Hinterland are set to release the first episode of their long-awaited story mode for The Long Dark in Spring 2016. The original sandbox version of the survival game has been available for PC and Xbox One since September 2014, but news about the story mode has been far from forthcoming during most of that time.
It’s said that this story mode will play out through the perspective of two playable characters: bush pilot Will Mackenzie and doctor Astrid Greenwood. The events of the story will follow these two as they fight for survival in the wintry landscapes, following the mysterious “Flare Event” that has devastated civilization. While the story mode is set to follow almost identical mechanics to the existing sandbox mode, concerned fans can be assured that the ‘permadeath’ feature will be replaced by a checkpoint system to facilitate narrative progress.
The story mode is also rumoured to take place in up to 30% new areas, thus building on the foundation of the existing title. Hinterland’s creative director, Raphael van Lierop said the following about the announcement.
After keeping our community in the dark about our plans for Story Mode, we’re thrilled to finally be able to reveal some details of what we’ve been working on alongside the over 75 updates we’ve made to Sandbox Mode over the last year… We see a bright future for The Long Dark, and are committed to a long-term relationship with our players.
The first episode of this story mode is slated for a Spring 2016 release, but anyone looking to get their fix of the gruelling survival sim can still get The Long Dark‘s sandbox mode for PC or Xbox One right now.