Today Hinterland has announced that survival game The Long Dark will officially launch and come to PS4 this year on August 1st. When the game launches it will have a survival mode and two episodes of the narrative mode Wintermute.
In survival the player will simply try to live as long as possible in the Canadian wilderness. To survive players must manage resources such as food, fuel, clothing and physical properties such as fatigue and thirst. The world is roughly 20 square miles and contains many man-made structures such as cabins, lighthouses, and other abandoned buildings. These places often contain resources and gear that the player can use.
The narrative mode will tell the story of bush pilot Will Mackenzie and Dr. Astrid Greenwood who crash in the Canadian wilderness after a “mysterious geomagnetic disaster”. Creative director Raphael van Lierop states that the story is inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and will have a cast of characters that players will want to survive. Each episode will be about five hours long with a total of five episodes. At launch the game will have two episodes, but the rest are planned to be released over the course of 2017 and a part of 2018.
At the moment The Long Dark is available for Xbox One and PC as an early access title for $20. Come August 1st the game will cost $35 however those who have a copy already will not have to pay additional costs and will receive the new narrative mode. In the meantime a new update is planned to release before the official launch that will overhaul the save system, maps and other game mechanics.
