TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART FIVE is here!!!

[Raphael van Lierop]

 

Greetings, players.

We have just updated THE LONG DARK to version 2.28, Build 136607.

This update includes Part Five of TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, “Last Horizon”, as well as a free update to the base Survival Mode for THE LONG DARK. It also includes a series of bug fixes.

For a detailed breakdown of all the new features added to TALES in Part Five, or the new free additions added to Survival Mode, please watch the update video below:

https://youtu.be/3yVbrJnXbWI

Paid Expansion Pass Content

NEW REGION! SUNDERED PASS

Accessed from the Zone of Contamination, Sundered Pass is a dramatically vertical region that reaches deeply into the spine of the Far Territory, showcasing some of the mountainous terrain that separates this area from the rest of Great Bear Island. Seek out the abandoned Weather Station near the summit!

THE THIRD TALE: LAST HORIZON

Picking up from Buried Echoes, Last Horizon delivers the third and final Tale, a trilogy of stories started with Signal Void. Follow the clues leading from the Zone of Contamination, deep into the heart of Sundered Pass, hunting for answers to the story of Rüdiger and the weird experiments he spearheaded in the dark depths of the Far Territory.

NEW WILDLIFE! THE COUGAR

Keep an eye open for this dangerous new threat. Territorial, silent, and deadly. If you aren’t paying attention, the first time you see the Cougar might be your last. 

NEW TOOLS! COUGAR CLAW KNIFE & COUGAR-HIDE WRAP

If you survive encounters with the Cougar you might end up with the raw materials you need to craft these two new Cougar-themed gear items. 

NEW CLOTHING! TACTICAL JACKET & TACTICAL GLOVES

Rare and especially tough clothing items unlocked by completing the Last Horizon tale.

NEW FEATS! SETTLED MIND & CELESTIAL NAVIGATOR

Unlocked by completing Last Horizon, these feats provide unique gameplay benefits.

Free Updates to Survival Mode

MISERY MODE

The first new experience mode added to THE LONG DARK since 2016’s Interloper. Misery ratchets up the difficulty of Interloper even further, adds the Cougar and Scurvy to the mix, and over fixed intervals introduces a series of six entirely new and incredibly punishing afflictions. Experience the five stages of Misery in the most challenging experience mode yet!

CHEAT DEATH SYSTEM

The first change to THE LONG DARK’s save system since launching in 2014. Upon death, be tempted to continue playing but not without accepting intriguing penalties that stack with each subsequent death. Adds an optional gameplay twist and a player choice to the experience of death and failure. And if you want to play using permadeath as usual, just resist the temptation to Cheat Death!

***

Summary & Reporting Issues

If you encounter issues with the game, please report them to our Support Portal at hinterlandgames.com/support.

If you would like to provide feedback or discuss your experiences with the game with the development team or other players, please post your feedback in the Official Forums: hinterlandforums.com/forums. 

If you encounter a crash or issue with the game post-updating, please contact us as we can often help players address their issues, and we always strive to! This is more productive than jumping to post a negative review.

Please remember that Hinterland is a small independent developer. Our Support Team strives to respond to all reports as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine, releases are our busiest time. We appreciate your patience, and please know the team is looking into your issues and we will resolve them as soon as we can. Unfortunately, we are not able to follow-up with every individual report that is submitted. But we appreciate them all.

Thank you for reading, and many thanks for your support!

###

RELEASE NOTES

Known Issues

The team is currently aware of the following issues in the game. If you encounter one of these issues, there is no need to report it to the Support Portal. Fixes for these issues are slated to go out with the first Hotfix following the initial release.

* The Travois can rarely fall beneath terrain after transitioning back to where a player left it.
* The final affliction of the Misery Experience mode will not be applied when the player reaches their 46th day in Survival.
* Rarely, players may lose control of their camera after choosing to Cheat Death and respawning. Reloading the save will resolve this issue.
* Players can become stuck in the final location for Tale 3, if they choose to quit and reload in that location.
* In some Regions, when attacked by the Cougar, no sound effects will be played.
* Picking up the Teardrop Vista Polaroid, no associated Vista location is revealed on the map.
* Player’s save file will be changed to a generic name after using the Cheat Death feature.
* When in a Cougar occupied Zone of Contamination, the player will experience no Cougar attacks.

Bug Fixes

This Major Update includes fixes for the following issues:

CRASHES

* Fixed an issue which could result in the player hanging on a black screen if they began a new Survival game too quickly after dying.

GAMEPLAY, UI, CONTROLS

* Added a new assignable hotkey to open the Cooking tab. (Default 'G')
* Adjusted the Ptarmigan meat interaction to be more accurate to the visible object.
* Fixed an issue where Poisoned Wolves would not leave footprints in the snow.
* Fixed an issue in Zone of Contamination where some areas which cause Chemical Poisoning visual effects would not increase the associated Affliction Risk.
* Fixed an issue in Ravine where animals could spawn in incorrect locations.
* Fixed an issue in Timberwolf Mountain where Bears could spawn beneath the terrain.
* Fixed an issue where some kitchen cupboards were mislabelled as drawers.
* Fixed an issue where harvesting a frozen quartered Wildlife with a lit light source would result in that light source being stowed while still lit.
* Fixed an issue in Forlorn Muskeg near the High Blind which resulted in a corpse that could not be searched.
* Fixed an issue which caused potatoes to stop cooking inside Foreman's Retreat when the player exited this location.
* Fixed an issue which could prevent Ptarmigan from spawning in specific locations in Mystery Lake.
* Fixed an issue where cups would not drop to the ground after breaking down a table in the Airfield Hangar.

ART & ENVIRONMENTS

* Fixed an issue in WINTERMUTE Episode 4 which caused a cliff face to disappear when viewed from a specific distance in the Blackrock Region.
* Added more detail to the interior of all helicopters.
* Fixed multiple issues in the Langston Mine where objects and environment intersected each other incorrectly.
* Fixed an issue in Desolation Point where a tree intersected a nearby cliff.
* Fixed an issue which caused a visual strobing effect on exterior light sources from within the Forgotten Exploration tunnel.
* Fixed multiple item placement issues in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed multiple issues which could result in a player becoming stuck in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed an issue which resulted in a visually flat rope in the Forsaken Airfield - Zone of Contamination transition cave.
* Fixed an issue which caused a floating Fuse in the Maintenance Shed.

ANIMATION

* Fixed an issue which caused the Survivor's arm to jolt during the Crank animation in an elevator.

PLATFORM-SPECIFIC

* Fixed an issue where Steam controllers would continue to function if the "Enable Gamepad" Steam setting was disabled.

### END OF RELEASE NOTES ###
 

[stratvox]

W00t!

[ManicManiac]

Thank you, Hinterland!

[artmunki]

WOOPWOOP!  ^____^

[ProsPex]

YAY!!!

[Looper]

well done!

[Leeanda]

Thank you for all the hard work .looks awesome💗😊

[Amir]

Thanks for the update! So if I kill the cougar there will never be another cougar?!

[stratvox]

Just watched the video, and looks good. Looking forward to checking this out tonight! Thanks to all of you folks at Hinterland.

[ManicManiac]

@Amir

I believe it was mentioned in the update video that if the Cougar is killed or the den is destroyed... a cougar will eventually again establish territory and start stalking.

(if anyone has any better information, please let us know)

Edited June 24 by ManicManiac

[Luca Loquax]

16 minutes ago, stratvox said:

W00t!

I see your 'w00t' and raise you a 'm00f' !

[artmunki]

Epic is busy updating as I type - so very close!

also ...

2 minutes ago, Amir said:

Thanks for the update! So if I kill the cougar there will never be another cougar?!

From what's been said, the cougar will respawn like any other critter. If you take out their nest it'll take longer to respawn, but it'll still be back. And with this announcement we now know what you'll be able to craft from the cougar, and I'm wondering if it might take more than one cougar to make the knife.

Just about to find out tho, I guess - I'm going in! 

[Leeanda]

2 minutes ago, ProsPex said:

Downloaded and the update. Episode 5 still shows as locked. Did I miss something?

Episode 5 isn't coming out til later this year...  This is part 5 of the tales expansion.

[Pyroxene]

I can't see the update ... I live in Sweden.

[Hazelnut]

So it sounds like the only way to hunt a Cougar is for it to hunt you & pounce.. you need to take the beating and survive, with the hope you can shoot it as it skulks away. Is that correct? Kinda cool, but I really hope it's possible to kill with just a bow.

Going to need some spare clothing for after I reckon! 🙂

 

Thanks for the update Hinterland.

[Luca Loquax]

ITS HERE!  I can't believe its actually here!

Look!  I'm happy-dancing!

 

...I bet cougar tastes great with tobasco !

[ManicManiac]

I know I'd posed this in another thread a couple of hours ago, but I think it bears repeating and worth a mention here as well...
I would like to remind folks that we may still need to be patient.

The update is coming by way of several different platforms that each seem to have their own unique timeframe between when an update is released and when those individual platforms are able to deliver that to their various customers (that Hinterland probably doesn't have much control over).

Those of us who have been around awhile may remember that Steam is usually pretty quick (but sometimes Steam does lag a bit behind)...  Xbox and Epic can sometimes take a while longer and can lag behind Steam...  GoG can sometimes take days (or longer)...
***To be clear, this is just what we (folks in the community) have seen play out in the past***

So again, I know we are all excited... but I do also very much urge patience.

Hang in there survivors, it's going to be alright. 

Edited June 24 by ManicManiac

[Leeanda]

Xbox UK just finished updating...  Can't play til morning so I'm going to sleep very early😁

[Pyroxene]

Downloading!

[ManicManiac]

@artmunki
@Luca Loquax
@Pyroxene

Edited June 24 by ManicManiac

[Luca Loquax]

Raph and Devs have been nothing but A.W.E.S.O.M.E. for us all of these years.

100% if they need a little slack to make this work they have our complete support.

[Ghurcb]

Just started a new Survival game on Misery. The longest I survived on Interloper is 1 day. I'm sure it's going to be a fun and lasting experience.

[Sherri]

This is really really impressive! 

- New region looks awesome! I wonder how to get to it? Via ZoC or back to Transfer Pass? [EDIT - I see in the notes you go through ZoC] I cannot wait to explore it.

- While I don't play Interloper+ difficulties --- wow Misery looks like an incredible treat for hardcore players. I hope this finally silences the whingeing about Interloper players being overlooked. Misery looks absolutely incredible. I can't wait to see some of the community's best players tackle this and post videos. 😆

- The cougar looks like it was really planned out well. I appreciate being able to disable it so that my current save that I'm painstakingly getting through Tales with won't be at risk... but I look forward to trying it in my next save. Scary!

- I think the concerns about the Cheat Death feature have been more than addressed. Not only does it look like it will still come with an array of punishing consequences (can you imagine choosing to respawn in a far but "safe" location - only to land in a zone you fully stripped of resources? Aaaah!).... but it might be optional in a future release. Really people can't ask for more - fantastic! I will definitely be happy to have that option.

- Nice to see the note about the big TLD streamers helping to play-test this. We're in good hands. 😁

 

It's really pretty mind-blowing how far this game has grown beyond its original plans. It's really like we were promised a cupcake and Hinterland has delivered a 5 tier wedding cake. When Episode 5 lands and puts that final cherry on top... it will be the cap on a masterpiece.

I'm really thankful I bought this game all those years ago on a whim. It's been a awe inspiring journey.

Hats off to the Hinterland team! I hope everyone gets some rest this summer!

 

Edited June 24 by Sherri
Changed 'will be optional' to might.

[Sherri]

34 minutes ago, Hazelnut said:

So it sounds like the only way to hunt a Cougar is for it to hunt you & pounce.. you need to take the beating and survive, with the hope you can shoot it as it skulks away. Is that correct? Kinda cool, but I really hope it's possible to kill with just a bow.

 

I hope there's a chance to spot it before it pounces and shoot at it. Otherwise why bother looking around? You might as well just trek on and ignore it until it hits you.

[Semple Fi]

3 minutes ago, Sherri said:

While I don't play Interloper+ difficulties --- wow Misery looks like an incredible treat for hardcore players.

It looks like all the ideas from the thread “useless things that would still make sense” 😂😂😂

 I’m pretty sure I remember depression and RA being mentioned in that….