Embracing the Peace and Isolation in The Long Dark

Stream Fighters

Lockdown has been tough on everyone, and many of us have hunkered down with our beloved stories and games for comfort, desperate to find a way to stay connected with the outside world. But what does that mean when entering a world such as The Long Dark on your own, facing the vast winter hinterlands with no guarantee that everything will be alright, but having to keep pressing on to stay alive?

Set in the shivering, desolate wilderness of Canada a�er the devasta�on of a geomagne�c storm, The Long Dark is perhaps one of the most unique and enchan�ng survival video games in the industry at the moment. From its humble roots as a sandbox survival game in 2014, the indie gaming company Hinterland Games released the fledgling �tle into the world in 2017. Set in the first-person, players can experience the Wintermute Storyline, where chapters are added roughly once a year, allowing you to uncover the mystery behind the apocalyp�c storm and interact with the sca�ered survivors as you decide how you will tackle these lands. The game itself is very much designed like an album; there is so much care taken for every detail, ensuring the various regions in the world link up seamlessly and taking you through different terrains and emo�ons. Some days are spent wandering the ice caves and reading by lonely campfires, allowing you to pause for thought—but within hours you can be plunged into a blizzard with a pack of �mberwolves on your tail and be forced to use the light of the moon to outrun them.

There is also the popular 5-op�on Survival Mode, varying from the explora�on ease of Pilgrim Mode to the hos�lity of Interloper in free play. Now accessible across PC, PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, the game has found dedicated fans all over the world who nestle themselves in forums deba�ng the fine details and hatching conspiracy theories for the everan�cipated updates—and also relentlessly arguing over the perfect way to kill the bloody grizzly bear that's been stalking you for two days and plans to make you into picnic food. The Hinterland Games team are based in Bri�sh Columbia in Canada, and had ensured all teams had home office setups pre-pandemic, which allowed them to transi�on into remote studio working fairly swi�ly. This allowed them to release planned updates, keep to schedule, and refocus on how to assist their players during this difficult period.

In May, they ran a fundraiser on Steam to raise money for the United Na�ons founda�on and WHO progress on research towards figh�ng COVID-19, raising just shy of $200,000. Crea�ve Director Raphael van Lierop also took charge of the “Milton Mailbag” on official forums, which addressed ques�ons around the next episode drop, mod discussions, and expansion of the game onto more consoles. The team also began to u�lize their social media more frequently to keep in contact with gamers, including the sharing of fan art from The Long Dark on Instagram via “Screenshot Saturdays.”

The anima�on in the game is divine; each frame looks like a digitalised watercolor pain�ng that captures swatches of blue in the lakes and sky, contrasted by the neon haze of the Northern lights against the backdrop of a never-ending mountain range. The fan-created delights shared included pain�ngs that imitated the anima�on and even pencil sketches of the wildlife. This expansive online art haven led the team to designing wilderness background designs that users could download to use for Zoom calls and make their video conferences more exci�ng. Now, these are not wholly radical proposi�ons for a games team, but they have been crucial in building the connec�vity of the virtual community while everyone has been in lockdown. The beauty of the snow-coated Canadian wilderness has been brought into everyone’s homes across the world, and the unique perspec�ves of each user broaden the map of the game.

When the team released Episode 3 of the Wintermute story at the end of 2019, the game picked up steam in terms of usage, which the team then no�ced again during lockdown. Hinterland have run mini events in the game previously, including 4 Days of Night in October every year since 2016, but decided to crank this up a notch for 2020. Winter's Embrace was a monthlong event during July where the world of Great Bear Island was dropped into constant freezing temperatures and gamers could earn exclusive badges for surviving twenty-five game days.

For a permadeath story, this was a tough challenge that allowed us to take our minds off the unknown fear of the real-world virus and tackle nature's icy grip instead. In an ode to Canada Day, the team snuck in new food items, including Ketchup Chips and the calorieheavy Maple Syrup—a godsend for starving players as the cold weather reduced �me spent outdoors hun�ng and travelling. Not only did this event spark discussion from users about unusual snack flavor, but the addi�onal challenge of consuming 25 of each snack would earn them an addi�onal badge. This united both veteran players who had to adjust their normal tac�cs to cope with the temperatures and new gamers, twee�ng each other hints and �ps.

Our current society encourages us to be constantly produc�ve, and so many of us found �me on our hands and had headspaces eager to be focused this year. This month-long event and increase in online interac�on gave many of us a purpose and goal that was not of corporate gain, but of personal and collec�ve fulfillment. In a game that is not designed to be “won or lost,” it opened up space for users to share their methods, cul�vated healthy discussions about different approaches to the challenges, and celebrated people’s ongoing progress—approaches we should all heed more o�en.

The Long Dark is not only an explora�on game that pushes one to the precipice of survival and dangles you in front of death, but it also allows one to confront the reali�es of facing the world alone. In a sense, it challenges the idea that playing a game based on isola�onism, where you are abandoned in the bleakest of winters and have to uncover the truth while figh�ng to stay alive, is not desirable in a lockdown. From sharing screenshots, crea�ng fan art, and running forum threads, this game has ul�mately brought a lot of lonely gamers together to construct this world. The Long Dark provided us with an unexpected freedom while we were all confined to our homes— pushing us out into the snow, facing the hypno�c glare of the northern lights with only charcoal flints to map out the world while running from the growls of starving wildlife. The adrenaline rush of this game is a welcome feeling, and this isola�ng story has connected so many people across the globe and become a lifeline during the pandemic.