Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.31 (137484) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam and Epic Games Store. Please note that WINTERMUTE’s version number has not changed. This Hotfix addresses multiple issues introduced in the v.2.28 update for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.




This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:




*Fixed an issue that resulted in players becoming stuck in the Omega Bunker at the end of Tale 3. *Players should now simply be able to exit upon loading their affected save file.
*Fixed an issue where the Settled Mind Feat would not provide the associated research bonus.
*Fixed an issue where the Teardrop Vista location was not revealed on the player's map when the associated Polaroid was picked up.
*Fixed an issue that caused the player to lose control of the Survivor when choosing to Cheat Death after dying during a Carcass Harvesting animation.
*Fixed an issue that resulted in the final Affliction for Misery Mode not being applied.
*Fixed an issue that could result in the Survivor spawning in the Cannery after Cheating Death, trapping them inside.
*Fixed an issue that resulted in all imperial measurement units showing incorrect values for items with a liquid component.
*Tuned Timberwolves to reduce their presence between Placid Notch and Final Refuge in Sundered Pass.
*Fixed an issue in Sundered Pass that could result in a player becoming trapped in terrain near the Weather Station.
*Fixed an issue in Sundered Pass that prevented the Survivor from returning up a Rope Climb.
*Fixed an issue that caused reduced performance in the Carter Hydro Dam.



*Updated the "Last Horizon" text on the main menu to be more visible.



*Fixed an issue that resulted in intermittent audio stuttering during voice-overs triggered by collectibles in the Last Horizon Tale.


*Fixed an issue that resulted in debug text appearing in the Cheat Death UI on Steam Deck, Xbox, and Playstation.



To check current releases on each platform, please visit our Build Status[www.thelongdark.com] Page.

Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues[hinterlandgames.zendesk.com] page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game. For additional news and information, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game[x.com] | Studio[x.com]).

Here is a message from THE LONG DARK's creative director:

Hello players,

Over the past few days, we've heard your feedback loud and clear: you aren't happy with our implementation of the Cougar.

I want to make it clear that the design we selected for the Cougar was my decision, and we shipped it as intended (apart from the bugs, of course). But there are a lot of different ways to deliver on an intention, and so I've decided that the fairest thing for our players, as well as for the dev team, is to pull the Cougar out of the build until we can do some revisions and come up with something we are happier with.

We don't want to simply fix bugs and react to player sentiment. The changes will go beyond just fixing the bugs in the current version. That doesn't mean we will deliver 100% the version that everyone is hoping for. At the end of the day, we have a clear vision for THE LONG DARK and we'll continue to work towards that vision.

For now, we're taking the Cougar back, and will work on it until it's ready. I can't say for sure how long that will take, but it'll likely be more than a couple of weeks. We'll deliver a re-envisioned Cougar before we deliver Part Six of TALES.

Thanks to everyone who shared constructive feedback and impressions over the past few days. Your input is useful and highly valued. I hope you enjoy the other features in Part Five, until we bring the Cougar back to you.

- Raphael
***

As a result of this, you will find the Cougar is no longer available in the game starting tomorrow (Friday) on Steam, and early next week on the consoles.

If you already have existing raw materials collected from killing Cougars, those items will remain in your inventory. You will still be able to craft the Cougar-related items, but you will not be able to find more Cougar materials to repair them. If you have unlocked the Cougar Feat, you will still be able to use it.

If you have any questions or run into issues, please report them to our Support Portal[hinterlandgames.com].

Thank you.

- The Hinterland Team

Hello Community,

We have just released our v2.29 (136986) Hotfix for THE LONG DARK (including Survival Edition) and TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY on Steam and Epic Games Store. Please note that WINTERMUTE’s version number has not changed. This Hotfix addresses multiple issues introduced in the v.2.28 update for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY.

The following are mostly fixes in response to issues opting in or out of the Cougar or Scurvy on current saves, so please read carefully.


* Fixed an issue where the time spent in a Region in a pre-existing save would count towards Cougar Threat, and prematurely trigger Cougar Encroaching.
* Fixed an issue where players were not prompted to opt in/out of Cougar and Scurvy settings when loading a pre-existing save via the Resume button
* As part of this fix, the first time any save created prior to v2.29 is loaded, the prompt will appear, regardless of whether the player had received it on that save previously.
* Fixed an issue where players were not prompted to opt in/out of Cougar and Scurvy settings when loading a pre-existing Custom Toolbox save.
* As part of this fix, upon loading any Custom Toolbox save, all players will be prompted to opt in/out of Cougar and Scurvy settings.
* Players who opt in to Cougar settings where none existed previously, will have Low Cougar Spawn Chance settings applied.
* Players who opt in to Scurvy settings will have their Vitamin-C Drain Rate determined by the Base Resource Availability setting of that save. (If Scurvy was set to “Off” during initial Custom Toolbox creation, opting in will not change that setting.)


To check current releases on each platform, please visit our Build Status[www.thelongdark.com] Page.

Please visit our Support Portal (or consult our Known Issues[hinterlandgames.zendesk.com] page) if you encounter any issues while playing the game. For additional news and information, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter (Game[x.com] | Studio[x.com]).

Greetings, players.

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.28, Build 136607.

This update includes Part Five of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, “Last Horizon”, as well as a free update to the base Survival Mode for THE LONG DARK. It also includes a series of bug fixes.

For a detailed breakdown of all the new features added to TALES in Part Five, or the new free additions added to Survival Mode, please watch the update video below:



Accessed from the Zone of Contamination, Sundered Pass is a dramatically vertical region that reaches deeply into the spine of the Far Territory, showcasing some of the mountainous terrain that separates this area from the rest of Great Bear Island. Seek out the abandoned Weather Station near the summit!


Picking up from Buried Echoes, Last Horizon delivers the third and final Tale, a trilogy of stories started with Signal Void. Follow the clues leading from the Zone of Contamination, deep into the heart of Sundered Pass, hunting for answers to the story of Rüdiger and the weird experiments he spearheaded in the dark depths of the Far Territory.


Keep an eye open for this dangerous new threat. Territorial, silent, and deadly. If you aren’t paying attention, the first time you see the Cougar might be your last.


If you survive encounters with the Cougar you might end up with the raw materials you need to craft these two new Cougar-themed gear items.


Rare and especially tough clothing items unlocked by completing the Last Horizon tale.


Unlocked by completing Last Horizon, these feats provide unique gameplay benefits.



The first new experience mode added to THE LONG DARK since 2016’s Interloper. Misery ratchets up the difficulty of Interloper even further, adds the Cougar and Scurvy to the mix, and over fixed intervals introduces a series of six entirely new and incredibly punishing afflictions. Experience the five stages of Misery in the most challenging experience mode yet!


The first change to THE LONG DARK’s save system since launching in 2014. Upon death, be tempted to continue playing but not without accepting intriguing penalties that stack with each subsequent death. Adds an optional gameplay twist and a player choice to the experience of death and failure. And if you want to play using permadeath as usual, just resist the temptation to Cheat Death!

***

Summary & Reporting Issues

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.

If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game with the development team or other players, please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums.

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-updating, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to post a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Thank you for reading, and many thanks for your support!

###



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[hinterlandgames.com]. Fixes for these issues are slated to go out with the first Hotfix following the initial release.

* The Travois can rarely fall beneath terrain after transitioning back to where a player left it.
* The final affliction of the Misery Experience mode will not be applied when the player reaches their 46th day in Survival.
* Rarely, players may lose control of their camera after choosing to Cheat Death. Reloading the save will resolve this issue.
* Players can become stuck in the final location for Tale 3, if they choose to quit and reload in that location.
* In some Regions, when attacked by the Cougar, no sound effects will be played.
* Picking up the Teardrop Vista Polaroid, no associated Vista location is revealed on the map.
* Player’s save file will be changed to a generic name after using the Cheat Death feature.
* When in a Cougar occupied Zone of Contamination, the player will experience no Cougar attacks.




This Major Update includes fixes for the following issues:


* Fixed an issue which could result in the player hanging on a black screen if they began a new Survival game too quickly after dying.



* Added a new assignable hotkey to open the Cooking tab. (Default 'G')
* Adjusted the Ptarmigan meat interaction to be more accurate to the visible object.
* Fixed an issue where Poisoned Wolves would not leave footprints in the snow.
* Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where some areas which cause Chemical Poisoning visual effects would not increase the associated Affliction Risk.
* Fixed an issue in Ravine where animals could spawn in incorrect locations.
* Fixed an issue in Timberwolf Mountain where Bears could spawn beneath the terrain.
* Fixed an issue where some kitchen cupboards were mislabelled as drawers.
* Fixed an issue where harvesting a frozen quartered Wildlife with a lit light source would result in that light source being stowed while still lit.
* Fixed an issue in Forlorn Muskeg near the High Blind which resulted in a corpse that could not be searched.
* Fixed an issue which caused potatoes to stop cooking inside Foreman's Retreat when the player exited this location.
* Fixed an issue which could prevent Ptarmigan from spawning in specific locations in Mystery Lake.
* Fixed an issue where cups would not drop to the ground after breaking down a table in the Airfield Hangar.



* Fixed an issue in WINTERMUTE Episode 4 which caused a cliff face to disappear when viewed from a specific distance in the Blackrock Region.
* Added more detail to the interior of all helicopters.
* Fixed multiple issues in the Langston Mine where objects and environment intersected each other incorrectly.
* Fixed an issue in Desolation Point where a tree intersected a nearby cliff.
* Fixed an issue which caused a visual strobing effect on exterior light sources from within the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.
* Fixed multiple item placement issues in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed multiple issues which could result in a player becoming stuck in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed an issue which resulted in a visually flat rope in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed an issue which caused a floating Fuse in the Maintenance Shed.



* Fixed an issue which caused the Survivor's arm to jolt during the Crank animation in an elevator.



* Fixed an issue where Steam controllers would continue to function if the "Enable Gamepad" Steam setting was disabled.


### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###

Hello fans,

Just a quick note to inform you that Part Five of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, titled "Last Horizon", will launch on Monday, June 24th, at 10AM Pacific Time

There will be an update video for TALES Part Five, going live on the Hinterland YouTube channel on Monday at 10AM Pacific.

For more information on what's coming in Part Five, check out the last Dev Diary[www.thelongdark.com].

See you then!

- The Hinterland Team

Hello fans,

Here’s some news about what to expect in Part Five of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, which we are targeting for the second half of June (depending on how long it takes to test and clear console certification), as well as an update on progress around bringing TALES to Switch.


I recently confirmed that the Cougar will be included in Part Five. We’ve been wanting to add a dangerous “alpha predator” to the game for a while, beyond the Wolves and other dangerous wildlife you can encounter in the game. With every new type of wildlife, we try to introduce a new element of gameplay to give it a distinct role in the overall ecosystem, and also ensure it freshens up the game for all our players.

The Cougar will work a bit differently than the other predators in the game. Cougars are very territorial, and will get interested in you when you start to spend a lot of time in one region. If you hang around in one region for too long, they will take an interest in the region and occupy it. You’ll then start to encroach on their territory, which is very dangerous! You’ll have plenty of warning before they move in, and plenty of warning once they have occupied a region. What you won’t get is plenty of warning before they attack you, once they are encroaching on your territory (or you on theirs)! So pay attention to the warning signs, move around the world and be prepared with a second Safehouse location in a different region, and you’ll be ok. Eventually, if you stay out of the occupied region for a while, the Cougar will lose interest and leave you alone. There will be a variety of feedback systems to keep you informed of Cougar activities, if you’re paying attention.

The Cougar’s attack is vicious (with its own new Affliction) and can end the game for you, but if you’re fast and lucky you’ll get a chance to counter-attack, and if you’re very lucky, you’ll kill it. Otherwise, it will escape to continue to hunt you down in a region it occupies. If you want to buy yourself more breathing room, you can seek out the Cougar’s den which exists somewhere in the world (a different place each game), and if you destroy the den with Noisemakers, Cougars will leave you alone for a long time. Eventually, though, they will return.

We think the Cougar will keep players on edge, and keep things interesting for those who are looking for a good long-term challenge, while also giving players the info they need to avoid Cougars altogether if that’s what they prefer.

Since we know having Cougars stalking you in the game might be a bit too stressful for some of our players, you’ll have the choice to include them in your game (or not) when you start a new one, and when we introduce them in the next update you’ll have the option to keep them out of your current save. We’re hoping that for most players, however, the Cougar becomes a force of nature that keeps them on their toes, keeps them moving and planning ahead, and adds an element of danger to long-term survival.


In Part Five, we’ll release the third and final new region for TALES. The Mountain Pass is our most vertical region so far, with plenty of steep and craggy terrain to pass through. You can follow the narrow road up higher and higher into the region, or take the lower path and rely on rope-climbs to find your way around. Keep an eye on key landmarks, including some human-made locations, like the Weather Station. In general, the weather in this region is bad, and the higher you go, the colder it gets. We’ll announce the region’s final name at launch.


We’re also releasing the third and final Tale with Part Five. Taking place in the Mountain Pass region, this third Tale wraps up the Rüdiger storyline first started in “Signal Void” and continued in “Buried Echoes”. Note that if you’ve already finished Tales One and Two, you’ll be able to just continue straight into Tale Three. Completing the third Tale will provide you with some profile-level benefits (in the form of new Feats) so it’ll be worth your while to complete all three Tales. And doing so will give you a glimpse into some worldbuilding and mysteries that will be paid off in Episode Five.


We’ve been working on a new Experience Mode, specifically made for Interloper players who have maxed out that mode and are looking for a new level of challenge. Misery takes Interloper and ratchets up the difficulty by adding six new Afflictions that are applied over time. The purpose is to survive in the mode for as long as possible after all six Afflictions have come in, and while we’re not 100% sure yet as the mode is still being playtested (with some help from some of our Interloper players from the community), we suspect the Days Survived counts will be in the dozens and not the hundreds like some existing Interloper players are able to achieve. Just trying to keep the game fresh and challenging for a group of players in our community who really like punishment! Of course, this mode isn’t for everyone.


We’re adding an optional system that will allow you to cheat death.

Yes, our permadeath survival game is finally offering you a “way out” from Death that doesn’t involve backing up your save file!

How this will work is that upon dying in the game, players will have two options: Die (as they do currently), or Cheat Death. If they Die, their save is wiped as it is currently, and they can carry on as usual. If they Cheat Death, they’ll be offered a series of choices they need to make if they want to continue playing. These choices will offer a series of trade-offs, because while you can cheat death, you can’t cheat death for free. You’ll also have the opportunity to retrieve your pack with some of what you were carrying at the time of your death, but other aspects of the world will remain the same as they were when you died -- including resources and gear items you have stored in your favourite locations, places you have explored and looted, surveying progress, Tales completion progress, etc. Each time you cheat death, the game will become progressively more difficult for you, and you can cheat death up to three times (4 total “lives”). Your final life will be very difficult.

You can Cheat Death once, twice, three times, or not at all. At each death you’ll have to make the decision about how you want to continue, if you do.

This is the first change to our permadeath system that we’ve ever made in the game, and we hope it brings a new dimension to gameplay for those of our players who just aren’t ready to lose their favourite survivor, or those who just want something fresh. We’d love to see players get into the spirit of this and give it a try instead of backing up their saves and continuing without consequences.


We’re still busy working on it and we’ll have more to say about it later this year, as mentioned in the December dev diary[www.thelongdark.com], where we revealed the episode title.


We were originally hoping to release TALES on Switch last week, but unfortunately we ran into several issues with memory and optimization with a few of the bigger regions in the game, which also resulted in some crashes we’ve been working on. We believe we are close to having the crashes resolved, and once those are fixed, the build will be submitted first to our internal Test team for final verification, and then when they give it the greenlight, it’ll go to Nintendo. Once the build is with Nintendo, it can take up to 20 days to pass their Certification, at which point we can release it to you.

So based on our current timelines, we think we’ll have TALES available on Switch by the second half of June. Please note that this will mean Parts One to Four of TALES, along with all the free updates to the “base” Survival mode, will all be released and the game will be updated to the current version available on the other platforms. The free updates will also be available to anyone who owns the game on Switch, not just people who own TALES, just as on the other platforms.

Afterwards, once Part Five is released on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation, we will also submit it to Nintendo for the same approval process, which means we hope Part Five is available about a month after Parts One to Four are released. Part Six will follow the same process, with the Switch lagging the other platforms by about a month.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to sharing the update video for TALES, Part Five, when it releases in the second half of June. We’ll share a more precise date once we have it.

Stay safe out there.

- Raphael

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.27, build 127976.

This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL EDITION and contains fixes for issues introduced with our Part Four release.


**Spoilers Below**


Update Details

ADJUSTED REQUIREMENTS TO START ‘BURIED ECHOES’ TALE

Players no longer need to complete SIGNAL VOID in the same run as they intend to attempt BURIED ECHOES. Instead, so long as you’ve completed SIGNAL VOID in another Survival game – and obtained the Badge for completing it – you can begin BURIED ECHOES in any new or existing run.

NEW CUSTOM EXPERIENCE SETTING FOR SCURVY

We’ve added an additional option in the Custom Experience. Players can now choose to play with or without Scurvy, or even set it to a high rate for a more punishing experience with the 'Scurvy - Vitamin-C Drain Rate' option.

Bug Fixes

This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:

CRASHES

• Fixed an issue where players would encounter a -988 or -998 error code and fail to launch THE LONG DARK on Epic Games.
  
• Fixed an issue where attempting to swap from the WINTERMUTE to Survival menu on Mac Epic Games would result in closing the application instead.

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

• Fixed an issue in the Mystery Lake Camp Office where the Survivor could become stuck beneath the stairs.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a notable frame rate drop near the Cannery in Bleak Inlet.
  
• Adjusted Chemical Hazard territory to better match the visual representation of their boundaries.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause the player to rotate 90 degrees upon transitioning to a new location while hauling a Travois.
  
• Fixed an issue where attempting to Harvest undressed Wildlife with Bare Hands and a lit Torch equipped caused the Survivor to stow the Torch while still lit.
  
• Fixed an issue which made it difficult to find a valid location to place a Rock Cache.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused Carcasses to cease defrosting when being Harvested near a Campfire.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor would teleport to the surface above them when crouching and Harvesting in specific locations.
  
• Fixed an issue where players would be unable to equip the Respirator from their Backpack after picking up a fresh Canister.
  
• Added a message to better indicate when a Carcass cannot be Harvested with Bare Hands prior to being dressed.
  
• Fixed an issue where Coal could spawn in an unreachable location in the transition Cave from Mountain Town to Mystery Lake.
  
• Fixed an issue where players were unable to transfer stacks of items to a Container if the stack weighed more than the remaining capacity of the Container.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Travois could fall beneath the terrain if left on a steep slope when transitioning to and from an interior or Region.
  
• Fixed an issue where the text explaining what a Skill Book will improve was misplaced in the Inspect user interface.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause a 'Failed to Load Save' error after using the Respirator.
  
• Fixed an issue where items on Benches would be left floating after breaking them down.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Langston Mine Keys were not included in Journal > Collections > Mementos.
  
• Fixed an issue where debug text could be seen when hovering the transition icon to Zone of Contamination from the Transfer Pass Map.
  
• Fixed an issue where the cave transition to Zone of Contamination from Forsaken Airfield was labeled 'To Transfer Pass'.
  
• Fixed an issue where debug text could be seen on the Harvesting interface when interacting with a Poisoned Wolf Carcass that was 50% or more frozen.
  
• Fixed an issue where Survivor-held light sources would not deteriorate when Harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Fixed an issue where Survivor Condition would not deteriorate when Harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Adjusted Harvesting of Rabbits and Ptarmigan to allow for Bare-handed Harvesting at the cost of a small percentage of meat.
  
• Fixed an issue where no idle animation would play in the Harvesting user interface when interacting with certain Carcass types.
  
• Fixed an issue where some canned beverages could not be reached on the floor of a vehicle interior.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor would be placed too far from the ladder when transitioning into the Prepper Cache in Bleak Inlet.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Travois would become stuck in a 'Loaded' state if the player selected 'Drop All' while water was stored in the Travois.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the Survivor was unable to pick up a Knife sticking out of a tree.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in multiple Vaughn's Rifles spawning in Carter Hydro Dam.
  
• Fixed an issue where certain Books could not be interacted with in the Zone of Contamination.
  
• Reduced the damage dealt to Insulated Flasks from Survivor falls.
  
• Increased the Condition of Chemical Boots.

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

• Adjusted the Simple Lure and Fishing Lure to remove some hard edges from the model.
  
• Updated the Dress Shirt to address inconsistencies and visual issues between the inventory and in-world models.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in the Zone of Contamination where snow piles could be seen fading in and out as the Survivor approached and retreated.
  
• Fixed an issue where shadows could pop in and out on door handles in the Concentrator building depending on the Survivor's position.
  
• Fixed an issue where lift cables were missing from the exterior of the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed multiple visual issues where items and terrain could be found floating or intersecting with each other within the Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue where a concrete barrier in the Zone of Contamination could shift to a new location as the Survivor approached it.
  
• Fixed an issue with Rope spawn orientation that could result in the model oriented stiffly against walls.
  
• Fixed a visual issue with the Security Chief's Remains, allowing players to see through the back of the model from the eye sockets.
  
• Fixed an issue where the entrance to the Langston Mine could be seen clearly through inclement weather.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a visual mismatch between what the player would see prior to exiting from the main entrance of the Langston Mine, compared to what they saw once they had exited.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in some items being offset from trees they should be resting on in Hushed River Valley.
  
• Fixed an issue which made it difficult for the Survivor to move onto the platform above the waste pool in Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a jarring visual mismatch between trees seen within the transitional cave to Forsaken Airfield and those after exiting the cave.
  
• Adjusted the pit in the cave transition from Airfield to Zone of Contamination to better communicate it shouldn't be entered.
  
• Adjusted the pit beneath the rickety bridge in Langston Mine so Torches and Flares can no longer be seen when they hit the bottom.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where Burdock Bushes intersected with nearby rocks.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in the 'Security Chief's Log' being completely unlit when picked up and read.
  
• Fixed an issue where a shadow was incorrectly projected from the door of a Medical Locker in the Concentrator building.
  
• Adjusted the lighting effects of Survivor held light sources on both sides of the chute transition in Langston Mine for better consistency.
  
• Adjusted the chute in Langston Mine to make movement through this area easier.
  
• Fixed an issue where a cardboard box could be seen intersecting a minecart in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue where a pallet could be seen intersecting a handrail in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue with terrain in the Forsaken Airfield to Zone of Contamination cave transition which resulted in gaps through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in Desolation Point where Old Man's Beard was not correctly connected to trees.
  
• Fixed an issue where a clipboard could be found intersecting a console in the Concentrator building.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wildlife could spawn or climb into a tree.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the Trainyard building would change its level of detail too abruptly, making it look like parts of the interior were appearing and disappearing.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where the preplaced beds in Scaffolder's Hideout intersected with the ground.
  
• Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where weather effects would not render outside while within the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in a slight light source emanating from the Survivor while inside the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.

ANIMATION

• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's thumb could intersect with the Flashlight while held.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's hand would clip through the Elevator Crank when removing it from an Elevator.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Survivor's hands could intersect with an Interview Transcript clipboard when interacted with.
  
• Adjusted the Travois pickup animation to be smoother and reduce player disorientation.
  
• Adjusted Wolf Harvesting animations to look more polished.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Wolf Carcass could shift slightly when the Survivor bent down to begin Harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue with Rabbit Carcasses that resulted in a lump on the model when held in the Survivor's hands for Harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue with Doe Carcasses which resulted in the Harvesting animation being offset.
  
• Fixed an issue where Moose would not gracefully transition to their death pose after falling to the ground.
  
• Fixed an issue where using a Hunting Knife on a Doe would cause a short animation jolt on initiation.

AUDIO

• Adjusted which audio tracks could play while inside the Langston Mine, preventing calming music from playing in a decidedly unsafe location.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused wind ambience in the Main Menu to sound slightly tinny.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused too much reverb when near the pit of the Langston Mine in Zone of Contamination.
  
• Adjusted sound effects when climbing the rope in the Elevator of Langston Mine to better match the environment.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused snow footstep sound effects on the wooden bridge from the Concentrator to the locked Langston Mine gate.
  
• Fixed an issue in which voice-overs could be preemptively cut off when interacting with multiple items which would cause a voice-over to begin.
  
• Adjusted the Misophonia filter to include footsteps through Chemical Hazard Zones.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused Misophonia triggering sounds to play through reverb effects.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused snow footstep sound effects on the concrete floor of the Concentrator building entryway.
  
• Adjusted the audio of items thrown into bottomless pits so they can no longer be heard.

Summary & Reporting Issues

Thank you for reading.

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.

If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game, with the development team, or other players; please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums.

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-update, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Many thanks for your support.

### END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ###

Hello Survivors,

Just a quick message to bring the end of the year to a close. In my November Dev Diary[www.thelongdark.com] and in the recent update video for TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Four, I promised to post one last message before the end of the year, and that it would include an Episode Five teaser.

So today I’m happy to share the title reveal for Episode Five:

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF ALL THINGS is the final episode of WINTERMUTE, our story mode, and it brings to a conclusion the story of Mackenzie and Astrid, the hard case, Perseverance Mills, and the mysterious aurora.

You’ve waited many years for this, and we’re excited to get to the point where we can share this last, most ambitious episode of the story to date. It won’t be the end of THE LONG DARK, but it’ll be the end of this major arc of the story.

Episode Five is slated for release in late 2024, so we won’t be saying too much more about it in the near-term, but expect us to release more details over the course of next year in the lead up to launch.

A couple more things while I have your attention…

We haven’t had much news to share about the Switch version of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY to date. I want to assure you that the team is working on this, and our current goal is to release it — with Parts One to Four, and all the free updates included with those Parts — by the end of April 2024. After that, Parts Five and Six of TALES will likely trail the other platforms by up to a month, based on the 4-week minimum certification time required by Nintendo. We’ll share more details about how that’s going some time in February.

And finally, a small reminder that Hinterland will be closed for winter holidays from December 22nd to January 8th, to give the team a chance to rest up for the year ahead. Please note that community and support folks will still be monitoring our various channels, but that response times will be reduced over the holidays. So please be patient when reporting bugs or issues to our Support portal, or in our forums or social channels.

On behalf of the entire team at Hinterland, I wish you a safe and happy winter holiday with your loved ones. And all the best for 2024. Our thoughts are particularly with those members of our player community who are living through hardship and suffering this season, in many different parts of the world.

Until next year!

– Raphael

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.26, build 126828.

This is a Hotfix to THE LONG DARK and THE LONG DARK: SURVIVAL EDITION and contains fixes for issues introduced with our Part Four release.

**Spoilers Below**


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.

• When starting a new Custom Survival game, Scurvy will be active if ‘Start Gear Load Out’ is set to anything but ‘Very High’.
  
• When switching to a fresh Canister with the Respirator and a lit light source equipped, the light source will temporarily extinguish.
  
• When placed in areas with steep inclines, the Travois can fall under the ground layer and become unreachable after the player transitions to or from an interior.
  
• Players will be unable to transfer stacks of items to a Container if the stack weighs more than the remaining capacity of the Container.
  
• Sometimes players will be unable to equip the Respirator from their Backpack. The Respirator can still be equipped through the Radial Menu, under the “First Aid” option.

Bug Fixes

This Hotfix includes fixes for the following issues:

CRASHES

• Fixed an issue where entering or exiting the Langston Mine in the Zone of Contamination from any entrance could result in a crash on Xbox and Playstation.
  
• Fixed a rare crash which could occur when interacting with the Security Chief's remains during the completion of the Buried Echoes Tale.

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

• Fixed an issue where time spent in the Langston Mine portion of the Zone of Contamination was not reflected in the Survivor's Journal > Stats.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Insulated Flask would never be damaged during Struggles.
  
• Adjusted Vitamin C content in Fish, so fish of the same species provide more consistent values.
  
• Fixed an issue where Polaroids in the Zone of Contamination would not reveal their associated Vista location when picked up.
  
• Fixed an issue where Bears would not spawn in multiple locations where they normally should.
  
• Fixed an issue where after a Bear Struggle, notifications for new Afflictions would not appear.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Buried Echoes Badge would not appear on-screen upon completing the Tale.
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth could not be consumed and displayed no Calorie value..
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth was no longer needed to Craft Recipes which should require it as an ingredient.
  
• Fixed an issue where Broth weighed twice as much as intended.
  
• Fixed an issue where Poisoned Wolf Carcasses could disappear after Harvesting them.
  
• Fixed an issue where exiting the First-Person Harvest UI for Rabbits or Ptarmigans caused the Carcass to disappear.
  
• Fixed an issue where some containers could not be searched in the Langston Mine.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Respirator could lose Condition and and in some cases be found in a Ruined state.
  
• Fixed an issue where some randomly spawned corpse and container locations would reset or double upon entering and exiting the Concentrator Building in Zone of Contamination.
  
• Fixed an issue where the camera could temporarily dip underground when interacting with a Timberwolf Carcass.

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

• Fixed an issue where Travois trails would disappear upon entering and exiting an interior.
  
• Fixed an issue where Chemical Hazards would change their level of detail too abruptly, making it look like parts of the pool were appearing and disappearing.
  
• Adjusted the tank rail car to better visually match other rail cars.
  
• Fixed an issue where a portion of the ceiling in the Langston Mine could appear and disappear based on the Survivor's location.
  
• Fixed multiple locations in the Langston Mine where the player could force themselves into terrain, resulting in being able to see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue in the Zone of Contamination where the player could climb out of bounds and become stuck.
  
• Fixed an issue where pipes could be seen intersecting through the wall in the main entrance to the Concentrator Building.
  
• Fixed an issue with an exit door inside the Concentrator Building, which resulted in a seam through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple issues with terrain in the Langston Mine which resulted in gaps through which the player could see out of bounds
  
• Fixed multiple issues where terrain and objects intersected in the main entrance to the Concentrator Building.
  
• Fixed an issue where collision was missing from a wall in the Concentrator Building, allowing players to fall out of bounds.
  
• Fixed multiple issues in the Zone of Contamination to Airfield transition cave where missing or misplaced terrain could allow the player to see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue where a toxic barrel could be found suspended mid-air in the Zone of Contamination.
  
• Fixed multiple issues in the Langston Mine which could cause the player to become stuck.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused a Toxic Gas warning sign to appear and disappear based on the Survivor's location.

ANIMATION

• Fixed an issue where sometimes when Harvesting a Timberwolf with a Knife, the Knife would be missing from the Survivor’s hand.

AUDIO

• Fixed an issue where the sound effect of turning off a Flashlight was delayed.
  
• Fixed an issue where Chemical Hazard ambience and audio would trigger at incorrect times.
  
• Fixed an issue where Canisters provided no audio feedback when picked up, dropped, or moved to and from the inventory.
  
• Fixed an issue where ambient audio suppression was never disabled after listening to Foreman's Site Report Collectables.
  
• Fixed an issue where no sound effects would play when automatically reloading a Canister.

Summary & Reporting Issues


Thank you for reading.

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.


If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game, with the development team, or other players; please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums.

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-update, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Many thanks for your support.

### END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ###

Hello players,

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.25, build 126227.

This is the latest Expansion Pass update TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, Part Four: BURIED ECHOES, along with a free update available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION, and various bug fixes and quality of life improvements.

For a description of the new features and content in Part Four, plus watch the latest Update Video:
PART FOUR: “BURIED ECHOES”

This Major Release includes the following new content, fixes and improvements:

Paid Expansion Pass Content

NEW REGION: THE ZONE OF CONTAMINATION

Accessed by road from Transfer Pass, the ZONE OF CONTAMINATION is a polluted wasteland, the site of the abandoned Langston Mine. Watch out for Toxic Hazards and Poisoned Wolves.

NEW TALE: BURIED ECHOES

Continuing the story introduced in SIGNAL VOID, follow the clues deep into the Zone of Contamination and uncover the next layer of the mystery of Rüdiger, the Security Chief, and the strange events hinted at in the last Tale.

NEW GAMEPLAY: THE TRAVOIS

Crafted from Saplings, Deerskin, and other materials, the Travois is a simple, but robust Tool for carrying large amounts of items across vast distances.

NEW GAMEPLAY: THE RESPIRATOR

The Respirator will protect you from pockets of Toxic Gas you’ll encounter underground, as well as poisonous hazards on the surface. Just keep an eye open for the consumable Canisters, as without them the Respirator can’t protect you.

NEW TOOLS: PROTECTIVE GEAR

We’ve added Mine-specific protective clothing: a Miner’s Coat, Pants, Chemical Resistant Boots, and a Hard Hat. Each on their own provides a different amount of protection against physical damage, wind, and moisture. As always, you’ll trade these capabilities off against weight and other statistics.

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

New music composed by Sascha Dikiciyan, for the Zone of Contamination and Buried Echoes.

Free Content
This content is available to anyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION.

NEW TOOLS: INSULATED FLASK

Coming in a variety of colours and patterns, you can load multiple units of warm drinks like Soups, Coffee, Teas, and so on, into the Flask and take it with you on your next day of trekking through the snowy forests of Great Bear Island.

NEW GAMEPLAY: SCURVY

Nutrition has never been a big focus for the food and survival systems in THE LONG DARK, but Scurvy is such a big part of the romance of long-term survival in frozen conditions, so we wanted to bring it into our gameplay sandbox. (NOTE: Scurvy is only enabled on new saves, to avoid the risk that players have already harvested most of the Vitamin-C rich foods in their game world.)

FIRST-PERSON HARVESTING ANIMATIONS

New animations for harvesting Carcasses have been added. Note that Fresh or Frozen kills will now need to be initially dressed with an appropriate Tool. No more bare-handed Harvesting of newly killed animals.

FIRST-PERSON HAND COVERINGS

Equipped hand coverings are now reflected in-game, as well as hand animations to match.

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. Fixes for these issues are slated to go out with the first Hotfix following the initial release.

• Bears will not spawn in multiple locations where they normally should.
  
• In new saves, Broth weighs about twice as much as it should.
  
• When updating to the latest version of THE LONG DARK (v 2.25) from an earlier version, Broth can no longer be consumed and has 0 caloric value.
  
• When starting a new Custom Survival game, Scurvy will be active if ‘Start Gear Load Out’ is set to anything but ‘Very High’.
  
• After picking up the Zone of Contamination Region Polaroid, the associated map hint is not revealed on the Survivor’s map.
  
• Sometimes when harvesting a Timberwolf with a Knife, the Knife will be missing from the Survivor’s hand.
  
• When switching to a fresh Canister with the Respirator and a lit light source equipped, the light source will temporarily extinguish.
  
• Exiting the First-Person Harvest UI for Rabbits or Ptarmigans will cause the Carcass and any unharvested parts of the animal to disappear. Harvesting these animals from the inventory will not cause this issue.

Bug Fixes

This Major Update includes fixes for the following issues:

CRASHES

• Fixed a crash that could occur when attempting to view the Journal from the Survival Mode Main Menu.

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

• Fixed an issue which prevented Distress Pistol Shells from being used as a light source for actions requiring light.
  
• Fixed an issue where entering Placement mode while in a Near Death state prevented the Survivor from stumbling around.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in thrown Flares falling too slowly after colliding with a surface.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed players to place Rock Caches on invalid surfaces.
  
• Fixed an issue resulting in the camera shaking violently when exiting the Carcass Harvesting interface.
  
• Fixed an issue where food would never cool if heated or cooked, and left on a cooking slot.
  
• Fixed a UI misalignment issue when diagnosing the Survivors in Episode 3 of WINTERMUTE.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in items falling into other objects they were placed upon.
  
• Fixed an issue where blood spatter location could be incorrect when harvesting a Carcass.
  
• Fixed a missing button prompt in the WHAT I KNOW > ACTIONS >JOURNAL OBJECTIVES of the WINTERMUTE Journal entry.
  
• Fixed a missing button prompt in the WHAT I KNOW > ACTIONS >CROUCH of the WINTERMUTE Journal entry.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves consumed Carcasses from too far away.
  
• Fixed an issue where the cupboard under the sink in the Community Hall could not be searched.
  
• Fixed an issue wherein completing a Tale resulted in a popup reading “Mission Complete” rather than the correct “Tale Complete”.
  
• Fixed an issue where Fuses and Wires were incorrectly spawning in the Coastal Highway Quonset Garage in the Whiteout Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where interacting with the Transmitter from particular positions resulted in incorrect camera placement during the Repair animation.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed players to discover Signal Void Tale specific Caches and Bunkers without first initiating the Tale.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Mission Journal would become stuck on 2/3 survivors saved, preventing players from progressing in the WINTERMUTE Episode 3 “Whiteout” Mission.
  
• Fixed an issue where Helicopters and Planes could not be slept in without a Bedroll present in the player inventory.
  
• Fixed an issue where new cooking ingredients were incorrectly spawning in the Coastal Highway Quonset Garage in the Whiteout Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where descending the stairs on Drift Island’s upper stairway was made difficult by collision.
  
• Fixed an issue where equipped clothing items would not dry when in proximity to a fire.
  
• Fixed an issue where Ptarmigan would not detect the player when crouched until they were far too close.
  
• Fixed an issue where some items could spawn below the surface of Hunter’s Blinds in Forlorn Muskeg, causing them to be unreachable.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in the player’s Cooking Skill not being applied to certain cooking Recipes.
  
• Fixed an issue where some ingredients could be partially consumed before being used in a Recipe. Some Recipes now require a certain ingredient weight as a result.
  
• Adjusted Ice Fishing UI to be more readable against different backgrounds and lighting conditions.
  
• Fixed an issue where time acceleration was not applied to the Moose, resulting in it remaining idle during time accelerated events.
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause Beachcombing boats to disappear while the player was near or on them.
  
• Fixed an issue which could prevent the lights outside the Maintenance Shed in the Broken Railroad Region from activating during an Aurora.
  
• Fixed an issue where Map icons were not added after interacting with an unmapped object in a revealed area of the Map.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in Prybars always breaking after use, rather than during use.
  
• Fixed an issue where death animations could cause dying animals to fall under or into terrain, making the Carcass unreachable.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Old Bear would stop stalking the player in The Hunted Pt.1 Challenge.
  
• Fixed an issue where dead Bears continued to emit breathing effects.
  
• Fixed an issue where the player could fall through the ground upon exiting Carcass harvesting.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused pelts to stop curing in certain interior locations.
  
• Fixed an issue which caused tooltips to remain visible beyond the load screen when starting a new Survival Mode game.
  
• Fixed an issue which prevented Fishing Holes from being placed in Pleasant Valley.
  
• Fixed an issue which allowed Rabbits to run in mid-air on Drift Island.
  
• Fixed an issue where Buffer Memories would not randomize correctly upon subsequent visits to the same PC.
  
• Fixed an issue where an inoperable “Cancel” button displayed when interacting with safes.
  
• Fixed an issue where Prepper Caches were not properly randomized in Challenges.
  
• Fixed an issue which could result in Wildlife floating above terrain, or sinking below the ground layer.
  
• Adjusted the Shortwave Radio so it can no longer be stored in containers. This should help to keep it from being misplaced.
  
• Fixed an issue where no damage was applied to the Survivor by the “Major Bruising” affliction.

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

• Fixed an issue where giant pieces of Birch Bark could be found in Ash Canyon.
  
• Updated Fishcakes so their bottom side is flaky and appealing, just like the top.
  
• Fixed an issue where the lid and base of the storage Trunk in the Community Hall were lit inconsistently.
  
• Fixed an issue where some food items could appear larger or smaller when heated on a Rim Grill.
  
• Fixed an issue when reheating Stew or Broth in a Skillet which resulted in it looking like meat while heating.
  
• Fixed an issue where Ptarmigan Nests appeared on the Map with debug text. Ptarmigan Nests now show on the map with correct text and new iconography.
  
• Fixed an issue where newer cooked Fish were missing an image in their pop-up notification after picking them up.
  
• Fixed an issue which made some Rifle Cartridges unreachable in certain Prepper Caches.
  
• Fixed an issue where barrels intersected the wall inside of the empty Prepper Cache.
  
• Fixed an issue which resulted in certain items being lit inconsistently.
  
• Fixed an issue which sometimes caused Moose rubbings and harvested Burdock to appear black.
  
• Fixed an issue with misplaced terrain in the Blackrock Mine which resulted in a seam through which the player could see out of bounds.
  
• Fixed an issue where Wolves would play an eating animation while attempting to run away after being scared off of a Carcass.
  
• Fixed an issue in Mystery Lake where the player could see through the back of a rock face.
  
• Fixed an issue with all Challenges where Keeper’s Pass North and South were missing key art in the Rock Cache portion of the Journal.
  
• Improved shadow quality on consoles. Players should no longer see shadows “flickering”.
  
• Fixed an issue where lighting was incorrectly applied, resulting in blown out or dark interiors.
  
• Fixed an issue where a Firestriker spawn was inaccessible in the Broken Railroad Region.

ANIMATION

• Fixed an issue where the Survivor’s running animation would incorrectly play when falling.
  
• Fixed a minor stutter in the Rifle idle animation.
  
• Fixed an issue where an Arrow would remain in hand when interacting with the Transmitter, causing it to interfere with the animation.

PLATFORM-SPECIFIC

• Fixed an issue where Xbox Series S models were not correctly set to run at 60 FPS. Now all the following Xbox models should have an option to target 60 or 30 FPS: Xbox One S, Xbox One X, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
  
• Fixed an issue where players with both Steam and Epic Games versions of The Long Dark installed on a Macintosh would find the Steam version of the application launched when booting from the Epic Games Launcher.
  
• Fixed an issue where some players using the Epic Game store were unable to progress past the Disclaimer screen. (If you continue to encounter this issue, please send a message to our Support portal using the link provided below.)

Summary & Reporting Issues

Thank you for reading.

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.

If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game with the development team or other players, please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums.

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-updating, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Many thanks for your support.