The fabulous survival-adventure game The Long Dark is soon getting its third story episode. Developer Hinterland Studio took to Steam Community Forum and announced the good news that Episode 3 is planned to release this December.
We’ll be teasing out more Episode Three details in the months ahead, but as a reminder: in Episode Three, you’ll play as Dr. Astrid Greenwood, and the story picks up in the aftermath of the events of Milton, as experienced from Mackenzie’s point of view in Episode One. You’ll meet new survivors, explore a new region, and find out more about the events prior to, and after, the First Flare event that engulfed Great Bear Island — and perhaps the rest of the world — into “the long dark”. – Hinterland Studio
The indie developers have been hard at work not only at the new Episode but also at a Redux version of the earlier two episodes which will be released alongside Episode 3 this winter. The extensive changes in the Redux edition are so vast that players won’t be able to resume their old save progress and will have to start fresh. Here are some of the changes in the upcoming Redux versions of Episode 1 & 2:
- More open and flexible mission structure, reducing the forced linearity of the story missions; this includes restructuring the side missions and making more of the content optional
- Whole new playable intro sequence for Episode One* All NPC dialogue is now fully voiced and animated using an entirely new animation system
- All dialogue and narrative scenes are now presented in first-person, using an overhauled dialogue UI
- New major story elements in both Episodes, including a new NPC
- Although the high-level episode story arcs remain as before, almost every story beat, dialogue moment, and mission element has been improved, with about 80% of the dialogue rewritten to accommodate
- Removed the Trust system as it contributed to the “fetch questy” feeling of the first two episodes (we plan to repurpose this system for elsewhere in the game)
- Completely overhauled Bear Hunt mission and added new gameplay (Episode Two)
- Improved tutorial presentation
- Improved story UI elements
Pretty impressive overhaul of what is already one of the best survival games currently available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The great success Hinterland Studio has been having with The Long Dark even made it possible for the indie studio to release their game physically for the PS4 and Xbox One. A great feat for any self-published title.
The Canadian game studio partnered up with Skybound Games and going to release The Long Dark across stores on September 4th. The physical version includes a downloadable soundtrack and a printed Field Journal with a game map. You can pre-order the physical version of The Long Dark right now over at the Skybound Shop.
