue where captions were missing from the convicts during the Cable Car section.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue where the Cable Cars Map icon was still set as the current Mission objective after having completed that section.
[Blackrock Foothills] Fixed an issue where captions were missing from the convicts in both encounters leading up to the Cable Car section.
[Cargo Ship Mission] Improved the ice maze by adding visual breadcrumbs to better indicate where the player is intended to go.
[Cargo Ship Mission] Fixed an issue where the Locker Key found inside the Cargo Ship showed an incorrect description.
[Cargo Ship Mission] Fixed an issue in Desperation Bay where a visually safe path results in the player falling into frigid waters.
[Cargo Ship] Fixed an issue that allowed players to navigate off the Cargo Ship and enter the subsequent cinematic before they are intended to.
[Cargo Ship] Fixed an issue that allowed players to pass time during the Cargo Ship sequence.
[Cargo Ship] Fixed an issue in the Cargo Ship that could cause all terrain to disappear if the player moved to a specific spot, located slightly out of bounds.
[Geothermal Mission] Fixed an issue that caused the mission timer to refresh upon loading a save during the High Energy Mission.
[Geothermal Mission] Fixed an issue that caused the Shotgun to be inaccurate.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue in the Abandoned Mine where multiple Crank Lamps, Flares, and Torches could spawn in the same location where only one was intended to be.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where the Crank Lamp could not be equipped via the Light Source hotkey.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where loading a save after pushing planks over to create a makeshift bridge in the Abandoned Mine would revert the planks and allow players to push them over once again.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where captions were missing from two lines spoken by Mackenzie during the Abandoned Mine section.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue where Jace could fall underground and be lost forever during a tremor event in the Abandoned Mine.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue that caused Mission objectives to fail to update after exiting the Abandoned Mine and approaching the Suzuki Radio Telescope.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue that allowed the player to interact with the Crane in the Abandoned Mine once again after Saving/Loading.
[Mine Mission] Fixed an issue that could cause the player to die suddenly in the Abandoned Mine when opening the blast door if they held "forward" while doing so.
[Perseverance Mills] Adjusted the "Morgue Key" and associated note to be picked up simultaneously in order to reduce confusion about the failure to progress mission objectives when only one of these items were collected.
[Perseverance Mills] Fixed an issue where bar patrons would repeat the same conversation about character disappearances each time the player entered Cooper's Blind during the "A Cry For Help" Mission.
[Perseverance Wilds] Fixed an issue where passing time or sleeping while trying to unlock the "Search Party" achievement could result in it not being granted correctly.
[Perseverance Wilds Mission] Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where a player could stand under a running waterfall without becoming wet.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue where the player could exit the Train on a bridge, ending up in the river below and causing a soft-lock.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue where the camera could slip outside the cab of the Train when slowing and reversing, even if the player remained embarked.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue that allowed the player to access and utilize the Radial Menu while speaking to Heller.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue where the Train UI would appear when entering or exiting a Trailer in the SAR region.
[SAR Mission] Fixed an issue where the inventory image for the Train Lever and Trauma Kit were not accurate to their in-world look.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue where the Checkpoint save created after Atwood's Wintermute cinematic incorrectly loaded the player into the locked Control Room, soft-locking their progress.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue that resulted in an incorrect previous map objective leading players back into the Geothermal region after the Tuner section, rather than towards Perseverance Mills.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue where some walls and floor went missing in the Suzuki Radio Telescope interior after completing the "High Energy" mission, allowing players to fall through the ground and potentially become soft-locked.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue where Jace appears at the Suzuki Radio Telescope entry upon exiting the Abandoned Mine rather than walking there with the player.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue where setting a Tuner Wheel, letting go, and then grabbing it again would result in the player becoming soft-locked, unable to let the wheel go again.
[Suzuki Station] Fixed an issue where the sleep sequence in the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility would not restore Mackenzie to full Condition, resulting in some cases where a player could become soft-locked if they were badly injured after exiting the Abandoned Mine.
[Conflagration] Fixed an issue during the Conflagration Mission that allowed the player to return to town and replay the previous Mission, resulting in a soft-lock.
[Conflagration] Fixed an issue that incorrectly allowed players to enter the Clinic during the Conflagration Mission.
Fixed an issue that resulted in random, unintended items from spawning in some Containers.
Fixed multiple issues that resulted in Episode key art being visually incorrect in the Load Game menu.
Fixed an issue where the description of Episode Five was partially hidden in the Episode Select menu.
Fixed an issue during the Tuner section that resulted in the time counter UI disappearing before the full time expired.
Fixed an issue where the door to the Tuner remained open after completing that section, allowing unintended access to that part of the facility.
Fixed an issue where the last played Episode was not taken into account when launching WINTERMUTE, resulting in the incorrect WINTERMUTE application launching instead.
Fixed an issue where the image for the "Rusty Key" was missing from the Journal - Collections tab.
Fixed an issue where Map icons would incorrectly display the location name along with the Mission name when hovered.
Fixed an issue where the Episode Five key art was missing from the continuation screen shown after completing Episode Four.
Fixed an issue where pressing the Escape key on keyboard from the WINTERMUTE home menu would return players to Survival Mode.
Fixed an issue that resulted in the player becoming stuck if they entered a Fishing Hut in a specific fashion.
Fixed an issue where captions were missing during some Train related dialogue.
Fixed an issue where no feedback was provided when trying to access the map during "The Cold, Broken Road" mission. Now a prompt stating that "You have no Maps." correctly appears.
Fixed an issue that disallowed players from exiting Trailers after entering them, soft-locking their progress.
Fixed an issue where closed captioning was missing from some of Jane's dialogue.
Fixed an issue in the Journal - What I Know section where new information badging was inaccurate.
Added functionality so that pressing "Tab" while using the Train shows Objective, Time of Day, and Train contextual HUD information.
Fixed an issue where Crow Feathers could spawn near Corpses where no Crows were present.
Fixed an issue with gun cages where the locked UI indicator remained active after having already opened the cage.
Fixed an issue that caused the Train UI to appear overtop of other UI elements, such as the player inventory.
Fixed multiple issues in the Save and Load menu where debug text could be found.
Fixed an issue that could result in Mackenzie wearing Astrid's kit when reloading a save after dying.
Fixed multiple issues where breaking down furniture and objects could result in the items placed on top of them to remain suspended in mid-air.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to cycle through maps of previously visited Episode Five locations on the Map Tab.
Fixed an issue where Astrid would inherit Mackenzie's Afflictions when swapping to her as the playable character during story progression.
Fixed an issue where a pop-up would incorrectly notify players that their default controls had been updated, even though they had not.
Fixed an issue where some of Astrid's non-verbal lines were not captioned.
Fixed an issue in the Abandoned Mine where after picking up a Cup of Coffee, a Crank Lamp would suddenly appear in its place.
Fixed an issue that resulted in the "boost" interaction being notably displaced from Jace's position when helping up the ledge in Blackrock Foothills region.
Fixed an issue that allowed Mackenzie to enter Perseverance Wilds when not intended to, resulting in confusing interactable elements in this region.
Fixed an issue where Substation switches could be interacted with after their initial activation during the "High Energy" Mission.
Fixed an issue in the Geothermal Mission where two bridges were missing Map icons.
Fixed an issue where Heating Pads were incorrectly sorted into the Food and Drink category of the Backpack.
Fixed multiple items in the Clinic to allow them to be interactable where they previously were not.
Fixed an issue where the Ice Caves icon on the map was visible when it shouldn't be.
ART & ENVIRONMENTS
Fixed hundreds of general environment art issues including floating items; too numerous to list them all.
Fixed an issue that resulted in floating train tracks at the SAR Station.
Fixed an issue where some fallen trees were incorrectly swaying with the wind.
Fixed an issue that caused wooden beams in the Abandoned Mine to pop in and out of view at certain distances.
Fixed an issue where an interactable lock was duplicated on the boat storage door in Perseverance Wilds.
Adjusted the broken bridge in the Perseveverance Wilds region to be easier to cross.
Fixed multiple performance issues in the Cargo Ship that resulted in reduced FPS and hitching.
Optimized texture layers in Perseverance Wilds, Suzuki Radio Telescope, and Desperation Bay to provide better performance.
Optimized the terrain in the Geothermal region for better performance.
Fixed an issue that caused the Cargo Ship crane in Desperation bay to disappear when viewed from long distances.
Fixed multiple objects within the Fishing Hut located in Perseverance Wilds which possessed no collision.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where players could get stuck in a rock outcropping just off the main road.
Fixed multiple locations in Perseverance Mills to smooth traversal and prevent the player from becoming momentarily snagged.
Fixed an issue where collision was missing from the two angled pillars at the entrance to the Suzuki Radio Telescope facility.
Fixed multiple locations in Perseverance Wilds to smooth traversal and prevent the player from becoming momentarily snagged.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where the player could get stuck in a terrain trap among fallen logs.
Fixed an issue that could result in the player's hands being unlit while in an appropriately bright environment.
Fixed multiple issues in Perseverance Wilds that caused object textures to flicker.
Fixed an issue where some Fishing Cabins would not generate smoke from the chimney if there was an active fire inside.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where fallen logs would fade from view at too close a distance.
Fixed an issue in the SAR Station where the player could become stuck in the terrain just outside the wooden stairs leading down the cliff side.
Fixed an issue where invisible collision existed between two log barriers in the SAR Trainyard.
Fixed multiple locations in the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility where objects and furniture could pop in and out of visibility when approached.
Fixed an issue with multiple locations during the Train section where rocks on cliff faces appeared low resolution and possessed no collision.
Fixed an issue in Desperation Bay where the player could get stuck in a terrain trap on the ice.
Fixed an issue where the backside of Fishing Huts could be seen through at certain distances.
Fixed an issue where Mackenzie calls out the writing on a mailbox that is far too dimly lit to be read. The mailbox is now properly lit.
Fixed an issue on multiple small objects in Perseverance Mills that caused them to appear and disappear at certain distances.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where water splash effects were missing from a waterfall.
Fixed multiple locations in Desperation Bay to smooth traversal and prevent the player from becoming momentarily snagged.
Fixed an issue in Blackrock Foothills that allowed players to walk out of bounds.
Fixed multiple performance issues in the Abandoned Mines that resulted in reduced FPS and hitching.
Fixed an issue in the Tuner Room where the player could get stuck on top of a small crate.
Fixed an issue in the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility kitchen where the countertops had incorrect collision.
Fixed multiple issues in the Suzuki Radio Telescope interior where objects and furniture did not possess collision.
Fixed an issue with the navmesh in Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility that caused reduced performance.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where tree stumps and Branches would appear unlit despite the environmental lighting.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where some mountains would drop to low quality LOD settings at closer than intended distances.
Fixed an issue within Desperation Bay where an iceberg possessed no collision.
Added performance optimizations for when Perseverance Mills buildings are aflame.
Fixed an issue with burning buildings during the Endgame Mission that resulted in notably blocky shadows.
Fixed an issue in the Suzuki Radio Telescope facility where geometry near the kitchen could disappear when viewed from down the nearby hall.
Fixed an issue in the Abandoned Mine where players could get stuck in on the rope bridge while crossing.
Fixed multiple locations in the Lighthouse to smooth traversal and prevent the player from becoming momentarily snagged.
Fixed an issue in Perseverance Wilds where players could get stuck beneath the broken bridge.
ANIMATION
Fixed 100+ issues in cinematics and cutscenes with character and object intersection, textures,UI, audio, lighting, and scene transitions (too many to list individually).
Fixed an issue where hand coverings (such as mittens or gloves) would suddenly disappear during certain environment interactions.
Adjusted the animation on an effort tap moment in Perseverance Mills with a falling beam.
Fixed an issue where Mackenzie's hand intersects with a fallen beam as he pushes it off himself during an effort tap moment.
Fixed an issue where the disembodied eyes and teeth of a convict are the last thing Mackenzie sees after failing a stealth takedown. (Yikes.)
Fixed an issue with the Cable Car crank handle that caused the base to look as if it weren't moving.
Improved the plank pull animation that occurs prior to entering the Abandoned Mine.
Fixed an issue where Mackenzie's hands clip noticeably through the wooden boards when removing them from the Abandoned Mine entrance.
Adjusted some NPC poses and animations to improve polish.
Fixed an issue during the Conflagration Mission that resulted in sentry convicts snapping to multiple poses.
Fixed an issue where Astrid's hand intersects with bulkhead door handles when opening them in the Cargo Ship.
Fixed an issue where backface culling on the player's arms could be seen during certain interactions when playing at high Field of View (FOV).
Fixed an issue where the Captain's Logbook awkwardly flies into Astrid's hand when interacted with.
Fixed an issue with Jace's jog cycle that resulted in an awkward arm motion.
Fixed an issue that could cause animations to jitter during effort tap moments.
Fixed an issue that caused Jace to stutter step while guiding Mackenzie to the Tuner.
Fixed an issue that incorrectly resulted in an empty shell casing being ejected from the Shotgun when reloading the firearm from empty.
AUDIO
Fixed an issue that allowed generic voice over mentioning Fatigue, Hunger, or Encumbrance to trigger at inappropriate times.
Fixed an issue in the Constable's Office where the wooden floor incorrectly played stone/rock material footstep audio.
Fixed an issue that could result in footstep sound effects playing from a stationary NPC.
Fixed an issue that prevented a voice over line from triggering when running out of time to activate the Substations in High Energy.
Fixed an issue where some floors in the Suzuki Radio Telescope Facility would emit snow sound effects when walked upon.
Fixed an issue that could cause repeated sound effect looping during effort tap moments.
Fixed an issue where the Cougar growl could be heard when returning to the Main Menu from gameplay.
Fixed an issue in the Abandoned Mine where one of Jace's voice lines was missing.
Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game.
An Episode Five post-launch status update from our founder and creative director. Hello players! We’re about 48 hours after the release of Episode Five, and I just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s been going on. LAUNCH SUCCESS The team was thrilled to watch the launch
An Episode Five post-launch status update from our founder and creative director.
Hello players!
We’re about 48 hours after the release of Episode Five, and I just wanted to give you a quick update on what’s been going on.
LAUNCH SUCCESS
The team was thrilled to watch the launch live at 10AM Pacific Time, along with our players. We had a successful trailer watch party on YouTube with over 3000 fans logging in to watch and participate in chat, and then we quickly overcame our historical Steam CCU peak and hit the highest concurrent player count on Steam since our launch back in 2014 -- 14,878 concurrents, and we think we might break 15,000 this weekend.
This means that across all our platforms, we’ve had hundreds of thousands of players playing Episode Five. We’ve even had over 500,000 new Steam players join the community in the just the past month! We’re excited to see so many of our players jumping in to see how the WINTERMUTE story resolves. Thanks for making the time to experience this last part of the story!
BUGS
Unfortunately, we’ve also discovered new bugs that weren’t found before launch. This is, sadly, what often happens when you have 1000s of people playing through the episode at the same time. New player patterns and issues with hardware appear, and new glitches that didn’t show up with a test team of 6-7 now become apparent. Our players are no stranger to bugs, and we’re glad to see that a lot of people have made it through the episode without any issues, but of course we’re not happy for any of the players who have hit progress blockers along the way.
The Test and Development teams have both been working hard in the lead-up to launch and since launch to prepare a hotfix, which is currently slated for release next week, April 8th (Pacific Time). This hotfix will include about 300 fixes (yes it’s a big number, but most of them are minor environment bugs like floating objects, etc.), and should address some of the more frequent major issues with Episode Five that some players have encountered, specifically:
Multiple issues with progression and UI objective text in Suzuki
Perseverance Mills objective confusion
Multiple crashes/progression blockers involving checkpoint/autosaves in Part 2
Unexplained deaths during gameplay
Jace issues while traversing the Mine
Players getting stuck or able to go out of the intended play area
Shotgun adjustments
Certain trailers trapping players
I also wanted to share this personal message from Andrew, who heads up our Launch team and is responsible for Test. It’s important that you know there are humans on the other side of these bug reports you send in, who work hard to make the game as good as the team can make it:
***
We are thrilled that many of you are enjoying Episode 5, but we are also aware that many of you are encountering issues that detract from the experience we intended Players to have.
To that point, the team is currently working on a bug fix release that will contain a myriad of fixes for bugs that Players are encountering on Episode 5. The last thing we want to do is rush this hotfix out without proper verification and validation against issues reported by the Community. We are working as fast as we can to get this hotfix to our players with a target to release on Steam for Wednesday, April 8th, with consoles to follow ASAP.
Please continue to post issues in our Forums and via our Support Portal, so we can ensure that the highest impact issues are addressed with the Hotfix.
We appreciate your patience and understanding at this time as we work on getting an updated Episode 5 build rolled out to players.
- Andrew
***
For my part, I know how hard the team worked in the lead up to Episode Five, and while some of you see bugs in the game now, I see all the bugs that got fixed before launch -- and there were thousands of them. I’ve seen some comments in the community to the effect that we released the episode without any testing, which I can assure you is not the case at all. We have a talented, dedicated internal test team who works very closely with the development team to ensure the episode (and all our releases) are in the best shape possible before launch. It’s impossible to catch all the bugs, despite our best efforts, and I assure you nobody feels the pain of launch bugs more than us. All we want is for your experience of Episode Five to be as enjoyable as possible, and we care a ton about our work. So, please don’t make assumptions about our dedication or process -- we are the first players, and the ones who care the most about the game.
We’ve really appreciated the support and patience from many of our players who have been willing to report bugs to our Support Portal, or aggregate bug report threads in the Official Forums and on Reddit. These efforts help us a ton to get the fixes identified, verified, and into the hotfix queue, which can then go out to all our players.
I know for some of you, these fixes will come too late, as your experience of Episode Five has already been defined, but I’m hopeful that with time you’ll come back and give it another go, if you did indeed run into issues during your first attempt.
And for those of you who have made it through Episode Five and sent kind words of love and support to the team -- we thank you for that! It means the world to us that you have enjoyed our work.
EPISODE FIVE on NINTENDO SWITCH
Since the Switch certification process takes quite a bit longer than the other platforms (20-30 days), our plan was always to wait for the first hotfix to be out the door before submitting a build to Nintendo for certification. We’re hoping to be able to verify this next batch of fixes in the Switch build, and then submit to Nintendo for verification. That means Episode Five won’t likely come out much before the end of April, but we’ll keep you posted as things progress. The best way to stay on top of development news is to check the News & Updates section of our Official Forums. This is where all our cross-platform community of players across Steam, EGS, GoG, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch tend to come together.
XBOX GAME PASS
You might have missed it within all the rest of the news leading up to the Episode Five launch, but after three years, THE LONG DARK is back on Game Pass! This is a great time to download the game, and if you find you like it, we hope you consider purchasing the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC. You can find more info on what’s included in the DLC here.
SOUNDTRACK, VOLUME 3
We recently shared the news that Volume 3 of the soundtrack for THE LONG DARK will be launching on April 22nd. It will first appear on Steam, and then on Bandcamp, just like the other two volumes. We’ll work on bringing it to other platforms in the future.
EPISODE FIVE CONTENT IN SURVIVAL
One of the most common questions we had leading up to the Episode Five release was, would the Ep5 regions end up in Survival. At the time we said we’d talk more about it once we had the Episode Five launch firmly behind us. We’re seeing this question come up a lot now that people have seen what’s in the episode. It’s still a little too early to share our specific plans, but we know you want to see as much of Ep5 in Survival as you can get, including some of the new mechanics. As long as we feel it makes sense to include them, we will. Again, we’ll share more details in the future, so please be patient while we figure out the best way to do this.
THAT EPISODE FIVE ENDING
We’ve heard that some of you don’t like it.
I like it, I believe in it, and it fits into my future plans. Don’t expect a “redux”.
REPORTING ISSUES
If you encounter bugs in the game and want to help out with the fixing process, we appreciate all your reports submitted to our Support Portal. Please continue doing that. It’s a much more effective way to help us improve the game than submitting a negative review. Remember that we are a small team working hard to improve the game for you, and although you might not love everything we have made, it has been made with love and respect.
Thanks for your patience as we get the Episode Five hotfixes into your hands ASAP, and I will check in with you again in a few weeks, if not sooner.
Hello Community, We have just updated THE LONG DARK to: Survival: 2.52 179852 Episode Five: 2.52 180269 WINTERMUTE: 2.22 180167 This is a Major Update to THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, introducing Episode Five and completing Story Mode. Known Issues Spoilers Ahead! The team is curren
Hello Community,
We have just updated THE LONG DARK to:
Survival: 2.52 179852
Episode Five: 2.52 180269
WINTERMUTE: 2.22 180167
This is a Major Update to THE LONG DARK: WINTERMUTE, introducing Episode Five and completing Story Mode.
Known Issues
Spoilers Ahead!
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.
During the SAR Mission, if a player enters a Trailer, they will be unable to leave. Reloading a previous save will be the only way to proceed.
Story save files from before 2023 (prior to the Survival/Story application split) will not appear in the Episode Five executable. These files will only be visible from the Episode 1-4 executable. This can be accessed by starting a new Episode 1-4 game and then quitting at your earliest convenience.
PlayStation players that load the autosave after the Atwood story cinematic and then open their Journal will encounter a consistent crash.
PlayStation 4 players will find Jace’s dream cinematic plays with no visuals if they play without loading or restarting the game from the start of Episode Five until that point.
Bug Fixes
This Update includes fixes for the following issues:
CRASHES
PS5/PS4 - Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when accessing the Survivor inventory.
PS5/PS4 - Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when transitioning Regions with a Travois.
PS4 - Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when dropping a gear item to the ground near open water.
PC/Xbox App - Fixed an issue that could result in an indefinite loading screen when launching the application.
Please visit our Support Portal if you encounter any issues while playing the game.
The moment you’ve been waiting for, for years, is finally here! Play as Mackenzie and Astrid as they battle the elements and other threats to finally uncover the mystery of the Aurora. The culmination of the epic Canadian survival saga is finally here, and as our friends at Shack
The moment you’ve been waiting for, for years, is finally here!
Play as Mackenzie and Astrid as they battle the elements and other threats to finally uncover the mystery of the Aurora. The culmination of the epic Canadian survival saga is finally here, and as our friends at Shacknews put it, “Episode Five is the perfect end to The Long Dark’s story”.
Episode Five: The Light at the End of All Things is a free update for anyone who owns THE LONG DARK, and is now live on Steam.
To all our players, thank you for your years of patience as we finally arrive at this moment. Thank you for taking this journey with us, we hope you feel it was worth the wait, and we can't wait to see you on the other side.
Join other fans of TLD to celebrate the launch of Episode Five. We’ll be premiering the launch trailer on YouTube just before 10AM, so make sure you jump in and experience the pre-release buzz! We’ll update this thread with the final video link, but for now you can simply subscri
Join other fans of TLD to celebrate the launch of Episode Five. We’ll be premiering the launch trailer on YouTube just before 10AM, so make sure you jump in and experience the pre-release buzz!
We’ll update this thread with the final video link, but for now you can simply subscribe to the Hinterland YouTube channel to be notified when the trailer goes live tomorrow morning!
Hello players! We're excited to share the news that soon you'll be able to purchase Volume 3 of THE LONG DARK's soundtrack, on Steam (with more stores to come later). Volume 3 offers nearly 2 hours of original music composed by Cris Velasco (Story Mode) and Sascha Dikiciyan (Surv
Hello players!
We're excited to share the news that soon you'll be able to purchase Volume 3 of THE LONG DARK's soundtrack, on Steam (with more stores to come later).
Volume 3 offers nearly 2 hours of original music composed by Cris Velasco (Story Mode) and Sascha Dikiciyan (Survival Mode), and covers EPISODE FOUR: FURY, THEN SILENCE, EPISODE FIVE: THE LIGHT AT THE END OF ALL THINGS, and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.
Volume 3 launches on April 22nd, 2026, for $9.99 USD. (Note: Track titles may contain light spoilers.)
Hello players, Many of you just purchased THE LONG DARK at a 90% "Deep Discount" during the Spring Sale. In order to ensure the best discount possible during the launch window for Episode Five coming next week, we've worked with Valve to extend the 90% discount until April 9th. T
Hello players,
Many of you just purchased THE LONG DARK at a 90% "Deep Discount" during the Spring Sale. In order to ensure the best discount possible during the launch window for Episode Five coming next week, we've worked with Valve to extend the 90% discount until April 9th.
This is your best opportunity to grab THE LONG DARK, which includes both Survival Mode and the Wintermute Story Mode Episodes, at a great discount. And if you already own the game, this is a great time to gift it to friends!
Remember, Episode Five: "The Light at the End of All Things" launches on Tuesday, March 31st, at 10AM Pacific.
Hello fans, We’re thrilled to reveal the Episode Five key art today. The Episode Five poster art showcases the dual struggles of Episode Five, both Mackenzie and Astrid’s journey to find each other, help the survivors of Great Bear Island, and finally crack the secrets of the Qui
Hello fans,
We’re thrilled to reveal the Episode Five key art today.
The Episode Five poster art showcases the dual struggles of Episode Five, both Mackenzie and Astrid’s journey to find each other, help the survivors of Great Bear Island, and finally crack the secrets of the Quiet Apocalypse.
This art was created by Kjetil Nystuen, who also created the revised key art and posters for Episodes One to Four that you can see here.
Episode Five of WINTERMUTE, The Long Dark’s Story Mode, launches on March 31st, 2026, and brings the epic survival saga to its conclusion.
Dear players, With the Episode Five launch just around the corner now, it’s time to update you on what to expect over the next few weeks. EPISODE FIVE SCREENSHOTS First, some screenshots taken right out of Episode Five! OUR STORY SO FAR… Since it’s been years since we launched th
Dear players,
With the Episode Five launch just around the corner now, it’s time to update you on what to expect over the next few weeks.
EPISODE FIVE SCREENSHOTS
First, some screenshots taken right out of Episode Five!
OUR STORY SO FAR…
Since it’s been years since we launched the first parts of WINTERMUTE, the team has put together a recap video that covers the main story beats from Episodes One to Four. This is a great refresher for folks who have already played the episodes. And for anyone who hasn’t, this is your reminder that you still have time to get through the first four episodes before March 31st.
Assume about 30+ hours of play time to get through Episodes One to Four.
This recap video has spoilers, so if you want to start your WINTERMUTE experience on March 31st and go in completely blind, then please skip this video!
Barring unforeseen disasters, you should expect to see Episode Five go live on Steam on March 31st at 10AM Pacific Time. Xbox and PlayStation versions should follow within hours of the Steam launch, as each platform’s servers propagate the update around the world. Please keep in mind that we have no control over when the update eventually comes to you, based on where you are on the globe. We appreciate your patience around this.
SWITCH LAUNCH PLANS
Since the Switch certification process is so much slower than the other platforms, we will not be able to launch the Switch version of Episode Five on March 31st. Our typical plan with major Switch releases is to ensure the first set of critical issues that show up with launch get fixed in Hotfix 1, and then we submit the hotfixed version to Nintendo for approval. This helps reduce the chances of the Switch build launching broken and then us not being able to fix it quickly due to the 20-30 day turn-around on updates.
Based on this timing, our hope is to have Episode Five out on Switch by the end of April, but depending on external timings, it could take longer. We’ll keep you posted regarding progress, in our forums and on Bluesky.
SETTING EXPECTATIONS
Episode Five is a bit different than our other episodes, in that the focus is very much on wrapping up the WINTERMUTE storyline. As such, the world was designed and built around the needs of the story, including having sections playable as Mackenzie and different sections playable as Astrid. This means that while there are certainly open-world sections of the episode, there are also sections that tend to be a bit more linear than our typical work.
There’s a heavy emphasis on storytelling and cinematics in the episode. I believe the team has done our best work in this area to date.
Episode play times are always difficult to pin down as they vary so much from player to player, but we are consistently seeing 12-15 hour play times for Episode Five.
If this is your first time playing WINTERMUTE, please keep in mind that each episode reflects the period during which it was created by the team. Our tools and our skill with them has improved over the years. While I still think the earliest parts of the game are solid and wonderful experiences, they do show their age in some ways. It’s worth playing through them to get the full story, which is concluded beautifully in Episode Five. I encourage you not to simply skip to Episode Five if you are new to the story, but we hope you can play the earlier episodes with their age consideration in mind and be gentle in your assessments.
Episode Five answers many questions about previous events in the story, as well as what may be coming in the future. Please think about your fellow TLD fans when you are playing, and try to avoid spoiling the experience for them.
If you are a content creator (Streamer, YouTuber, etc.), please use Spoiler warnings in any videos you make. If you would like a game key, please use the following link. If you have a favourite content creator you’d like to see play THE LONG DARK, please share that link with them.
We really hope you all enjoy the experience, and feel it was worth the wait! I certainly can’t influence how you will feel about the game, but I’m very proud of the work the team has done bringing this story to a close.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
By end of day, the Episode Five build will be locked with no more changes accepted. By this time next week, the build will be submitted to the console platforms so that it can be certified and ready to launch on March 31st. Some of the team will already be on a much-deserved break. The last several months of the episode’s development have certainly been tough on the team. After they rest, there will be hotfixes to be done, and all the other typical parts of development that tend to keep us busy after big releases.
Beyond that, the end of WINTERMUTE and the completion of Episode Five is the end of an era for Hinterland. Finally, we will be able to talk more freely about our plans and ambitions for the future. Some of those plans relate to ongoing TLD development. Some of those plans relate to our work on BLACKFROST. Some of those plans relate to other unannounced projects.
I’m looking forward to the team having more breathing room to begin sharing more news about the various things we’re working on. I’ll be excited to hear what you think about our plans for ongoing TLD dev, and for BLACKFROST especially. But for now and the next few weeks, our focus remains fully on getting Episode Five into your hands.
Many of you have asked about the Episode Five regions, and if or when they will end up being added to Survival Mode. So far I have responded with a “wait and see” approach to this. The episode has many areas and not all of them will be suited to sandbox play. Rest assured we are discussing this and will share more of our plans in the future, but it would be nice if you did not hassle the dev team about this particular topic. As mentioned, Episode Five was built for the story and not all of it was meant to be brought back into Survival Mode afterwards. We hope you can respect our intentions around this.
KEEP AN EYE OPEN…
In the days between now and March 31st, we’ll be sharing more stuff about Episode Five. More screens, more teasers, and a full launch trailer will go live on Launch Day. We’ll also share more news about Volume 3 of the TLD soundtrack, and some Episode Five merch for pre-order.
Expect to see updates about all those things on Steam, in our forums, and on Bluesky.
THE END IS NEAR
I’ll post one more dev diary related to Episode Five, on Launch Day. Until then, please keep the dev team in mind as they wrap up work on the final part of THE LONG DARK’s Story Mode. We can’t wait for you to experience it for yourselves. The end of a decade’s worth of development is finally coming to an end.
Hello Community, We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.51, build 170901. This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE and contains multiple bug fixes. Known Issues The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter on
Hello Community,
We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.51, build 170901.
This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE and contains multiple bug fixes.
Known Issues
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.
MacOS and Linux - Please note that we have temporarily disabled Additional Shadows for Structures and Terrain to address an engine level visual bug. We are working to fix the problem and will re-enable this visual enhancement as soon as possible. This impacts both MacOS and Linux versions of the game.
In some rare cases when launching the game while using HDR, the display may appear completely black. This is caused by brightness somehow being set to 0. Using a non HDR display and setting the brightness to a higher value before swapping back is the only workaround for the time being.
Bug Fixes
This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:
GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS
Critical - Fixed an issue that could cause a loss of profile progress (Badges and Feats), or result in intermittent notifications stating a player's profile failed to load when starting the game.
Fixed an issue that allowed players to bypass the material requirements to repair structures via Safehouse Customization.
Fixed an issue that prevented the Cougar from spawning on save files where it was enabled at a point after first generating the save. Unfortunately, this will not resolve the issue for saves currently experiencing this issue.
Fixed an issue that prevented the Improvised Knife, Improvised Hatchet, Survival Knife and Cougar Claw Knife from being used for in-game actions such as Harvesting, opening Canned Food, or Breaking Ice where they could previously be.
Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game.
Hello Community, We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.50, build 169730. This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE containing bug fixes, as well as an upgrade to a major new version of Unity, in anticipation of the Episode Five launch on March 3
Hello Community,
We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.50, build 169730.
This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL MODE containing bug fixes, as well as an upgrade to a major new version of Unity, in anticipation of the Episode Five launch on March 31st, 2026. Episode Five depends on Unity 6, so this pre-launch release will provide time to prove and stabilize the game on the new engine version before the launch.
Known Issues
The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal.
MacOS - Please note that we have temporarily disabled Additional Shadows for Structures and Terrain to address an engine level visual bug. We are working to fix the problem and will re-enable this visual enhancement as soon as possible. This only impacts the MacOS version of the game.
PlayStation 5 - Sometimes during Episode One and Three, a player may encounter a persistent crash in specific locations. Some players find that restarting their console can allow them to proceed past the crash. We are actively attempting to diagnose the cause of this issue.
In some rare cases when launching the game while using HDR, the display may appear completely black. This is caused by brightness somehow being set to 0. Using a non HDR display and setting the brightness to a higher value before swapping back is the only workaround for the time being.
Bug Fixes
This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:
CRASHES
Mac - Fixed an issue that could cause a crash when exiting to the desktop from WINTERMUTE.
GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS
Fixed an issue that incorrectly allowed items to cure while in containers, resulting in them sometimes going missing once they became cured.
Fixed an issue that rarely caused saved game files to become corrupted when exiting a Prepper Cache.
Fixed an issue that resulted in stronger than intended player stagger while in the Near Death state. This fix should reduce the amount of camera animation swaying during the low-condition phase.
Fixed an issue that could cause the game to soft-lock when loading a file that was saved while traversing with a Travois. Players should find they recover from this broken state gracefully upon loading the affected save file.
Fixed an issue that could cause the game to soft-lock when attempting to sleep at a point that the Trader Radio was queued to interrupt sleep, resulting in a black screen.
Fixed an issue that could cause the game to soft-lock when a player attempted a Rope Climb with no Stamina, resulting in the player becoming stuck on the rope.
Fixed an issue that could cause a soft-lock if a Lantern ran out of fuel while being lit, resulting in a state where the player could move, but not interact with anything.
Fixed a rare issue where retrieving a Manufactured Arrow from a Carcass could result in a Simple Arrow being added to the player's Backpack instead.
Fixed an issue where Transmitters were shown in the Journal->Collections tab even when the Tales From the Far Territory DLC was not installed.
Fixed an issue that allowed a player to carry the Travois into a Snow Shelter with them.
Fixed an issue that prevented the Cougar Claw Knife from being used as a Crafting Tool.
ART & ENVIRONMENTS
Fixed multiple instances of items being hidden beneath snow by the Terrain Blending setting.
Fixed an issue in Broken Railroad where smoke would not appear from the chimney of the Hunting Lodge when the fireplace was lit.
Fixed an issue that resulted in snow effects appearing within the Warden's Office in Blackrock Penitentiary.
Fixed an issue that caused visual artifacting where snow and terrain intersect when Terrain Blending and Additional Shadows options were enabled.
Fixed an issue where shadow pop-in was very noticeably at long distances.
Adjusted the shadow settings in Ash Canyon to prevent certain locations from looking too dark at night.
Adjusted the shadow settings inside Blackrock Penitentiary to prevent some locations from looking too dark at night.
Fixed an issue with aggressive Terrain Blending in Ash Canyon.
Fixed an issue with Terrain Blending on the Blackrock Penitentiary gate which resulted in it popping in and out at certain distances.
Fixed an issue with the Cougar Hide Wrap that resulted in a noticeable visual anomaly on the Clothing tab when equipped.
Fixed an issue in Broken Railroad Region where a player could get stuck in a terrain trap near the Maintenance Shed.
Fixed an issue in Blackrock Region where a player could get stuck in a terrain trap near a Rope Climb.
Fixed an issue in the Pleasant Valley Region Barn interior where a player could get stuck in a terrain trap.
PLATFORM-SPECIFIC
Windows Store / Xbox for Windows - Fixed an issue that prevented WINTERMUTE save file names from being entered.
Xbox (All versions.) / PlayStation (All versions.) - Fixed an issue with draw distance where some items or terrain would disappear at too low a distance.
PlayStation 5 - Fixed an issue that caused some terrain to appear darker or lighter than intended.
PlayStation (All versions.) - Fixed an issue that caused the Clothing tab to temporarily flash white when opening the Backpack.
PlayStation (All versions.) - Fixed an issue with the Travois that resulted in it disappearing forever. This only occurred if it was deployed and never carried prior to moving through a transition.
Windows Store / Steam / EGS - Fixed a rare issue that could result in DLC failing to apply to the main game if the DLC was installed on a separate hard drive.
Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game.
The end of The Long Dark is nigh. After more than ten years in development and seven years working on its controversial story mode, Wintermute , the climactic episode is in the final stages of production. However, those stages aren't quite as final as developer Hinterland Studio
The end of The Long Dark is nigh. After more than ten years in development and seven years working on its controversial story mode, Wintermute, the climactic episode is in the final stages of production. However, those stages aren't quite as final as developer Hinterland Studio would like, so they've announced the episode won't arrive until next year... Read more.
