$19.99The Long Dark Quiet survival, earned night by night
The Long Dark leaves you alone in frozen Northern Canada after a geomagnetic disaster, with no zombies, only cold, hunger, and wildlife. You ration food, tend fires, and read the weather before every walk. Slow, quiet, and strict, it rewards careful thinking and makes simply lasting another night feel earned.
Is The Long Dark worth it?
The Long Dark is worth it if…
- you like slow, careful survival where planning beats reflexes
- you like exploring cold, empty places and reading the land
- you like strict rules where one bad call can end a run
- you like a separate story mode with characters to follow
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Cold, hunger, and every calorie
Each day is bookkeeping against the weather. You watch hunger, thirst, fatigue, and cold while every action burns calories, so resting, walking, and gathering all cost you something. Death in Survival Mode erases that run, so pushing to the next cabin matters.
A quiet frozen wilderness to read
The map covers more than 50 square kilometers across 12 major regions, from coastal towns and farmland to mines, mountains, and open winter forest. You search cabins and wrecks for tools, light sources, weapons, first aid, and clothing, map as you go, and plan routes around wolves, bears, moose, deer, rabbits, and crows. Weather turns a short walk into a problem. The art is clean and stark, with Sascha Dikiciyan's music spare underneath, and the pace stays slow and watchful.
A story about two survivors
WINTERMUTE follows bush pilot Will Mackenzie and Dr. Astrid Greenwood after their plane goes down in the Northern Canadian wilds following a flash in the sky. You play Mackenzie searching for Astrid through towns such as Milton, then play Astrid crossing Pleasant Valley toward Perseverance Mills, meeting survivors and a mysterious trapper while a gang of convicts closes in. The first four episodes hold about 30 hours of play, with performances by Jennifer Hale, Mark Meer, David Hayter, and Elias Toufexis. Unlike Survival Mode, it lets you save without permadeath.
Choose how harsh the winter is
Four Experience Modes set the tone, from Pilgrim, quiet and pensive, to Interloper, where only well-practiced survivors last long, plus custom settings to tune your own run. Standalone challenges give short objective runs of about one to three hours, such as gathering supplies before a monster blizzard in Whiteout or escaping a murderous bear in Hunted, with others including Hopeless Rescue, Nomad, Archivist, As the Dead Sleep, and Escape the Darkwalker. Finishing them unlocks Feats that carry lasting benefits into Survival Mode.
What else should you know?
Are there zombies or monsters?
No. The threats are cold, hunger, exhaustion, weather, injury, illness, and wildlife such as wolves and bears. The tension comes from thin supplies and bad timing, not from fighting hordes.
How does dying work?
In Survival Mode, death ends the run and deletes that save, so route choice, food, rest, and risk all carry weight. WINTERMUTE has no permadeath and lets you save your progress as you play.
Where do I start: story or Survival Mode?
Start with WINTERMUTE if you want guided episodes, characters, and saves without permadeath. Start with Survival Mode or a short challenge if you want the free-form test: balance your four needs, gather over 100 kinds of gear, and see how long you last.
Is it a hard game?
It can be. Cold drains you fast, calories are always ticking down, and blizzards punish overconfidence. Pilgrim and custom settings keep it calmer, while Interloper is built for experienced players who want a much harsher winter.
