Nervous Pete

It's pretty interesting as the initial vibes I picked up were a Wyndhamesque post-apocalyptic tale largely based in nature, but I also know that the longer the creative process goes on the more the story the writer intended shifts, which is always a good thing. In the end you've got to lean back and trust whoever's driving the car to take you someplace cool. No writer worth their salt ends the first place they intend. The journey we've had so far in The Long Dark has been ridiculous value for money and if you were to drop the curtain now the Jack London survivalists amongst us (of whom I am one) can still flip cartwheels. I'm sure the final story even if it moves into the surreal will preserve those initial feelings. For me The Long Dark in my head-space was perfectly framed by the wonderful cinematic piece you had with Christopher Plummer, which stressed your struggle against nature and the hard choices of a natural apocalypse. It still stands. I'm sure I'm also going to enjoy what you release next in the series. If in the end I find myself mentally placing myself in a natural cataclysm within the custom sandbox mode then I'm super happy that your game has given me the option to live that chilling yet cosy fantasy. But the opportunity to encounter something stranger also is pretty exciting as well. Which is kind of a roundabout way of saying 'trust the driver' but at the same time The Long Dark has had great scope to cherry pick your favourite wintry survival aspects and I'm certain that this new development will leave those intact, while enabling you to be increasingly disconcerted the further you move into the far territories. I might find it interesting in the light of your latest stories to revisit my 'cosy catastrophe' essay series on this forum where I compare classic apocalyptic sci-fi both American and British to the Long Dark, and see what new comparisons can be made. Anyway in summary The Long Dark is my favourite Canadian thing since Kids in the Hall, and remains so.

Just an added thought, but I think the implausibility of poison wolves can be offset by their randomly dying on you as well. So you could be stalked by one that starts getting slower and slower, walks in circles and then keels over and dies. That would make it kind of clear that these aren't supernatural wolves, just very unlucky canines that have gone a bit rabid huffing toxic fumes.

More strangeness afoot, things sure begin to get flaky out there on the ragged edge. The new region sounds like an interesting shift, I can imagine some low-key Stalker vibes. To be honest, I'm definitely more fond of the more grounded, plausible, just you against nature side of The Long Dark. The aurora affecting wildlife was absolutely fine by me as it had just enough credibility given the massive world-changing solar storm. The glimmer fog was on a bit more of a shaky ground with me. The poisoned wolves... well, we'll see how they fare. The thing is though I can completely understand since it's tough conjuring up new threats without heading through magical realism territory and dipping toes into science / horror fiction. In a way the sheer long trek to the far territories really helps in mentally distancing the strange regions for the player. It's like going 'up the river' in Heart of Darkness, but you still can choose to just stay and ignore the regions, or visit and then *shudder* try to forget as your survivor lives their life in the familiar regions of Great Bear, relying on the long distance of a dangerous trek to place a comforting barrier between themselves and the strangeness that lies off in the far territories. If The Long Dark further steps into this strangeness I hope it'll continue to be in the J. G. Ballard style with unsettling subtlety. So I'm sure I'll enjoy the new region. I really liked Forsaken Airfield, I genuinely felt I was in a real place when I was exploring that - despite the glimmer fog. But I'd dearly love after the Far Territories if you do commit to another, but place it on the other side and make it more traditional - with space for those of us who definitely like the 'cosy' side of catastrophe and also use The Long Dark as a release from pressures in life. A couple of frozen paradises would be nice for retirees in the Long Dark, that although comparatively easy, can always be ignored by the hardcore players. The rest of the updates look great. Gloves look amazing, I'm really looking forward to the travois and scurvy adds a really interesting factor. I'm hoping that cooking recipes is the key to busting scurvy, but I also hope that there will be some food recipes that can still be cooked with either new oil and flour surrogates, or without them, that will combat the dread disease. Lemon snow cone, anyone? Honest. It IS lemon. Finally I'm really looking forward to the base customisation for those of us who want to settle into our digs. Figures that'll probably be the last update as it's the one I'm most excited for, that's how it works I guess. Anyway, promising looking Diary devs, and all the best!

I could do without cougars (seriously, I jump enough playing this game) but I'm eagerly looking forward to everything else! Most of all I'm yearning for base customisation options like tidying up, decorating and making things more cosy. Further expansion on things to do when you've 'retired' and are very attached to a save and fancy some low-risk 'the struggle is over' cosy catastrophe living. Hope something's coming from the Hinterland kitchen soon - I'm hungry! x

Hullo Hinterland. Like others I sort of rolled my eyes at the eight-to-ten week cadence thing and was a bit surprised it was in there. There's that famous saying, 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' and with a huge system-dependent sandbox world that enemy is inevitably hidden bugs. Lots of them. All the same it's better to admit error now than wait until the end of the year with a mea-culpa, and I appreciate how painful this must have been. I'm a PC / Switch player. I used to be completely PC, but since the release of the Switch (my first Nintendo console) only The Long Dark, Cities Skylines and American Truck Simulator get a look in on my machine now. As a Switch gamer I have to say that we're kind of used to delays enforced by porting difficulties brought on by the nature of the system. Cities Skylines never saw one DLC released on the Switch. I'm used to that kind of disappointment. However as a Nintendo convert I've also got used to the Nintendo's laudable notion of waiting until things are ready. As Miyamoto said, "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." It's tempting to frame this quote as something of an excuse for developers, but after waiting six years for a sequel for Zelda: Breath of the Wild I have to say that the sheer staggering scale of the achievement of Tears of the Kingdom has made the wait and suffering the repeated delays completely worthwhile. Indeed for the moment Long Dark is whimpering at the window like a faithful hound as it watches me run through happy glades throwing a stick for an eager bounding new Zelda game. But I'll always return to The Long Dark, because it is a world and a story that speaks to me, and I find that when I play it I live within it. This is part of the reason why I'm having such trouble steeling myself to go to the far territories. I'm still preparing. It's an odd feeling turning your back on the familiar places you've learned to call home in the old regions of The Long Dark, and marching off away from the cooking range of the Pleasant Valley Farmhouse towards that distant railroad bridge and into the unknown. So am I disappointed to read your post? Yes. But far, far less than your hard-working team are probably feeling in themselves. Like Miyamoto I can learn to wait. From me, standing on top of Korko with a rocket strapped to its back, to your team, diligently beavering away. Catch you later in the Far Territories.

Could you also warn us before you introduce the cougar in game, as well? Perhaps with Raph walking on to the screen Rod Serling style to quietly and calmly warn us that there might be a cougar. Because otherwise I don't think my nerves will be able to take it.

Okay, so first off thanks for the update team! I think you are going about the right way with splitting The Long Dark into two branches, and I like the structure you have for the Survival Mode Edition, allowing players to opt into to DLC with a top-up payment. Paired with the main game offering the Tales pack as an expansion, I think it's fairly clear and transparent. Price-wise I think it's reasonable, naturally depending on the strength of the expansion narrative and region design. I appreciate the delicate balance you have with the pitching of the extra gameplay items, introducing new elements for value for money but at the same time fearful of breaking a great core system. Three new regions: Airfield. Industrial Mine. Mountain Pass. Of the three of these I'm most hyped for airfield, as I loved the concept art for it many, many moons ago before the game even launched. The other two have my attention naturally and I look forward to what the art and mapping teams make of them, but I would have been quite intrigued by an Overlook Hotel region. Gameplay Systems: Okay. Travois is common sense, and I really like it as an end survival game idea. Being that lonely figure trudging across a landscape pulling a travois. It'd be particularly atmospheric if there was a piece of music dedicated to this. Also... something I've long thought of... but the idea of burying the dead, using a travois or sled to pull them to a burial spot. That would give me real melancholy Jack London vibes and I'd really feel as if I were putting lost souls to rest with dignity and closing a chapter on a past age. Please think about it. Safehouse customisation. This is the big thing for me. The Long Dark has been a welcome haven for my mental health in these genuinely troubled times. Hell, I even dream I'm in it every couple of months. To have a place that I could call my own, tidy slowly decorate in a spartan fashion... I'm not talking No Man Sky levels of customisation, just the stuff you do slowly claiming as a home what was originally an emergency retreat. Shortwave Radio. Great idea! I always found the landlines to be a clever compromise with the limited animation budget, and the idea that you could chat with another survivor out there Firewatch style is an appealing one in survival. Their valley could be inaccessible, but you'd still have things to talk about. I don't know if it would be possible, but having dialogue generate 'Hades' style on what you'd been up to would be incredible. So say you escape from wolves that day, or find a rifle, you'd be talking about it next phone call. Tricky to pull off, but contextual dialogue sprinkled in limited amounts would be pretty immersive. Weapon & Tool Variations / Item Variants. Some people really dig custom tools so it's a nice idea. I'm less fussed, but I can imagine a lot of people would get a kick out of it. Trader. Okay, this is kind of exciting. I'd like them to be a character in their own right and not just a Bethesda style blank-faced trade-bot. Perhaps you could 'unlock' them by saving their life. Long Dark has a pretty good run of memorable characters, so having an option trader who moves through would retain the isolation but give a real thrill as one day, looking out across the snowy plain... is that...? No! But yes! Blinky Joe the Trader! Recipes for Cooking. Oooooh yes. I like cooking me. And I have a hell of a lot berries to use. Give me that full Gary Paulson Hatchet cookbook experience. MOAR Survival Music Yes Yes Yes! Visors Yes! I knew you were real and would one day reward me, Visor God! I flip your fabric-clad flippy things in supplication! Thermos Weak lemon drink option or my money back please. ("You can drink it now, or save it for later." - Obscure British comedy Lee & Herring joke, apologies) So all the paid stuff above is a good thing that I'm looking forward to. My only request would be that regarding the new region please be very careful against introducing any science-fiction or fantastical elements into it. The Carrington effect stuff is good science applied to a game, and the way it affects wildlife is a neat fantastical explanation as to the hostile wolves et al. I also really like the light touch 'magical realism' of the bear in story mode. I just hope the narrative doesn't go out there X-Files style, as I really enjoy the feeling of it being a possible, grounded, disaster that at the same time makes you feel insignificant and makes you really shrink back into the same superstitious wide-eyed fear of nature that our ancestors had. The new animations and visual enhancements also have me quietly hyped, though to be honest if The Long Dark never advanced visually from its current atmospheric polish I'd be content. I have both the PC version and the Switch version, and I'm ready to accept that new graphical fancies aren't going to make it to that humble handheld device... but I still love you Switchy-Survival-Fun. The Save System Issues Honestly I think you've done a super-human effort in preserving saves this far in the teeth of updates, and I understand that this move will break them. The time-capsule machine will be there to ease the pain. I would suggest though maybe an export feature for the Diary as a PDF for us hardcore retreat-into-game-building-our-own-narrative creatives. I've had some fine diary runs in the past I'd have loved to preserve. So I'm looking forward to December! Best of luck moving forward with this, and like you I look forward to the community energy this new survival venture will elicit. I expect in small measure delays, frustrations, miscommunications, broken things, bugs, failures both amusing and embarrassing but - as it moves forward - something pretty damn wonderful and creative and immersive to come out of all this. All the best to the team, old and new, and I can't wait to see what unfolds! P.S: Hope you keep up with the chunky update videos as stuff comes out with the updates. I always loved watching those on YouTube.

Great stuff! I also am hyped, full thoughts to follow shortly, but I just had to pedantically point out some written errors in the expansion page post on this page... https://www.thelongdark.com/expansion/ You kind of repeat yourself exactly under 'Who Is It For?' and 'What Is It An Add-On To?'. Best cut one of those! You also have a typo on 'What About Players Who Don't BY the expansion pass...' header. Just a couple of things to fix! Anyway... on to m'thoughts...

Hi Jay, it is a bit of a confusing name apparently. What Hinterland are suggesting is that you pay for the DLC up-front as a Season Pass that gets you access to the upcoming DLC over a period of time. It's a one time payment and the DLC is yours to keep, it's just that you pay in advance for DLC released over a 'season'. Once that 'season' is completed another will probably be announced, with another bunch of DLC released over time. Buying a 'season pass' will probably get you a small discount. Again, I believe there's just one up-front payment and you're not subscribing as such. Alternatively you can pay for the DLC as and when they come out separately. Anno 1800 by Ubisoft also calls their DLC bundles 'season passes' where you pay up front and receive three of four DLC over time as and when they're released. Again, once paid you keep them, it's not a subscription thing. Hope that helps.

Thanks Raph, lovely post - heartfelt and informative. I love the picture as well, is that your office? Well, it is now in my Hinterland head-canon. It must be difficult moving on but at the same time pretty exciting. Hell, I'm faced with the same emotion in survival mode whenever I up-sticks with my long-running base from one region to another. It's going to feel a little strange at first without you at the helm, but you've made the right decision. You don't want things to begin to feel stale, you want new challenges. Katie Sorrell's work has been incredible so far, so I'm looking forward to seeing where she takes us next. If Pleasant Valley was her first region she must have hit the ground running as it's still my favourite on the island. (Katie if you're reading this then another cosy region would be lovely, thanks. Brutal bleak wilderness is great, but I also like to spend time in the cosier Pilgrim aspect of The Long Dark and having a region that really feels like a home away from home for me would be something special.) I'd be very happy to lay down some coin for more Long Dark content. I bought this back in the day for about a tenner in British pounds back when Timberwolf Mountain was released. I felt immensely relieved when it came out on the Switch also enabling me to buy it a second time, I was beginning to feel a bit guilty about the ridiculous value for money I'd been getting. I think the system you've set up is fair, and anything that enables me to make my chosen base a bit cosier will definitely get a big thumbs up from me. (Burying bodies would be a start!) So once again, thank you Raph and thank you the Long Dark team for taking us on this incredible journey. Here's to the undiscovered region!

There's the odd mistake in the Long Dark, I think some of them are due to content they couldn't quite provide in time, others due to a late concern that the player might not know what to do so a bit of exposition dialogue is thrown in where it wouldn't otherwise would be. Happily my brain papers over these cracks pretty well with some deft head-canon. My only two issues with storytelling in Episode 4 is that... 1: It should have been established that MacKenzie has a hidey-hole for his gear that only he knows about, perhaps in a hole in the wall behind a poster of Rita Hayworh. The grim inmates of Black Rock seem incredibly averse to nipping across the chilly prison courtyard to check up on my shenanigans in the guardhouse, anyway. 2: A minor grip in what was probably the best written episode yet, but I get mildly annoyed at intelligent characters being plucky when they have an incredibly horrendous fate at hand - namely in this case Jace. She's a fine new character and I look forward to seeing what she brings in Episode 5, but her "I've been dealing with guys like you..." thing at a bunch of thugs armed with axes struck me as a little odd. A whispered, "Oh God..." would have sold the tension in the scene a lot more. Other than that, her stuff was good. I think overall the writing has jumped up a notch once again. Matthis and his henchmen in particular are excellent.

Intriguing! The lake basin looks lovely, and I really like the design of the fishing lodge. I think the railway bridge supports must be obscured by the tree and the rocks, but if not you might want to get a couple of additional pillar supports in. I'd be interested in writing a little something if you'd like to assign me a scene or two. I'll poke my head round Discord. Best of luck!

Very much looking forward to playing this on my PC come the weekend with multiple mugs of steaming hot tea and the most cosy of slippers. Having missed out a festive family get-together owing to lockdown last Christmas I'm really looking forward to meeting with loved ones for a week round my mum and dad's. However that won't stop from also playing The Long Dark on the Switch over there too, so I'll get to test out the new region at home and handheld on the go! As I kind of love the current menu art as well, it's not too great a loss having it stick around on the Switch.

I quite like the wispy thin smoke. There's something a little cosy about seeing it when you're outside in the bleak! Amen though on adding the knife / hatchet toggles to custom mode. Anything that gets me nearer to more easily tweaking my favourite Custom build where there's very few clothing and packaged food resources, but still a few tools lying around including a rifle, low wolves but harsh weather!

Improving the graphics will be a delicate affair. The Long Dark has an almost perfect art-style, one where despite the water-colour nature of it I feel really there. New lighting effects will be interesting to see, but I really appreciate TLD's 'less is more' slightly abstracted texturing and item shapes. Sometimes the closer you try to get to something the further away you end up. But I trust you to get it right, after all I really disliked it when you redid all the rock textures from the original flat grey, and now I can't imagine it being anything else! Regarding unlocking the noise-maker by discovering it, it sort of makes sense to me. It would never occur to me to make such a thing out there in the wilderness unless I found an example of it myself laying around. Even then I'd probably need Jeeves the Butler to patiently explain the meaning and construction of it, with the aid of diagrams. So for my head-cannon stumbling across one and going, "Oh, I get what this is!" makes sense from a crafting and character viewpoint.

Exciting update, thanks! I'm currently two-thirds through Episode 4 and am enjoying it immensely. As Pleasant Valley is my go-to retreat from the stress of the real world having the moody but useful Blackrock region to hand is going to be pretty useful. The bullet proof jacket should be useful for hunting expeditions when tackling dangerous game, but I can see it not bringing much in warmth benefits so there's going to be a bit of risk in using it. Regarding the proposed split of the games, mod support and DLC - it all makes sense. I think the probable logical route is to have a cheaper Survival Mode only and for those who begin to be really intrigued by the lore of the main game an upgrade path would be convenient. You could probably introduce the survival audience to trying the story mode by including the odd new indication of MacKenzie and Astrid having passed through via notes / visual clues left behind by them. Mod support is pretty interesting, especially as I've never tried a mod for Long Dark yet, though there seems to be some interesting early attempts out there. As for DLC I'd be happy to spend the price of a high quality £4 ale on added feature packages. I really crave something for those of us who are less nomadic and view the Long Dark as a comfortable space to dwell in, especially in these winter months. So to that end anything involving tidying and decorating the interior of a house, moving limited furniture items would be good. I'm not talking Minecraft / Animal Crossing base-building, just the ability to tidy up, make rugs, whittle wood carvings, knit blankets. light candles... perhaps with an optional Survival mode feature where it helps combat isolation / cabin fever. Another DLC where you have to take care of another survivor with severely reduced mobility, where you hunt and scavenge for them and they in return cook and tend to your wounds when you're injured, and where you gradually build a relationship - that would be great. You could find them in the wilderness and carry them back Episode-3 style to your base of choice, with it becoming a place you always have to return to when their supplies go low. Anyway, I predict an exciting future for The Long Dark and I can't wait to see what you've done with the Survival Update once I've finished Episode Four. To all the team and your loved ones I wish you a very merry Christmas / winter solstice, and thank you for all your hard work and the great experience you have given us with this wonderful game.

Update now appeared on Switch. For those unfamiliar with updating on Switch, hover over icon in Home screen and press the '+' button on your controller. Then click Software Update. Enjoy!

Thanks Raphael, and for your words too. The Long Dark has always felt a very personal experience, both from the love poured in by the team themselves and in the way we who journey through the game project ourselves into that great, strange, beautiful, troubling wilderness within. I've just watched the release trailer and this again seems to knock things up another level in story-telling and drama. I had doubts about some of your writing at the start pre-redux but you get stronger each new episode. For me, I think The Long Dark will become the definitive post-apocalypse game, as The Earth Abides is for me in the realm of literature. Anyway team, kick back, treat yourselves to a lovely celebratory dinner and crack open the good whiskey. You've deserved it. Now I eagerly await the Switch update to kick in, and cook myself something tasty also in the meantime. Best regards from rain-sodden Wales.

I cannot deny, I am dancing a poky little jig in anticipation of this release... although my dancing is pretty much just the same parade of violently flinching body spasms a hypothermic survivor would display whilst having a starving wolf chewing on their arm. This might be the first release I play on Switch first, as I'll be away from home and my nice PC and simply cannot wait. Should be an experience. Oddly enough a few days before the announcement I dreamt I was in a prison in The Long Dark, and that myself and other inmates had to work together to survive. Coincidence? I THINK SO. To be honest a vivid TLD dream comes around every five or so weeks for me. Anyway, eager to see what this one brings us. The story seems to be evolving into something really special here and i'm sure it'll be worth the wait. Here's to the launch!

Is it just me or is the Switch a little smoother with some of the AA issues with trees etc. fixed? The wires still look a bit janky (oh the humanity!) but I'm sure it's looking slightly nicer and smoother. I could be imagining things, mind, as it's been a couple of weeks since I played. (Not the Long Dark's fault, somebody lent me Breath of the Wild. Crikey.)

I asked this earlier. Apparently though Hinterland can publish direct to PC themselves, for console versions they send it to Microsoft / Playstation / Nintendo who publish it to their store, so there may be varying delays in the vetting process before it makes it on those platforms.

Thanks for the link. Makes sense. I'll probably have to wait a little bit for the Switch update then. Happily I have it on Steam too! x

Excellent! Ash Canyon looks like a cosy romantic getaway retreat. Can't wait to take a gander! The technical backpack and crampons look like worthy additions too. My PC Steam version updated quick, so good work there. Has anyone's Switch version updated yet though, and if not, does anyone know when that rolls out? I fancy curling up on the sofa under a blanket later with a cuppa and playing on the handheld, but I can wait.

Seriously though, I had thought of making a thread for my own First Impressions but then figured yours is the perfect one to drop in on. So, after five hours play. and seven days into a Voyageur run on my favourite map, Pleasant Valley, here are my thoughts... It's still The Long Dark, through and through. At first I was a bit worried there'd be too much in the way of graphical compromises but aside from some shimmering telephone wires and the odd pop-up hummock now and again shifting shape too close for comfort, it completely allows you to sink into that art-style once again and become convinced you're trudging about in a snowy wilderness. The frame-rate is super-smooth so absolutely no complaints from me on that front. I also think loading times and eminently reasonable. Sure, they're about five times longer than on my SSD 32GB ram PC, but to be honest I usually need that ten to fifteen seconds to catch my breath after haring indoors from the slathering pursuit of a wolf. The text and the UI is crisp and sharp and very readable whilst remaining as discrete as the PC version. The food and clothes textures are a bit low-resolution, but it still fits very well within the game style and I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same ones from a fair few PC updates ago before they upgraded all the item textures. Those old textures worked fine for me in the early days of The Long Dark and they continue to do so here. I don't think there is quite as much fancy shader work going on with those glorious sunsets as the PC version, but they're still amply enough to stop me in my tracks and spend a few minutes watching them to that beautiful melancholy twangy guitar. Speaking of which the sound is as alternately beautiful and terrifying as ever. There is zero appreciable difference from the PC version, which is nice as in my opinion The Long Dark has the best soundscape in any game I've ever played. The control layouts seem logical, and I love the fact that the arrow pad is a quick draw shortcut for the snappy deployment of flares, guns, decoys and such. Movement still feels natural in game, though I still keep getting my bumper and trigger functions mixed up in my mind. That will come with time though. A rebind option would be nice, but I can't think of a much improved layout offhand. Are there issues? There are a few. Some fixable, others inherent. Using a handheld device I'm finding it a bit trickier to spot hostile wildlife. At mid-range a wolf can look like a little ant crawling across the landscape, in the distance a shimmering speck. This is a natural issue with the screen real estate and lower resolution we're dealing with here, but an option might be to just tweak the wolves detection ranges a little for the Switch so that they're a little more forgiving and there's less chance of them spotting you before you spot them. What is a bit more of an issue is gun-play. The use of a rifle is punishingly difficult when you start off sans rifle skills, and you get to only raise it to your shoulder for a few precious seconds before you have to lower it again, panting. This isn't so bad using mouse and keyboard but with analogue sticks it really isn't long enough to have much of a chance drawing a bead. Another problem is that the gun sight notch is a hare too large for the Switch, so frequently the animal gets lost under it and it becomes harder to judge your accuracy. I'll probably get more used to it in time, but it is proving difficult for me. It's absolutely not a game-breaker though, and I am still having a great time. Picking up sticks and rabbits is more of a faff for me too, and I feel the crosshair could be a bit more forgiving - especially for grabbing rabbits. But still, it's great. I woke up in Pleasant Valley, hiked down to the farm and rifled through the drawers and cupboards of its dusy innards. I hiked up to the radio hut and burgled it senseless, looking over my shoulder every moment in case a wolf or bear loped up over the crest. Caught my breath watching a beautiful sunrise from the ridge outside the hut, and then back down, eyeing a bear suspiciously that was snuffling its way through the orchard, giving it as wide a berth as possible. The third day I realised there was a rifle under the bed. The fourth day I stepped out onto the porch and hands trembling - in real life as well as in game - I took the shot. I couldn't tell if I hit or not but it flew at me like greased furry lighting. I snapped off another shot and then it was on me, tooth and claw as I was desperately backing up to the porch door. I staggered away, shreds of health left, and the bear loped off. Back indoors I bandaged up. My character kept on shuddering under her breath for the next fifteen minutes, echoing my own real life feelings admirably. A short sleep later and found the bear dead next to the car. Quartered and lugged the carcass home, shoved the bits in the fridge and slept an exhausted, troubled sleep. The next day I spent around eighteen hours cooking bear steaks on the fire. The aurora swept in at four in the morning. I celebrated my survival with a bear stake, a cup of tea and some light classical music on the radio, trying not to feel unnerved at all the flickering lights. I'm still in love with this game. I don't know how Story Mode will fare on the Switch, but so far Survival despite the graphical downgrade and the finickiness of the aiming is as every bit immersive and as good as its bigger PC brethren. So congratulations to both Hinterland and the team who handled the conversion. Great work, and I look forward in the future to surviving the wild, outdoors in the wild.

Hey PrincessAutumn! Reassured by your words I took the plunge and bought the Switch version as well, though I'm not sure how much time I'd actually be able to get in on a lunch break! I'm primarily a PC gamer so it's going to take me time to adjust, I can tell, but as I like to give hostile wildlife a very wide berth most times I don't think I'll be too challenged on the aiming mechanics yet. I am thinking it'd be very nice to dig out the Long Dark on the Switch outside and chill out in the cool evening with the breeze on my face and let me just pick up these sticks and OH GOD IS THAT A BEAR WHY IS THERE A BEAR HERE IN WALES OH GOD ARGLEBARGLEOHTHEHUMANITY....!