the-long-dark game sourced
The Long Dark
A first-person wilderness survival sim set in frozen northern Canada where the player manages warmth, calories, thirst, fatigue, and afflictions against cold, weather, and wildlife.
core loop
explore a frozen region -> scavenge, hunt, and harvest -> manage calories, thirst, fatigue, and warmth -> weather, night, and wildlife threaten condition -> craft, repair, and shelter -> survive another day until death
design notes
Survival mode has no zombies or authored goal; the cold, wildlife, and dwindling supplies are the opposition, and death deletes the save. All needs feed a single condition stock: an empty warmth bar drains condition about 20% per hour while empty hunger or fatigue drain about 1% and thirst 2%, so cold is the fast killer and food is the slow one. Time is treated as the scarce resource because every action costs calories and in-game hours. The episodic Wintermute story mode has no permadeath.
relations
10 stored edgesPermadeath
In Survival mode the save is deleted on death; a later DLC option allows up to three resurrections per save at a difficulty cost, and Misery mode always uses permadeath.
Survival meters
Warmth, fatigue, hunger, and thirst feed one condition stock; when a need is empty, condition drains per hour (warmth 20%, fatigue 1%, hunger 1%, thirst 2%), and afflictions such as hypothermia, frostbite, and dysentery drain or cap it.
Weather
Wind, falling temperatures, and blizzards change how fast warmth drops and how far the player can travel; nights are significantly colder.
Deposit depletion
Manufactured supplies are finite, so long runs shift from looting to hunting and crafting.