November 2023 Dev Diary

[Admin]

Hello Survivors,

We’re nearly finished with Part Four of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, the paid Expansion Pass DLC for Survival Mode, so I thought you might be curious to know a bit more about what’s being added in this new part, launching early December.

As outlined in my September Dev Diary, Part Four — which will be called BURIED ECHOES — includes the next new region in the Far Territory: the Zone of Contamination. 

The old Langston Mine lies at the heart of the Zone of Contamination, industrial pollution from decades-old mining operations leaving it a poisoned wasteland patrolled by toxic wolves, featuring large industrial remnants and hiding many hazards, and mysteries! At its heart, an open-pit mine scars the landscape, and deep inside its twisting tunnels — if you survive the poisoned gas — sits a room that holds many secrets. The Zone of Contamination is the second of three large regions that make up the Far Territory, and we’re excited to see how you find it pairs up with the Forsaken Airfield, which we launched in Part One.

The Zone of Contamination, coming in TALES, Part Four.

To go along with the Mine theme, we’ve included a variety of new and useful gameplay tools: a Respirator, which when worn will protect you from poisoned gas you might find in the Zone of Contamination, and eventually, other parts of the Far Territory and Great Bear Island at large. The Respirator relies on consumable Canisters to provide its protection, so keep an eye open for those as you explore the Far Territory. We’re also adding Chemical Boots, which can protect you from the toxic pools that pollute the Zone of Contamination (these pools are really hard on regular footwear!), and a Hardhat that offers strong physical protection against head damage. There’s also a Miner’s Coat and Miner’s Pants, which make up a whole set of protective gear, if you manage to find them all. 

And while exploring the Zone of Contamination, make sure you keep an eye out for the Poisoned Wolves that patrol the area. They are leaner than regular wolves, and more desperate. Living around the toxic pools have left them poisoned themselves, and without much to eat, so they are more dangerous than usual. Their bite can leave you with the new Poisoned affliction, so be extra careful when exploring the Zone of Contamination.

The Langston Mine sits at the heart of the Zone of Contamination, and hides many secrets.

Within the Zone of Contamination, you’ll also be able to start the second Tale: Buried Echoes. A continuation of Signal Void which we introduced in Part Two, Buried Echoes adds another layer of mystery to the story of the mine workers, the Security Chief, and the enigmatic Rüdiger. Buried Echoes presents a story that goes in a somewhat unusual direction for THE LONG DARK, and we’re excited to see what you think. The Tale and the new region also feature new music, which all add to the atmosphere of Part Four. And, as with Signal Void, there’s a special gameplay reward to be gained for completing Buried Echoes. You’ll first have to get there to see what it is. (And don’t worry, the Tale will be available in Interloper experience mode.)

The Travois, coming in TALES, Part Four.

Beyond the Zone of Contamination and Buried Echoes, Part Four also adds a significant new gameplay tool: the Travois. A craftable, movable container, the Travois is constructed from Saplings and other materials, and allows you to drag a large amount of extra gear around with you. But keep in mind, you will make some compromises to movement speed while dragging the Travois, and you can’t take it everywhere! And depending on what you choose to load it up with, it can be a very effective wildlife attractant, so be careful to stop and look around once in a while, lest a pack of hungry wolves or a bear sneaks up on you. It’s the perfect tool for moving large amounts of gear and items from one location to another, when stocking up a new safehouse or supply cache, or moving your main base of operations to a new region. 

As always, we don’t want players who opted not to purchase TALES to feel left out, so we’ve also included some meaningful free updates to the “base” Survival game, which will be available to everyone who owns THE LONG DARK or SURVIVAL EDITION.

As we shared in the September Dev Diary, we’ve finally managed to find a good way to add hand coverings in the game. Now, what you see on your hands will reflect what you have equipped in your hand slots in the Clothing Menu. Same for the lower sleeves of whatever you are wearing on your arms. We’ve updated some animations so that they work better with things like Mittens. We’re very happy with how this has turned out, and we feel it brings a whole new level of immersion to THE LONG DARK. We hope you agree when you get the chance to try them out.

We’ve also added a whole new series of first-person Harvesting Animations. Now, when you choose to Harvest a carcass for meat or other resources, you will see your hands involved with the harvesting action, as well as the tool you have chosen to harvest with. It’s another way that we’re trying to always enhance the sense of immersion in THE LONG DARK for our players.

You will also have the opportunity to use the new Insulated Flasks, which let you store and keep liquids warm for longer. Perfect for when you want to stack some Warmth buffs for those long treks across the frozen wilderness. The Flasks come in a variety of colours and patterns, so keep your eyes open for them as you move through the world. 

And finally, we’ve added a new Scurvy affliction to the game. Certain foods will now provide you with Vitamin-C, and if you don’t consume enough of them over time, you can develop Scurvy Risk and then eventually Scurvy. It’s a horrible thing to contend with. Definitely something to keep an eye on for those longer-running games.

That mainly sums up the focus of Part Four of TALES, and we think it’s a great way to end the year for THE LONG DARK.

The last note I want to make is about the recent Hinterland Pop-Up Merch Store. As many of you know, we closed our store in 2021 because of COVID, and due to overwhelming requests from the community, we decided to open it up just to clear out our “old” inventory in time for the holidays. We didn’t really anticipate the demand, and the Pop-Up shop -- which we had planned to run for 3 weeks -- sold out over 1300 items in less than three hours!

Our original plan was to use this to clear our stock to make room for a whole new line of merch items in the new year, but we know many of you didn’t get the opportunity to purchase a Hinterland mug, or a Jackrabbit hoodie, or one of the fantastic Granted x Hinterland sweaters. So we’re looking at restocking as much as we can for the new year, and our current plan is to sell many of these items along with the new items we’ll be launching in the new year. So if you missed out this time, you’ll have at least one more opportunity to purchase some of this classic Hinterland or THE LONG DARK merch. If you want to be kept up to date on these sales, we recommend signing up for the Hinterland newsletter.

 That about wraps up the November dev diary. Keep your eyes open for the release of BURIED ECHOES and the free Survival Update that comes at the same time, early in December. You can expect a full narrated update video to launch with Part Four, which will go into more detail about each of the new additions to the game.

Stay warm out there.

Raphael

[ManicManiac]

Thank you, Hinterland!

[Lumiiyx]

This is amazing, I can't wait for the new gameplay and region. It all looks exciting.

[Leeanda]

Yay..not long to wait. 

Thank you ,you're all awesome😊

[Luca Loquax]

Like WOW and stuff !

[Sherri]

Wow.

Lots of goodies in this one. Looks like there is something for everyone.

• New convenience tools and equipment
• New risks and afflictions
• Immersion improvements with the hand coverings and harvest animations
• New survival elements to balance (goodbye all-meat diet!)
• A new map
• One hell of a tough new environmental challenge.

Not gonna lie, the description of the toxic pools and gas caused some nervous goosebumps to break out!

---

I'm curious how the scurvy affliction will affect the long game. When all the plants have been harvested and eaten, and the only renewable source of food is meat... what then? That will be tough. Might have to ration those rosehips and can goods for later!

Edited November 10, 2023 by Sherri

[Sherri]

Time to add powdered Tang to the game! 😆

[xanna]

[UpUpAway95]

Very nice!!! Looking forward to it.

[Danillo]

\o/

[ManicManiac]

12 minutes ago, Wolfi01 said:

Why Hinterland ignores us so?

...It's probably much more likely that it's an issue with Nintendo...

I don't think it's really fair to be so quick to try and throw stones at Hinterland... especially since it's unlikely that you know the behind-the-scenes issues they are probably having to deal with from Nintendo and their "certification process" and "patch approval process."

I don't claim to know either, but I find it unlikely that Hinterland would intentionally neglect a platform they've put the time and effort to port it over to.

Edited November 10, 2023 by ManicManiac

[CREEPERFAN27]

Damn scurvy I hope they add pirate clothes cuz I will live with scurvy with pride dammit!! (Really cool new infliction btw)

[StrayCat]

I so hope the new shop will include the WOOL TOQUE !! (+ lots of hinterland mugs obv)

New region, new hazards, travois, harvesting animations, hand coverings... There won't be much left to wish for Santa !!

[piddy3825]

It is so exciting to see some of things that have been on my Wishlist for years finally coming to life!  
So looking forward to getting scurvy after having lived on an all-meat diet for the last eight years!

[Smellyfries]

Amazing! Cannot wait!

[Edsel]

@Admin will there be a nintendo switch update this time?

[Admin]

2 minutes ago, Edsel said:

@Admin will there be a nintendo switch update this time?

While there is no new information to share at this time, we hope to share more information on Switch in the future. 

[Raphael van Lierop]

Re: Switch -- we haven't forgotten about it, we just don't have anything definite to share re: release dates for TALES on Switch. When we have certainty around the date, we'll share more info.

To clarify a point above -- the delays in this case are not due to anything on the Nintendo side (well, apart from making a console that's more challenging to get content on 😅). When we have news to share, we'll post it either along with a Dev Diary or in its own stand-alone communication.

[RossBondReturns]

Oh my God! This is utterly unexpected and amazing!

WOW!

Closing in on 6,000 hours on steam and still new stuff being added to make the survival even more amazing!

 

Thank you Hinterland!

[odium]

this may be an unpopular opinion here but i dont like the direction of this update.  i think we suspend belief quite enough already with aurora wolves etc.  now we have zombie poison wolves and specific gear to only combat that?  i was hoping this would go a more primitive direction that the game built its success on.  more crafting options and bush craft.  the graphical stuff sounds great but this update further alienates a 2015 player 

Edited November 11, 2023 by odium

[RossBondReturns]

8 minutes ago, odium said:

this may be an unpopular opinion here but i dont like the direction of this update.  i think we suspend belief quite enough already with aurora wolves etc.  now we have zombie poison wolves and specific gear to only combat that?  i was hoping this would go a more primitive direction that the game built its success on.  more crafting options and bush craft.  the graphical stuff sounds great but this update further alienates a 2015 player 

Erm...I'm a 2015 player...and I'm all in thank you very much.

2015-16 is when I started playing...and I'm loving the new elements just as much as the old. Can't wait to explore the Zone of Contamination.

However I also understand your position and can see why you're disappointed in the upcoming Tales December Release Direction.

I hope you give it a fair shake.

Edited November 11, 2023 by RossBondReturns
Spelling

[odium]

9 minutes ago, RossBondReturns said:

Erm...I'm a 2015 player...and I'm all in thank you very much.

2015-16 is when I started playing...and I'm loving the new elements just as much as the old. Can't wait to explore the Zone of Contamination.

However I also understand your position and can see why you're disappointed in the upcoming Tales December Release Direction.

I hope you give it a fair shake.

we dont all have to agree based on when we started playing.  my point was, the game that i fell in love with 8+ years ago is really veering away from what made it successful. 

 

i have no intention to stop playing but the newer regions and content hasnt hit home for me.  the glimmer fog is another example.  to me its cheesy contrived difficulty.  i prefer to be challeged by scarcity, weather and other realistic natural challenged

Edited November 11, 2023 by odium

[Africanboi7]

Yeah!!! I'm so excited. So many things to look forward to and explore. 

[RossBondReturns]

32 minutes ago, odium said:

we dont all have to agree based on when we started playing.  my point was, the game that i fell in love with 8+ years ago is really veering away from what made it successful. 

 

i have no intention to stop playing but the newer regions and content hasnt hit home for me.  the glimmer fog is another example.  to me its cheesy contrived difficulty.  i prefer to be challeged by scarcity, weather and other realistic natural challenged

Oh I can understand that loud and clear.

But this is Hinterland's story to tell. And I have learned to trust them with that story. Signal Void had me hooked and I can't wait for it to continue.

Just to be even clearer, I don't think anyone foresaw this when an Industrial Mine region was announced as one of the three. However I don't write things off just because they don't fit my pre-conceived ideas, I play them first to get a feel for them. Glimmer fog is not even truly difficult once you're good with navigation, but I love how the world looks in the glimmer fog around the airfield.

To be honest, this new region will probably take more getting used to for me, but I'm excited to got there, survive there and see how it shakes out.

[Sherri]

53 minutes ago, odium said:

this may be an unpopular opinion here but i dont like the direction of this update.  i think we suspend belief quite enough already with aurora wolves etc.  now we have zombie poison wolves and specific gear to only combat that?  i was hoping this would go a more primitive direction that the game built its success on.  more crafting options and bush craft.  the graphical stuff sounds great but this update further alienates a 2015 player 

I can kinda see what you're saying. But with the game being one of (if not THE) biggest open world maps in all of gaming... the nice thing is that there is plenty of map to explore and it's pretty easy to stay away from the Far Territories if the new environmental challenges aren't for you. Even the transition regions like the Branch Line/Transfer Pass are new maps that are more 'traditional'.

So while I'm a bit hesitant about poison pools and wolves... it's something new that I'll definitely give a try... and it's more variety which can only be a good thing. There's only so much snowy fields, forests, rocky mountains and cabins that you can cram into a game. It's nice to try some new things, and anyone who isn't keen can just stay away. 

Either way, love the new maps or not... you're still getting a ton of new content, equipment, mechanics, etc... not just a map. I really don't see how anyone can fault this update - it's a smorgasbord of goodies for everyone.