The Long Dark

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Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 25

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Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 25

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 25

A summary of the critical opinion for this game will be provided after release or a minimum of 15 reviews have been aggregated.

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Critic Reviews for The Long Dark

Reviews

High Score - 90/100

Low Score - 60/100

Bronze TIER

57% of scored reviews fell within the range of 80 to 86 / 100

James Swinbannks (GameSpot)

6/10

“Bugs and a rough story weaken what is, at its core, a great survival game.”

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Alyssa Hatmaker (Destructoid)

7.5/10

“While the story mode leaves something to be desired, the survival mechanics of The Long Dark’s sandbox make it worthwhile. We have three more episodes of Will’s journey to weave a wider story throughout the alternately unforgiving and inviting Canadian terrain. In the meantime, I’ll be sitting back with my coffee mug, reflecting on my own small stories within The Long Dark.”

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John Walker (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Recommended

“With a better, more involving path, this could have been really something. As it is, it’s the glorious The Long Dark with a reason for surviving, and that definitely proves enough.”

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**Read all 25 critic reviews on the desktop version of VSG.

Read the Reviews (25 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
CGMagazine	Brendan Quinn	8 / 10	09-22-2017	The Long Dark is the perfect survival game for Canadian kids who grew up with frozen toes and winter camping.	Read review
COGconnected	Jason Fanelli	90 / 100	08-16-2017	The Long Dark is a tense and harrowing experience both in Story and Survival modes.	Read review
ComiConverse	Alan Stock	Recommended	09-22-2017	The Long Dark is a triumph. At times it may feel a little grindy, but there's always a level of tension thanks to its finely tuned systems never letting you get complacent.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	Jimmy Donnellan	8.5 / 10	08-23-2017	The Long Dark is the perfect example of the kind of game you can make when you aren't rushed to release.	Read review
Destructoid	Alyssa Hatmaker	7.5 / 10	08-21-2017	While the story mode leaves something to be desired, the survival mechanics of The Long Dark's sandbox make it worthwhile. We have three more episodes of Will's journey to weave a wider story throughout the alternately unforgiving and inviting Canadian terrain. In the meantime, I'll be sitting back with my coffee mug, reflecting on my own small stories within The Long Dark.	Read review
Game Informer	Elise Favis	7.3 / 10	08-14-2017	The wilderness is satisfyingly unforgiving. The world is fun to explore, but story mode offers a lackluster narrative	Read review
GameSkinny	Sergey_3847	8 / 10	08-02-2017	The Long Dark has finally taken the shape of a real product with the introduction of the Story mode that keeps you motivated to survive and never give up.	Read review
GameSpot	James Swinbanks	6 / 10	08-16-2017	Bugs and a rough story weaken what is, at its core, a great survival game.	Read review
GamingTrend	T.K. Hale	85 / 100	11-12-2019	The Long Dark is an amazing spectacle of narrative brilliance and survival. The twists and unexpected turns of the story are complemented by the survival mechanics that are challenging and thought provoking. The Survival Mode gives players a sandbox to play in, and allows them to play and survive how they see fit. With the story being released in episodic expansions, there's always a reason to come back and play.	Read review
God is a Geek	Dan Murphy	8.5 / 10	08-16-2017	In a genre which is suffocating, The Long Dark stands out among the crowd as perhaps the best. Brutal, unforgiving survival wrapped up in a very plausible scenario where beauty kills.	Read review
GRYOnline.pl	Jakub Mirowski	8.5 / 10	08-06-2017	Many gamers will bounce off of The Long Dark – it is extremely difficult and makes you remember about very basic stuff. The final version of the game offers a mediocre story mode and features some boring repetitiveness but overall quality is great – fans of slow exploration and learning will love it.	Read review
IGN Spain	Juan García	7.7 / 10	08-10-2017	A good survival experience that could have been even better with a little more polish on its console versions.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	GameCentral	7 / 10	08-14-2017	A pleasingly complex and realistic survival simulator, accompanied by a story mode that so far fails to be anywhere near as compelling.	Read review
Niche Gamer	Cody Long	8 / 10	01-28-2019	The Long Dark, with its slow-paced survival focus and pensive atmosphere, isn’t going to appeal to everyone. For those looking for more of an action-oriented survival sim, I can’t recommend TLD. However, if rummaging around the quiet apocalypse while at the mercy of mother nature sounds like fun to you, you’ll probably have a good experience with this game.	Read review
PC Gamer	Andy Kelly	85 / 100	08-04-2017	Deep, brutal, and hauntingly atmospheric, The Long Dark is a survival game done right.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	Neil Bolt	9 / 10	08-07-2017	A thoroughly thoughtful re-imagining of The Long Dark which tightens everything up deftly, The Long Dark is making grizzly-sized strides in its evolution and is essential for fans of taut, survival adventures.	Read review
Post Arcade (National Post)	Chad Sapieha	8.5 / 10	08-04-2017	After nearly three years surviving in alpha, The Long Dark has finally launched its long-awaited story mode, and it's worth playing	Read review
PSX Brasil	Bruno Henrique Vinhadel	82 / 100	08-22-2017	Surviving is difficult and for every mistake you make you are going to be punished. The Long Dark shows this the right way with an exellent gameplay, although some technical issues can get in the way sometimes. The campaign mode has its problems, but since the game is based on episodes, it can be improved and the game's whole mystery encourages you to follow its story.	Read review
Push Square	Graham Banas	8 / 10	08-05-2017	The Long Dark is a strong survival title, possibly even the strongest of the entire genre. A beautiful, but dangerous Canadian wilderness provides the backdrop to a challenging, but largely satisfying fight for survival. While micromanaging every facet of your well-being while trying to survive might sound tedious in description, it actually ends up being fun, satisfying, and even tense. With three more episodes to come for this title's story mode, there's already tons of content to chow down on. Just watch out for the wolves.	Read review
Rock, Paper, Shotgun	John Walker	Recommended	08-01-2017	With a better, more involving path, this could have been really something. As it is, it's the glorious The Long Dark with a reason for surviving, and that definitely proves enough.	Read review
SomHráč.sk	Adam Hambálek	90 / 100	08-18-2017	The Long Dark is a very ambitious survival title that ages like wine. The older it is, the better it is. The fans of the survival genre should be thrilled and the casual players won't be disappointed either.	Read review
TheSixthAxis	Tuffcub	6 / 10	08-09-2017	I really, really, wanted to love The Long Dark, but a myriad of poor design choices and bugs teamed with a complete lack of instruction made it one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. You can pick some objects up, but not others, you can smash a crate to bits for firewood, but not a table, and none of this makes any sense. If you were freezing death, you'd burn the frigging table! Survival mode is by far the best way to experience the game offering some gorgeous views and real sense of achievement when you make things nice and cosy, it's just a shame that Story mode is so poorly thought out.	Read review
TheXboxHub	Gareth Brierley	4 / 5 stars	08-16-2017	I would highly recommend giving The Long Dark a go, especially if you’re after something different and love the idea of a survival sim with an interesting story.	Read review
Thumbsticks	Callum Williams	3.5 / 5 stars	01-09-2019	The Long Dark is by no means perfect, but what it lacks in finesse it makes up for in attention to detail. The survival is tough but addictive, coming with a vast array of supplies to find and stats to manage, while the challenge mode and story accommodate players with different levels of experience and ability. It’s got a lot of ground to cover in patches and updates, but there’s still a mighty fine game underneath its shortcomings.	Read review
Use a Potion	Daryl Leach	8 / 10	08-29-2017	I’ve played plenty of the different survival games that are available at the moment, yet it’s The Long Dark that has hooked me in the most. The desolate wintery setting just appealed to me from the get go, whilst the tense ‘risk vs reward’ gameplay kept me entertained from start to end. Plus, I can always appreciate a story mode in a game like this – even if it’s not quite finished it…	Read review

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Game Info

Game Description / Storyline:

How Far Will You Go to Survive? Imagine the lights go out, never to return. Bright aurora flare across the sky, and all humanity’s technological might is laid to waste, neutralized in a kind of quiet apocalypse. Everything that has shielded humanity from the disinterested power of Mother Nature is suddenly wrenched from us, dropping us a few links down the food chain. Food and water are scarce. The roads are no longer safe. And winter approaches… Welcome to The Long Dark —an immersive survival simulation set in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. Experience a unique first-person survival simulation that will force you to think and push you to your limits with its thought-provoking gameplay and mature storytelling.

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