The Long Dark The game takes place in the frigid Canadian wilderness where the player character is a crash landed pilot struggling to survive after a global disaster. The gameplay is stated by the developers to be a "survival simulation that accounts for body temperature, caloric intake, hunger/thirst, fatigue, wind-chill, wildlife, and a host of other environmental factors." There are two game modes available to the player, Story mode and Sandbox mode. Story mode will be episodic and was initially planned to be released late 2014. For the game's alpha release, the Sandbox mode was made available for play. Sandbox mode allows the player to start off at a random spawn within one of the two released maps that the player may choose at the beginning, called "Mystery Lake" and "Coastal highway". The objective is for the player to survive as long as possible by scavenging and utilizing whatever resources they may find within the world. This includes commodities such as food, water, firewood, medicine, and tools such as weapons, axes, knives and a host of other items. Wildlife is also present, such as deer and wolves, the former which can be hunted for food, and the latter of which is a constant threat to the player as they venture outside. All items and wildlife are randomly spawned for every new game, so no two games will be alike for the player. Tools and items degrade over time, forcing the player to make careful decisions in regards to their condition and their eventual need for repair. Fire, being a primary component, is necessary for warmth and cooking. The player has to forage for wood and fuel on a regular basis to stay alive. The player can also get sick from food poisoning and disease. The game simulates temperature and windchill, both of which are random during every playthrough, encouraging the player to carefully monitor the weather at all times to prevent death from exposure. The save game system enforces careful decision making by the player as they are only allowed to save when they enter a building or go to sleep in the game. When the player dies, this results in permadeath and the original save file is automatically deleted forcing the player to start a new game.
Such a great game, near impossible on the hardest difficulty(for me at least), but feels so great to just trudge along, barely able to keep your requirements met. Such a real relief when you find a good cache of supplies and some where warm to set up for a bit. My only complaint is the scarcity of logs, I know you can break wooden objects, but you should be able to harvest more logs from the fallen trees, and even the logs on the rail cars. But it's still in development and is coming along nicely.