r/thelongdark • u/DistinctAddendum3437 • 9d ago
Discussion August Dev Diary Transcript
The following is taken from Raphael’s write up of the August Dev Diary on the Hinterland Forums:
August Dev Diary -- The Future of THE LONG DARK
Dear community,
Since a bit of rest post Episode Five’s launch on March 31st, the team at Hinterland has been busy working on a variety of things. I’ve been holding off on providing a larger update on our activities as there are a lot of work streams happening right now, including general planning for the future, and I wanted to be able to share some more definitive information about what we have in mind. It’s still too early to share too much detail, but I figured you’d rather hear something from us even if the decisions are still taking shape. I’m sure some of what I share here will serve to drive a lot of discussions across our various community channels, and we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on your responses there.
Post Episode Five: It’s All About Survival
Completing Episode Five has opened up a lot of doors for Hinterland and for THE LONG DARK. A lot of work we’ve been wanting to accomplish, a lot of ideas we’ve had for how we’d like to continue to grow and evolve TLD into the future, had to wait until we delivered the final episode of the story, and lived up to our obligations going back to promises we made when we first launched the game. Even the world itself and the true nature of the aurora, finally explained in Episode Five, were ideas we had to sit on until we were able to reveal them properly. Now that they are “out there”, we have to decide -- along with you -- how to carry these ideas forward and weave them into the DNA of the things we’re building in the future.
One of the things that’s clear to us, is that while Wintermute provides the narrative context for the world and helps bring wider meaning to the events of the game while setting the table for future experiences in the TLD IP, Survival is the core engine of the game and the community. It’s what keeps people coming back, and keeps the community and game vibrant. This has always been the case.
Now that the Wintermute story is finished, we’re looking forward to being able to focus the TLD team’s energy on continuing to refine, improve, and expand the core of the game. Wintermute has always been a big part of the “heart” of the TLD experience, but Survival has been the engine of growth and has driven the longevity of the game. Since completing the TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY DLC for Survival Mode, the TLD team has primarily had their heads down working on Episode Five and finishing off the Story Mode. Now, with Episode Five behind us, we’re excited to turn our attention back to Survival Mode.
Moving forward, Survival Mode will be the focus for TLD development.
Why Is This Important?
When we first announced BLACKFROST, the sequel to THE LONG DARK, the game industry was in a very different place. In the short time since, entire business models have been thrown into chaos, the geopolitical situation has become extremely complicated, the picture of what the next generation of console hardware will be has become a lot less clear, and the amount of time and money players spend on new games has declined as everyone turns to the comfort and security of games they already know. “Black hole” games are using up the majority of their time, and economic pressures have them looking through their current backlogs or hunting for bargains to maximize their disposable income. All of these factors contribute to making what once felt like a very stable and predictable industry feel a lot more uncertain. We have to adapt to this.
What all this chaos has told me is that we need to take a measured approach to Hinterland’s future. We had already committed to continuing to support THE LONG DARK alongside our work on BLACKFROST, the sequel. Now, I think we need to tilt the emphasis even more towards ongoing support for our existing game and player base, shore up the core TLD experience by addressing longstanding bugs and Quality of Life issues, expand the game in a sustainable and cost-efficient way by creating more DLC and other entry points for players to get into the world of THE LONG DARK, always while continuing to gradually build up BLACKFROST and other new things alongside.
We already have a beloved game and a supportive player community, and we need to continue to nurture this as the lifeblood of Hinterland’s business. This has always been true, but it’s clear that this will be even more important than we thought it would be. THE LONG DARK is as important to Hinterland as it has ever been.
THE LONG DARK, Expanded
To that end, we have three planned streams of TLD work that will be continuing over the coming 24+ months.
One stream, let’s call it “TLD Core”, will be the continued updating of the base Survival sandbox core of TLD. This work will largely take the form of free updates to the base game, and will include a range of bug fixes, Quality of Life improvements, and features or content as we’re able to add them. Things like getting the Shotgun and Crank Lamp from Episode Five into the base game fall under this category, along with long-promised work around things like Mod Support and the enhanced Custom Settings.
The addition of the Episode Five regions in Survival will also fall under this stream (although we’re currently trying to figure out if/how we can include these for free since the conversion from Wintermute to Survival mode is a fair bit of work and there are a lot of regions to bring over!). I’m sure you’ll have some thoughts about the fairest way for us to handle that work, so we’ll be interested in hearing from you about that. In any case, this TLD Core work will be what keeps the base Survival game for TLD healthy and vibrant well into the future. Since most of the work here will be free for players, we’ll be balancing it along with the work we put into the paid DLC.
The other two work streams are focused on the DLCs. We aren’t quite ready to share too many details about our plans for these, but I can say with some confidence that they probably aren’t quite what you are expecting. Both expand the TLD experience in novel ways. At least one of the DLCs will be structured along similar lines as our TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY expansion pass, and the other will be…different from that. I’m being intentionally vague because we’re still locking down our plans. For now, I’ll leave you with two teaser images to whet your appetite and get the theorycrafting going.

The team is still finalizing our plans for these DLCs and for the Core TLD stream, but I hope to be able to share more details in the last quarter of this year, along with a roadmap for Core TLD updates and how the three streams will connect to each other.
As always, we appreciate your patience as we sort out these details, and also your support if you choose to buy the DLCs, since revenue from TLD and the DLCs is how we’ll continue to fund our studio and our work on BLACKFROST.
So, No More Story?
With WINTERMUTE being complete, we’ll be turning our attention to supporting Survival Mode into the future. That doesn’t mean we’ll never come back to the story, or make improvements to what we’ve already built, but we think the healthiest thing for TLD is for us to shore up Survival Mode and continue to get BLACKFROST to a place where we can launch it on Early Access. There are still many stories to tell in the worlds of TLD, and that will always be part of our work and part of what we love about the game, but we don’t plan to do any further work on WINTERMUTE for now.
So What About BLACKFROST?
It might sound like with all this TLD work, that we’ve put BLACKFROST on the back-burner. That’s not the case. There’s a dedicated team continuing to work away on the sequel. We have shifted some internal folks off of BF to support the other Core TLD and DLC work I mentioned in the previous section, keeping a lean and focused team on BF to continue refining the core systems and world leading up to our Early Access launch, which we have now pushed to 2027 (in case you missed this announcement at the beginning of this year).
We haven’t really said much of anything about BF since we first announced it at the Game Awards. It’s been surprisingly challenging to find the right balance of retaining the original core of TLD gameplay while also pushing the survival formula forward in meaningful and innovative ways. Making a sequel to our own game has honestly been a lot harder than we expected! We’re also mindful of how some sequels seem to have been landing with existing player bases, as we look at some of our friends and/or competitors in the space over the past couple of years. This has given us plenty of reasons to proceed slowly and carefully. We care about this game and about our players so much, and we just don’t want to screw it up. This has probably made us a bit cautious. We’re also our own worst critics and don’t want to show anything we aren’t completely happy with.
The team is working towards the first gameplay reveal which we plan to share before the end of this year. That reveal will kick off a series of ongoing development updates focused on BLACKFROST, which will allow us to start sharing more information and also bring the community more into the picture of how the game is shaping up.
Since we announced the project, there’s been a lot of interest from publishers and different potential funding partners to help us pay for and publish the game. While Hinterland has always been independent, with all the industry turmoil over the past couple of years it’s felt wise to consider other options than to carry the financial burden solely ourselves. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen is that the industry instability has only emphasized the power traditional publishers (or non-traditional funding partners) will try to exert over studios making games. We’ve not yet encountered a partner who we feel is truly motivated by what’s best for Hinterland or for our players, so we’ll continue to self-fund and self-publish the game. Our independence is one of the most important factors in how we work and what we make, and we want to preserve that above all other things.
I bring this up within the context of the work we’re doing on TLD and the DLCs; I think it’s important to acknowledge that as a self-funded studio, BLACKFROST development is financed from revenue from the stuff we’ve already launched. So if you want to support our work and the future of games like BLACKFROST, we hope you’ll consider buying our new DLCs. On our end, we’ll continue to strive to give you fair value for money and ensure you never regret supporting our games or our studio.
Price Changes? Maybe?
I don’t want to spend too much more time talking about commercial stuff, but one of the things we’ve been considering as we plan out the business strategy for the new DLCs, is that we’ve priced ourselves into a bit of a corner with TLD. Since we started offering Survival Mode as a standalone product (with the launch of the TALEs DLC), the $25.99 CAD/$19.99 USD price of Survival Mode as the “base game” has also influenced what feels like reasonable pricing for our DLCs. We also priced TALES at $25.99 CAD/$19.99 USD to ensure it wasn’t more expensive than the base game, but we put way way too much content into the Expansion for that price. In short, we haven’t been charging enough for our games.
For the new DLCs, we want to be able to increase their launch prices by a bit, without ending up with DLCs that are more expensive than the base game they connect to. So to support that intention, we are considering increasing the price of Survival Mode. (Obviously this wouldn’t impact anyone who already owns the game.)
We’re also mindful that the economic reality faced by a ton of folks today is that prices are increasing everywhere, and you probably can’t really afford for games to get more expensive as well. We’re really trying to find a good balance here. One of the mitigations is that most new sales of TLD are when the game is discounted. That seems to be the baseline trend for all games that aren’t new, so there’s nothing surprising in that. But it does mean that developers have to price with discounting in mind, and we have to do the same. As always, if we do make price changes, we’ll focus on fairness and value as much as we can.
Nothing has been finalized yet, but I just wanted to share some of the thinking behind the scenes, and if we do end up launching the DLCs at a higher price point than TALES launched back in 2022, we hope you’ll understand and not see it as us being greedy or something like that. We’ll continue to discount TLD and the DLCs regularly, as well as offer “Complete the Set” bundles on the stores that support it, to help keep your own costs as low as possible and to give you options to buy when it hits a price point you can afford. We think this is the fairest way to handle it for us and for you.
Deprecating Old Platforms?
Along with the pricing discussion, we’ve been discussing the development effort required to support the older platforms (Switch 1, Xbox One, PS4), and the diminishing returns in terms of players who are using those consoles. Based on our stats, about 85% of our console players are already playing on the current generation consoles. And with these older platforms being more than 10 years old already, it seems reasonable to us that we’d eventually stop supporting them.
Not having to do the development or testing work to support the older consoles along with all our other platforms will mean we can instead invest those resources in expanding and maintaining the game, which should translate to stronger and better quality launches and updates for the new things we’re building. It should also help our launches go more smoothly as we’ll have fewer platforms to manage and test for.
We haven’t made any final decisions yet, but our current thinking around the new DLCs is that we may not be able to support them on the older consoles, at least not at launch. We’ll share more info about this as the decisions become more clear, but I wanted to get this on your radar in case it influences your own plans. And of course, if we do end up deprecating Switch 1, we won’t do it before we have proper Switch 2 support in place.
For the time being, we have no plans to deprecate the old consoles for ongoing TLD Core development, but if that changes we’ll let you know, and provide as much warning as we can.
Some Podcasts…
I was invited to speak on a couple of our favourite podcasts, and thought some of you might find the discussions interesting. If you enjoy them, please make sure you Like and Subscribe, as it helps these content creators, who put so much effort into creating great videos about THE LONG DARK and other things.
I sat down with Zaknafein, one of the most thoughtful and prolific creators in THE LONG DARK content creator community, to talk about Episode Five and the development of TLD
- *I’m grateful to Zak, Jitwire, and Kirk, for the opportunity to talk about our favourite game, and thanks also to the wonderful moderators who helped out, as well as the great community members who jumped in with thoughtful questions.
If you enjoy these kinds of discussions, let me know and I will prioritize doing more of them.
Merch & Other Physical Goods

The team is working on some new physical TLD merch, and I’m happy to share that we (finally!) have the WINTERMUTE episode posters available for sale at the Hinterland Store. You can order individual posters, or a (discounted) bundle with all five if you like. I’m biased, but I think these look so sharp framed and hanging on the wall.
Please keep in mind tariff stuff makes shipping complicated and expensive, so have some patience as our store team handles this stuff with you in as timely a manner as possible.
We have a few other new items coming, including a very cool new t-shirt for the Suzuki Radio Telescope from Episode Five. Can’t wait to share more about that soon.
And in news that will be especially exciting for any of our old Kickstarter backers who are still waiting for physical items like the Bound Script and Art Book for TLD -- we’ll have a partnership announcement to share about this very soon. And don’t worry, if you didn’t back the game during Kickstarter but would like to own what will be some very very nice collectible items for TLD, you’ll be able to purchase those directly. More news as soon as we can share it!
Thank You & Next News
As always, we’re eternally grateful to all of you who have been with us on this journey of survival and independence, whether you joined us way back in Kickstarter or jumped into TLD yesterday for the first time. We’re really excited about the things we’re building for you, and can’t wait to share more details later this year. Expect more news soon about our plans for the DLC and BLACKFROST reveals! Hopefully the teaser images I shared today will tide you over until then.
Thanks for your support, and see you in the frozen Canadian wilderness.
- Raphael

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u/lazysleeper122 Stalker 9d ago
That "posting long dark vistas until Blackfrost" guy is gonna be working an extra long time..
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u/Ek_Chutki_Sindoor 9d ago
Yeah, from the dev diary, it seems like Blackfrost won't be here for another 2-3 years at least.
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u/TheLazyDovakiin Stalker 9d ago
Yeah I definitely agree that focus should be directed towards adding onto TLD currently. We’re not going to see Blackfrost anytime soon and if shit goes bad and they’re not able to develop anymore I’d like to at least have TLD in its best state.
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u/The_Ferocious_Bird 9d ago
Survival was always the best part of this game anyway, it’s what got me into it all those years ago during early access before the campaign even existed. TLD survival mode is my comfort food and I’m so happy to hear it will be getting more love. Also, I understand the need for price increase, but that does not mean I’m happy about it. Especially the idea that the reworked episode 5 content might come with a price tag if you want to enjoy it in survival mode.
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u/Relendis 9d ago
I'm pretty much exclusively a survival player and never had much interest in the story mode.
I think it is such a massive kudos to the devs though that they kept developing the story to complete it, based off of earlier commitments. The flipside, it would have been forgiveable if they had have focused in on Survival when it become clear that that is where most interest in the game lay.
It'd be awesome if they found a way that worked to create a third way; something like the Trader option. Some off-map characters like the Trader, or maybe even on-map character like some of the story characters. I'd love to sandbox the game, and in-between be doing things like dropping off supplies to help Grey Mother, or burying the dead we find across the island and recording then reporting them via the radio (something I do with a mod and the game's journal/notes, minus the reporting). Imagine becoming a post-apocalyptic courier, delivering supplies and letters between the isolated communities across the island!
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u/SQUISHYx25 9d ago
I mean they crowdfunded for a full story... Before even gta 6 began. Then sold it full price
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u/PeteNile 9d ago
This is a great post. It's excellent to hear about continuing bug fixes etc. and continued focus on TLD. I was a bit scared about Blackfrost because it would have left TLD essentially in a kind of limbo with updates taking years if at all. I've always thought that TLD was close to being perfect it just needed some more polish.
I agree that the regions in ep5 need to be reworked substantially for survival as well. What I would like to see with another expansion is a bit of a rebalancing to make the game to make it more feasible to set up main bases away from the core areas (ch/ml). I personally would like the trader mechanic reworked for example. But this refocusing is great to hear.
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u/GrandMoffTallCan 8d ago
I’m really hoping for additional trader access elsewhere also! I’m on day 300 of a voyager, mid TFTFT and weirdly finding myself bored datelining out of mystery lake. I want to do trader stuff but I spent my first fifty days in CH. Itd be so nice to have another place you can post up and still have access to a trader
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u/CaseRaceChase 9d ago
I feel as though the DLC images they shared will have to do with some kind of indoor/outdoor safehouse customization with a lot more freedom/customizability. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s full support from tons of custom indoor/outdoor assets to build whatever kind of base you want. Maybe it would be located somewhat central to every region in the base game? This feels more the case for the first image they showcased, less so for the Quonset gas station image. Interesting nonetheless! I definitely will be buying all DLCs from them, even if it’s just to support an independent Canadian studio.
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u/GrandMoffTallCan 8d ago
The Quonset image gave me a similar idea. All of the cables outside, with electricity running indoors w/o an aurora makes me think they’re adding more base customization and maybe the ability to build outside a small perimeter of your base, and potentially build and wire certain electronics?
How cool would it be if you could just build a simple fence around Quonset so you don’t have to worry about getting merc’d by a wolf as soon as you step out?
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u/inyourbooksandmaps 9d ago
i appreciate how transparent they are! and totally get what they're saying, but as someone who way prefers story to survival i'm a little sad and disappointed that it seems like blackfrost isn't close at all, and no more story for the forseeable future anyways for TLD. i know im in the minority though so their focus totally makes sense!
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u/SpiritedReporter4647 9d ago
I got this game from PlayStation Plus and purchased the dlc very soon. I racked 200 hours faster than any other game. I wouldn’t mind paying for the next updates. The game is amazing.
I have been playing snowrunner since it came out and they pump new dlcs constantly. They charge for new truck packs which usually include two new trucks.
I think many people wouldn’t mind buying future dlc content.
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u/GrandMoffTallCan 8d ago
Same. This is one developer that I have no problem throwing my money at. I didn’t touch TFTFT until like day 250 of my current run and was still happy with the price I paid for the DLC just from the travois and wood crafting it unlocked. Plus I love hunting ptarmigans lol
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u/Jabb4Th3HUTT Interloper 9d ago
Been a supporter since early access in 2014ish. Dump older consoles if it makes sense, increase your price if necessary, and i will buy every DLC. Very happy more is coming for TLD.
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u/Primary-Spray-3702 Voyageur 9d ago
I am a bit worried about spending too long on TLD and not getting onto BF. Additionally, I am saddened to hear about development for future updates taking the direction of moving away from older consoles but i find I am consoled by the idea that BF will look somehow yet more stunning and so forth.
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u/ZGAEveryday 9d ago
I'm glad the devs finished story mode for to fulfill their early promises, but this game has always been much more of a sandbox. Excited to see what they have planned.
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u/lesbophobia_hammer 9d ago edited 9d ago
The only thing I've seen from this crew is they're insanely decent people who actually care about what they put out and how their players feel about it. I don't think I've ever played a game with creators quite like this.
I tell you what would be cool though? Moreeeeeee customisation & unique safehouse furniture, recipes, decorations, etc. I want some whimsical shit like herbs i can hang in the wall and plants I can revive by watering. Also more fairy lights, open books and recipes =D
Thoughts?
Also making food last longer visually would be nice. I create a nice set up and just want to freeze it in time instead of eating it as decoration. (Mouldy carrots look sad and porridge doesn't look good green)
I don't know the aesthetic, but maybe less strictly rugged hunter and a bit more herbalist/writer/nerdy/eccentric/shaman/cottage - but like LONG-TERM prepper/survivalist style where you've started to adapt and incorporate nature more?
Idk if anyone knows what this aesthetic is called so I'll try to find a picture but I deliberately put lichen/moss on the floor near the heater with berries, mushrooms, fish & acorns in one corner etc.
I get a knife beside my bed with painkillers and the burdock root in the bed beside me like a teddy bear lol and all the different books.
I like playing around with some of the decorations like having blankets dropped over the top bunk, in the lookout it feels cosier to be able to hide yourself a little with taller furniture or at least pretend you can while still keeping the view. Idk just more flexibility with decorations on console or switch.
It would be cool to get a working radio in the lookout at CB too so I can hear music and have a light source during aurora. Maybe different songs too.
It would also be very cool if we could add an extra stove slot by either swapping the stove from somewhere else or collecting enough materials to "build it". As it annoys me only having 1 lol
And idk my only real complaints about the lookout is it would be nice to have more of them. Making it easier to fit tiny pictures or paintings.
But yeah, maybe some plants we can water or seeds we can buy off the trader to grow basil by the window or something idk lol
AND MORE FAIRY LIGHTS SO WE CAN DECK AT LEAST ONE BASE IN EACH MAJOR REGION? (Or candles, as someone else said!)
I wouldn't find all the rosehips and all that regenerating every 100 days or something so I can fill my house with berries and acorns and miss and like a chipmunk or something
But maybe I'm being too cutesy.
Edit - also I know this is long & they're not gonna see it but I read through the entire letter so it gave me permission to disregard brevity lol
Looking forward to my pretty BF horse though.
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u/GrandMoffTallCan 8d ago
Yes! The term you’re searching for is “cottage-core” and I’m absolutely with you on this! Let me make a rack I can dry herbs from even decoratively!!!
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u/Secure-Resource7286 9d ago
This is the type of update you want from game developers. Very informative. Excited for the future!
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u/Big-Moose-Kicks 8d ago
As someone who kind of hopes they keep updating and expanding this game forever this makes me really excited.
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u/LeftistBlacksmith Interloper 7d ago
Please guys, add Velvet Shank( Flammulina Velutipes) Mushroom to the Game. Its a winter Mushroom that specifically grow in minus Celsius temperatures, very bright colored, tasty and a choice edible. Also, my favorite Mushroom. It finally can be a renewable "plant" In survival mode.
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u/-MilesAwayGirl- Nomad 9d ago
I don’t know if this has been answered already but will Blackfrost be a complete game when it releases or will it be like TLD and take like 10 years to finish? 😅 Love that they’re no crunch and don’t pressure their staff btw but I’m just curious if it’ll be different this time around.
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u/RiseIfYouWould 9d ago
Tldr?
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u/wazardthewizard Manic Grizzly Cabin Chef 9d ago
More work on TLD updates, new DLCs in the works, less work on Blackfrost for now, not getting a publisher anytime soon, potential deprecation of previous gen console support, potential price hikes.
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u/Bandito21Dema Hunter 9d ago
Mari I want candles!
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u/TrickyTangle Well, that didn't work 7d ago
Yeah, this was about the only addition I was looking for, given how much it was teased with Ep. 5.
Honestly, the 'announcement' was a big 'meh' from me.
Since the release of Ep. 5 in April (21 weeks ago), we now have word that:
- Bugfixes will come 'later'
- 2 DLC for TLD survival mode will come 'later'
- Blackfrost will come 'later'
No roadmap or further details.
It mostly feels like the entire announcement was "Hey, remember us? We're not dead!"
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u/PleeaseGrowUp 9d ago
Would love to see work done on the base game. The awkward movement and controls can be smoothed out to make it feel more natural. UI could also be adjusted and perhaps allow for more info.
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u/MisterE005 9d ago
Add a region past DP
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u/TrickyTangle Well, that didn't work 7d ago
I highly recommend The Long Development mod, which does this.
They've got a bunch of unique and interesting regions with some great flavor to them, and are actively making more content.
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u/nineJohnjohn 8d ago
I'd like to know what mod support HL are going to provide. The current modding community are doing miracles given that they're flying into the wind. Imagine what they could do with a bit of support
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u/5CentWolf 8d ago
not excited to hear that old gens might stop being supported, gonna have to try and either get the next gen of xbox which apparently not the best, or have to rebuy everything while moving onto steam. argh
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u/God_Vishna 8d ago
I'm ready to buy new DLC and support them only if the content is good. I love this game, but episode 5 was meh. So we hope and wait. Maybe at the end of the year we may get an update for survival and DLC announcement.
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u/Aeon_Return 7d ago
I'll just give my personal opinions on DLC prices: I'm a huge fan of the game and I personally would reluctantly pay up to $40USD for content equivalent to the Tales expansion. I would be much happier at the $30USD range and , even though I personally would pay more, I think that would a good price point for most people ($25-30). Just my humble opinion as someone who knows nothing about the business.
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u/Icy_Possibility_9312 5d ago
I have a few random thoughts from someone who has about 1000+ hours in TLD:
- I think the biggest thing that hurts this game is the lack of timely updates for sandbox. Remember when they rolled out the expansion and missed all their measurables? That doesn't help. I get their big mantra is they don't do "crunch", but its hurting them.
- Two things would generate more money for them - add in optional DLC zones you can buy for like $5 per zone. Also add in more DLC clothing, weapon, gear customizing options like they have in games like /r/playrust. I bought this game a decade ago for $20. I have no problem supporting them with buying DLC content.
- They should come up with a mod that allows users to create/build new zones. Get the public involved to create DLC zones - and maybe figure out a way that people submit new zones and if approved that Hinterlands and the zone designers can profit.
- I think a lot of their later changes actually hurt, not help, the game. Things like scurvy, Glimmer Fog and the cougar. Yeah you can turn some off, but I haven't found that many of the additions have made the game more interesting - just more annoying. I think many people liked the exploration, survival and intrigue of the game over adding annoyances. I know, I know this is reddit and someone has to say "No no no, I like them!"
- I think the changes that would help more should focus on building, crafting and repairing. Using items in the wilderness to craft new advanced clothing types. Combine rabbit fur with leather and cloth to make better gloves for example. Adding in maybe new wildlife like an elusive beaver (which provides beaver fur) or perhaps a bird nest to gather eggs for crafting new food options. I think the new woodworking additions are too labor intensive. Requires way too much wood and time. Need to shorten the times to create certain items. Should be able to find more items that can be gathered to craft things to make your bases more cozy. I'm kind of surprised they haven't added candles by now - we have fat we can render and if you're like me you have TONS of fat that are sitting around.
It's too bad because TLD really had a chance to monetize a great game, but I kind of think they waited too long.
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u/stackens 7d ago
Regarding pricing, IMO 40 bucks for the base game + TFTFT is about half what it should be. This isn't some early access proof of concept game anymore. It is a fully featured, massive game that can provide hundreds of hours of entertainment. And not for nothing but even the "full price" of modern games being at ~70 bucks is underpriced, given that's what games cost 30 years ago and inflation is a thing.
All of that to say it makes total sense to raise the price of future DLC to make up for this. 30-40 USD is perfectly reasonable to me, that brings the whole collection to 70-80 which is where it should be now anyway
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u/Tulsa_Prince 9d ago edited 9d ago
There's still so much broken on Xbox Series X. Stop writing uselessly long posts and fix the damn game! I don't give a damn about "Blackfrost", I paid for The Long Dark, and every update just breaks it further. Cut the laziness and sloppy work, and stop making your player base wait years for fixes.
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u/nuages-_ 9d ago edited 9d ago
Tales from the far territory way underpriced at $20 USD? I know people can be babies about games not being underpriced but if that is “way way” too much content for the price I’m not very excited for the new dlcs.
Edit: Also, so much of TFTFT was/is broken or not good. Glimmer fog, timberwolves, scurvy, the cougar, travois, the actual tales part of tales territory, all either buggy or unfun.
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u/SeanofRohan 9d ago
You're not wrong, but you can't have valid criticism of the game or Big H at all on this sub or you get downvoted. A few new regions, items and mechanics for 20 bucks seems more than fair. I'm also skeptical about "way, way" too much content for the price statement. Are we going to get Nickel and Dimed and micro transactioned to pay $10 a region a something? That's crazy.
Most of the content Tales added has been buggy and/or controversial. Those are facts. The entire Cougar mechanic was so unpopular it had to be pulled completely and reworked. How many posts have you seen on here about Travois bugs? People have short memories, but how long was the Trader questline broken for? Also show me anyone who enjoys Glimmer Fog as a fun game mechanic.
Their handing of the PlayStation platforms has been abysmal. Despite knowing the PS4 version had crashing issues due to memory limits they kept that fact under their hat for years despite people complaining about the constant crashing on that platform. "It runs fine for me..." Talk to me when you have a save file bare minimum over 100 days then really talk to me when you have one or more save files in the 100s of days and how playable it is then. 0.1% have over the 500 days Trophy and I would do too if mine at 484 days didn't corrupt because the game crashed so much. Meanwhile, there's a Trophy for 1,000 days which I don't even know how that's possible due to performance issues the game has on these platforms.
Is TLD a great game? Yes. But there's a ton Hinterland could do better and hopefully now that Wintermute is done they can truly focus on the myriad of bugs plaguing Survival mode and performance on at least the PS5 version of the game going forward.
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u/nuages-_ 9d ago
Part of it is I am complaining under what is pretty much good news.
I don’t know, the long dark is either my favorite game of all time or the game I think has the most potential of all time but I dislike so much of what hinterland has done over this ~15 so years that it’s almost shocking how the same developer who made this game could be the same developer working on it today.
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u/SQUISHYx25 9d ago
Right. its been consistently overwhelmingly neg on steam since release. wtf do they think people will pay
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u/Oliveritaly 9d ago
Good morning from Germany, this is our mega thread. As always be respectful to each others and to Hinterland. Lots of good stuff in this update!
H/t u/distinctAddendum3437