The Long Dark

Bugs and a rough story weaken what is, at its core, a great survival game.

Deep, brutal, and hauntingly atmospheric, The Long Dark is a survival game done right.

The wilderness is satisfyingly unforgiving. The world is fun to explore, but story mode offers a lackluster narrative

With a better, more involving path, this could have been really something. As it is, it's the glorious The Long Dark with a reason for surviving, and that definitely proves enough.

While the story mode leaves something to be desired, the survival mechanics of The Long Dark's sandbox make it worthwhile. We have three more episodes of Will's journey to weave a wider story throughout the alternately unforgiving and inviting Canadian terrain. In the meantime, I'll be sitting back with my coffee mug, reflecting on my own small stories within The Long Dark.

The Long Dark is a strong survival title, possibly even the strongest of the entire genre. A beautiful, but dangerous Canadian wilderness provides the backdrop to a challenging, but largely satisfying fight for survival. While micromanaging every facet of your well-being while trying to survive might sound tedious in description, it actually ends up being fun, satisfying, and even tense.  With three more episodes to come for this title's story mode, there's already tons of content to chow down on. Just watch out for the wolves.

The Long Dark is an onerous experience, but a memorably and powerfully atmospheric one. Its Survival mode stands out as something of a singular achievement on the Switch – and one we'd urge you to try if you don't mind freezing to death more than a few times before you've got a grip on how to last a couple of nights. It's difficult to call it outright fun given its sheer hostility, but it's certainly absorbing and at times downright terrifying game. Just like real life, nature is the real enemy.

The Quiet Apocalypse isn't without problems, but Hinterland's commitment to adding new content, while refining the experience over the years, has positioned The Long Dark at the top of the survival genre's pecking order. The Long Dark is a must-play for anyone who is even remotely intrigued by it.

The Long Dark is not merely a form of entertainment; rather, it is an experience that demands immense patience—the kind needed to accept failure as an integral part of personal growth. Despite some shortcomings in both gameplay and graphics, the atmosphere amidst the ice is so powerful that it makes one overlook the technical flaws.

The Long Dark is a mostly functional survival title, with a relatively good atmosphere and a relatively clear vision…but it struggles to turn its ideas into an engaging experience. Its core gameplay loop quickly becomes a slow, repetitive ordeal, where survival feels more tedious than tense. Unintuitive systems undermine immersion, while the story mode fails to serve as a welcoming introduction, not to mention that it is an incomplete part. Final word of caution: if still willing to try this out, stay away from the Switch port.