PCGame

The Long Dark

First-person survival sandbox against cold, hunger, and wildlife

Hinterland Studio Inc. · Released Aug 1, 2017

AdventureIndieSimulationStrategy

Reviews trending down: 79% positive in the last 30 days vs 89% overall

Reviews
Very Positive
89% of 120K
Recent reviews
Mostly Positive
79% of 836 in 30 days
Players
3,143
daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
Steam Deck
Verified
Last update on Steam
1 day ago
Nov 5, 2026
Minimum PC
4xxx Series w
4 GB RAM · 7 GB disk
Full requirements

What is The Long Dark?

The Long Dark is a first-person, single-player survival game set in the frozen Northern Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic disaster. Its open-world Survival Mode has you explore, scavenge, craft, and manage hunger, thirst, fatigue, and cold, with your save deleted on death. A separate narrative mode, WINTERMUTE, tells an episodic story.

For you if...

  • +you prefer slow, methodical survival and careful resource planning
  • +you enjoy quiet exploration in an isolated winter setting
  • +you want a permadeath sandbox built around natural threats

Not for you if...

  • −you dislike losing your survival save when you die
  • −you want fast-paced action or frequent combat
  • −you prioritize story over open-ended survival

What players say

89% of 120,057 reviews are positive · 79% of 836 in the last 30 days

Players most often praise Survival Mode's quiet isolation, harsh atmosphere, exploration, and demand for careful planning. Recent complaints focus on WINTERMUTE's final episode, especially its writing, long unskippable dialogue and cutscenes, and reported softlocks or broken mechanics.

Players over time

▲ +61% vs a month ago

Players online on Steam, one sample a day.

Highest since Sep 2026: 3,704 players on Nov 1, 2026.

Show the data
DayPlayers
Nov 7, 20263,143
Nov 6, 20262,685
Nov 5, 20262,529
Nov 4, 20262,809
Nov 3, 20262,941
Nov 2, 20263,092
Nov 1, 20263,704
Oct 31, 20263,487
Oct 30, 20263,007
Oct 29, 20263,086
Oct 28, 20263,393
Oct 27, 20262,356
Oct 26, 20262,481
Oct 25, 20262,787
Oct 24, 20262,422
Oct 23, 20262,295
Oct 22, 20262,204
Oct 21, 20262,241
Oct 20, 20262,345
Oct 19, 20262,601
Oct 18, 20262,879
Oct 17, 20262,732
Oct 16, 20262,349
Oct 15, 20262,331
Oct 14, 20262,452
Oct 13, 20262,613
Oct 12, 20262,862
Oct 11, 20262,926
Oct 10, 20262,338
Oct 9, 20261,934
Oct 8, 20261,510
Oct 7, 20261,658
Oct 6, 20261,722
Oct 5, 20261,855
Oct 4, 20261,949
Oct 3, 20261,849
Oct 2, 20261,643
Oct 1, 20261,689
Sep 30, 20261,656
Sep 29, 20261,743
Sep 28, 20261,839
Sep 27, 20262,039
Sep 26, 20261,856
Sep 25, 20261,697
Sep 24, 20261,675
Sep 23, 20261,894
Sep 23, 20261,678
Sep 22, 20261,736
Sep 21, 20262,829

How many players finish The Long Dark?

0.8% of Steam players have unlocked «Wild At Heart», the achievement for finishing the main story.

Share of everyone who owns the game on Steam, including those who barely played it. Updated weekly.

Screenshots and trailer

The Long Dark screenshot 1

The Long Dark system requirements

Minimum: 4xxx Series w, 4 GB RAM, 7 GB of disk space.

As published by the developer.

Can my PC run The Long Dark?

Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.

Set up my PC →

Minimum

OS
Windows 8
Processor
Dual-Core Intel i5 CPU @ 2GHz+
Graphics
Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better
Memory
4 GB RAM
Storage
7 GB available space

Recommended

OS
Windows 10
Processor
Intel i7 CPU @ 2.6GHz or higher
Graphics
nVidia GTX 555 w/ 1GB VRAM or better
Memory
8 GB RAM
Storage
7 GB available space

Does The Long Dark have co-op or multiplayer?

No: single-player only, no multiplayer modes declared.

Does The Long Dark run on Steam Deck?

Verified Yes, Verified by Valve: it works on Steam Deck out of the box.

  • All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
  • Shows Steam Deck controller icons
  • In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
  • Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck

PC version details

DRM
None declared on Steam
Controller
Full controller support
Platforms
Windows, macOS, Linux
Achievements
87
Steam features
Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
Languages
Full audio: English. Text only: German, Russian, French, Spanish - Spain, Finnish, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese - Portugal, Simplified Chinese, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese - Brazil, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Ukrainian.

Does The Long Dark use AI-generated content?

No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.

Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Nov 6, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam

Tags

Recent updates

5 DLC available.

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