Game Update 2017- 08-01: by cicicleta The_Long_Dark.zip Small fix for Ultra shadows, broken by game update. Major Update 2017-07-13 by cicicleta Download fix: The_Long_Dark.rar Redone from scratch after game updates.

The Long Dark finally left early access on August 1, arriving for the first time on PS4 in any form, and seeing the release of story mode on all platforms, including the PC and Xbox One. However, it’s been a long time since players have seen one of the best survival games on the market in such an unstable state.

The patch on August 11 was the sixth one to hit Steam in only 11 days, meaning there was a patch of some sort at a rate of more than one every 48 hours. These patches have helped to clear the game’s biggest bugs, some of which made quest progression in the story mode impossible. What’s worse, is that PS4 and Xbox One players have had an even rougher time, and the update process with Sony and Microsoft respectively is far more involved than Steam.

Last Thursday, creator of The Long Dark Raphael van Lierop posted an extensive update to the game’s official forums that detailed Hinterland’s struggles and his displeasure with how things have gone.

“First of all — I want to say how sorry I am for the state of the Xbox and PS4 versions at launch, and the struggles we’ve had since then, to fix issues and get you patches in a timely manner. It is totally unacceptable that there are issues with crashing, and progress blockers in the game at launch.”

Luckily, most of the major issues seem to have been worked out, although players on the subreddit are still reporting game crashes and saved data being lost. The Long Dark is generally considered to be a very stable game, though, so it’s likely that these issues will be ironed out sooner rather than later.

TL;DR Games put extensive time into the story mode and survival, and we recently posted our full review of The Long Dark.

The Long Dark pits players against the wilderness in icy northern Canada amid unnaturally cold weather. After crash-landing, you're tasked with surviving the harsh realities of mother nature, fighting against the cold and wild animals as you hunt, fish, and just generally try to stay alive. In addition to its signature survival mode, The Long Dark offers episodic content where you have to make tough decisions that impact other characters.

Today, the developer released another update which completely overhauled Episode 1 and Episode 2 of the game. According to the company, 'This reflects over a year of effort to improve our Story Mode experience based on player feedback, and to strengthen the technical foundation of our game in anticipation of the remaining three episodes.' The patch represents thousands of fixes and improvements, as well as entirely new content.

• Narrative Presentation: There's a new diloague mode, the entire story is now experienced in first-person mode, and the dialogue is fully voiced and animated.
• Narrative Content: All dialogue has been rewritten and redone. Many of the supporting details have changed. There are new plot elements, new locations, a much more.
• Mission Structure: Previously there were several plot elements or side mission content missions that were prerequisites to progressing in the story. As much as possible, while maintaining a logical story flow, the team made the mission structure more flexible. Side content is truly optional now.
• Gameplay Improvements: Many mission objectives have been retuned to provide the right amount of challenge.

Hopefully these changes will improve the experience. It's great to see that the team went back to fix these grievances.

The Long Dark has been available on Xbox One for quite some time now, but a physical edition launched on September 4, 2018. Usually smaller Xbox One experiences don't get physical editions, but The Long Dark is a welcome exception. If you were holding out on playing it, or want to supplement your catalog with a disc, be sure to check it out on Amazon.

Keep an eye on WindowsCentral.com/Gaming for all the latest in Xbox and Windows 10 gaming, accessories, news, and reviews!

The Long Dark Patch

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