The Long Dark

Yes, this is the best survival game ever made (and I've tried them all). Here's why...
It's realistic, hard, and takes very many factors into account. You're in the middle of the Canadian snowy wilderness with nothing but your clothes. You have only one life, and all you have to do is stay alive. That simple. But not really. You can freeze to death, starve to death, die of blood loss, frostbite, hypothermia, food poisoning, dysentery, intestinal parasites, fire, electrocution, infection, falling from high distances, wolves, bears, moose attacks...
These threats are not much of a problem when dealing with them one at a time, but combos of them will be a huge problem. But the thing that really kills you the most... miscalculation. You can make a simple mistake such as get greedy and carry too much weight that will slow you down and fatigue you faster, then get caught in fog or sudden blizzard that will either get you lost, make you freeze to death, or get attacked by some wildlife you can't see or even run from, or carry not enough stuff which opens up even more types of problems than can kill you.
I've died hunting wolves with too few bullets,
Getting distracted chasing rabbits then forgot which way I was going and got lost,
Froze to death chopping wood,
Forgot a light source searching a building, then it got dark, I got lost and starved to death in the building,
Climbed a rope while tired, then fell to my death,
Moose broke my ribs restricting my movement, so later a wolf found me, caught up with me and killed me,
Stepped on my own campfire and burned to death,
Slept outside and died of hypothermia in my sleep because I didn't put enough wood in my campfire,
Ran off a cliff to my death running from a bear,
Got electrocuted by live wires I thought was nowhere near me,
Got lost lost in fog at night, then attacked by 2 wolves, killed them, but bleed to death because I brought too few bandages,
Burned my stamina just being in a hurry, then turned a corner to a bear while exhausted. He caught me easy,
Gobbled every food item I found not caring about the condition, got poisoned, but forgot my antibiotics,
Froze on a long journey all because I forgot to sew up my clothes beforehand,
Got too tired which made me slow, which made me freeze and starve before I found my destination, which made me die from condition loss because all because I forgot my bed roll.
This game is very immersive, very intense, and you will feel everything. When you're cold you feel it, when you're out of breath you feel it, when you sprain your ankle you feel it. And when you're running from a wolf trying to reach that door or you will die you will be freaking out. This game is an adrenaline rush. And unlike Skyrim or Fallout where you have hundreds of things in your inventory and are looting every 3 seconds for mostly meaningless things, in this game everything is precious. You savor every find. You'll never feel so much joy finding something as simple as matches or a knife. This game keeps you on edge, keeps you on your toes, and you must keep your mind sharp if you want to stay alive. Unless you're only into fast paced, bloody action, shoot em up games, this game I highly, highly recommend.
Now everything I explained covers survival mode. The real game. There is a story mode that holds your hand and lays out items for you, and it's fun too, but not nearly a challenge because you can die an infinite amount of times and not worry too much, but I recommend survival mode hands down.

just great. got in early and they have delivered all the way, incorporating user feedback around experience changes and building out their vision for the game.
one of the first times I've "alpha'd" a game and it's delivered.
just a great experience all around.

The long dark is truly a unique game as depending on your difficulty you can have two completely different experiences. At lower difficulties you're treated to a slow methodical almost meditative experience where the game more favours exploration over survival, which at first may sound boring however with such a distinctive aesthetic and brilliant weather system the long dark can have some truly beautiful moments such as watching a pack of wolves stalk a herd of deer across the ice on a foggy morning or watching the orange glow of the sun rise above the horizon after a long night of staving off starvation and hypothermia.
However if the meditative lower difficulties aren't your style you can try the interloper or stalker difficulties this turns the long dark into a hardcore survival game where its you pitted against the elements, its in these higher difficulties that the game is most immersive. each game follows stages, the first being eating prepackaged food and water that you've scavenge and the wildlife being a nuisance more than a danger, the weathers calm and your biggest danger is yourself however that doesn't last and once mid game begins and your food is gone and your clothes have degraded you begin to feel the squeeze as your ammunition runs low after your 3rd wolf attack of the week, then the weather gets worse and the pressure to survive is on and before you know it your sitting on the side of a mountain with 2 bullets and no food, shivering in a shirt as a pack of wolves track you down for lunch.
the game really conveys that feeling of hopelessness and feeling of loneliness perfectly and i would 100% recommend at least giving it a try Hinterland studios while small is dedicated to the game and continue to release episodes of winter mute (the story mode). Hinterland studios did an amazing job with this game and the fact that its still supported and is still being improved to this day is a testament to the quality of the game.
8-9/10
would buy again.

I usually don't buy single player survival games. But because of the enormous amount of positive reviews I decided I would game a try.
Man, I was not disappointed. Especially in times like this where I'm quarantined. This is the best game for quarantine. This is all I've been playing. I haven't had a game where I was excited to wake up and play for a long time. I even pulled all nighters for this.
The Long Dark is a open world survival game with no hand holding. This game is not easy. Which I really like. Also there isn't GPS or a map. (Well technically there is one but you have to map it out yourself) You have to plan out how you're going to start your day because it could be your last. I've never been so happy to see a cave in the middle of nowhere. This game is amazing and it's a game with an amazing soundtrack. A lot of games are good but have not the best soundtrack. But this, this soundtrack is amazing and it really suits well with the game. This game also gets bonus points from me as I'm a Canadian myself and most survival games usually puts you in the U.S. It's rare to see a survival game based off the Canadian wilderness. Also if you finish story mode. You can do survival and challenges which can add countless of hours of fun.
I look forward to more updates and I've heard they might make more games. You Hinterland, have secured yourself another customer. Keep up the great work.

i really enjoy this game i would stay up late to just play this game i can't get enough of it

After all this years, this game still got an update for free (and on their way to keep their promise about Wintermute Story Mode)
Even when this game mostly on a deep discount on every sale, they still gave all this update for free, "Labor of Love" material indeed.
Thank God, they are not like some big publisher that split their freakin' core game content to a season pass or split it into multiple DLC.
Informational Review about this game :
- Semi-Open world survival game (with no zombies and no base building mechanic)
- Several game modes to play like Wintermute (Story mode), Survival, etc.
- No Fast Travel mechanic. Because it's part of this game mechanic. Imagine, when you want to go from point A to B, the weather is good. In the middle of your journey, suddenly there is a storm. You need to survive. You can search temporary shelter to stop by and wait the storm gone, or you can keep going as fast as you can, etc.
(Maybe) Will update my review when all promised content released.
At current state, I will give this game 7/10

This game is very dear to my heart. It makes you experience many different emotions while you learn more and more about it with every single time you find yourself in a desperate situation or even outright fail by succumbing to the wilderness.
This game will you feel nervous and sometimes even intimidated. But it will also win you over by making you feel happy from finding something you desperately needed. It will amaze you by making you see something that gets to you or calm you down once you sit in front of your fire with all the gear you need to survive the next days around you, as a storm rages on outside of your shelter.
It is rewarding if you are willing to give it more than a brief look.
If you like survival games that allow you to 'experience' your own journey.. then this is for you.
I can't do more than highly recommend it.
Ps: I´ve been playing this game since 2014/2015 now. Every now and then I turn it back on as it lures me back in with it´s calming charm.