In September we became backers for the atmospheric The Long Dark, a first-person post-disaster survival simulation from Canadian developer Hinterland Studios. The Kickstarter project has now completed and with the game receiving almost 130% of its funding total, it has a far from dark future to look forward to.
Players take on the role of bush pilot William Mackenzie, after he witnesses mysterious lights flashing across the sky when flying a mail delivery in the Canadian wilderness. His aircraft suddenly loses power and crashes into the dense mountain forest below. Stranded far from human habitation, Mackenzie must quickly master basic wilderness survival skills if he’s to last long enough to understand what he’s witnessed. But he’s lost, wounded, alone and the wolves are circling – and that’s only the beginning.
The Long Dark has already received a lot of praise from both developers and gaming sites, with Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Obsidian Entertainment saying: “[The game] caught my eye with intriguing visuals and a great premise, and as a fan of survival open-world games, I’m eager to see what perspective Hinterland brings to the quiet apocalypse.” Over five-hundred articles have been written about the title since the launch of its Kickstarter campaign, and it’s easy to see why; take a look at the first gameplay trailer below, revealed on 07 October 2013:
The team have thanked backers, saying: “Thank you so much. We’re not really sure what else to say. We wouldn’t be here if not for your passion and energy. You are amazing… But don’t think that just ‘cause the Kickstarter close is done, that we don’t still have lots to talk about. There’s going to be months of updates coming up. Nearly 7,000 backers. Over 500 articles covering and game and studio since launch. Over $260k raised between KS and PayPal backers. Epic. This is all going straight into making the game better.”
With £256,217 CAD being raised by 6,996 backers on Kickstarter alone, it looks like we’re set to get an amazing title from Hinterland Studios. And they meant it when they said that they have plenty of updates; they’ve shared so much information with their supporters in daily communications, that it would be hard to cover all of The Long Dark’s amazing aspects in just one article. If you’re interested, take a look at the campaign page for details.
Wow. Just wow.
The Long Dark is scheduled for release in October 2014 on PC, Mac and Linux. We’re proud to call ourselves official backers and can’t wait to bring you our review of the game.
