Survival Mode

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A mysterious geomagnetic storm has brought your plane crashing down into the Northern Canadian wilderness.

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Survival Mode is the sandbox survival portion of The Long Dark.

During Survival Mode, the player may travel freely between all Regions of Great Bear Island, with the narrative created by their own actions and ability to survive. Survival Mode is a semi-permadeath experience; once the player dies, the player can Cheat Death or choose to not continue (the later resulting in the save being wiped and it cannot be reloaded).

Players who purchase the Tales from the Far Territory Expansion will have access to unique content in Survival Mode, such as more tools, more Wildlife, and new Regions.

Experience

The choice of Experience dictates how harshly the world will treat the player throughout their journey in The Long Dark.

Pilgrim

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Pilgrim is the easiest experience available in survival. Ideal for exploration and learning about the Island and the game mechanics in a low-stress environment. This mode is the standard "easy" difficulty setting.

For new or experienced players most interested in pensive Exploration.
Most survival elements tuned to be very forgiving.
Wildlife will not attack unless provoked.
Allows for 5 active Feats.

Voyageur

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An experience that balances exploration with a challenge, Voyageur is the standard "normal" difficulty setting, and is the same difficulty as Wintermute Experiences.

For new or experienced players looking for a balance between Exploration and Survival.
Wildlife is sparse, but can seek you out.
Survival elements are challenging but resources are plentiful.
Allows for 4 active Feats.

Stalker

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A punishing survival challenge. Stalker features numerous aggressive Wolves and Timberwolves. This is the standard "hard" difficulty setting.

For veteran Players looking for a punishingly challenging Survival experience.
Hostile wildlife is common, and will hunt you down.
All survival elements are tuned to be particularly challenging.
Allows for 3 active Feats.

Interloper

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A punishing survival experience. Interloper lets you know that you are an unwelcome guest in this cold, hostile world. Best suited for expert players looking for the ultimate survival challenge. This is the standard "expert" difficulty setting, with multiple handicaps present to make the game even harder than normal.

For expert players looking for the ultimate wilderness Survival challenge.
You start with the most minimal resources, and have to craft everything you need to survive.
The world becomes more hostile the longer you survive.
Allows for 2 active Feats.

Misery

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Misery takes Interloper and ratchets up the difficulty by adding six new Afflictions that are applied over time. Intended for Interloper players looking for a new level of challenge. You will not survive for very long. This is the standard "impossible" difficulty.

For expert players looking for a unique and devastating Survival challenge beyond Interloper.
You start with the most minimal resources in an already harsh and hostile world on the brink.
At timed intervals, you gradually succumb to permanent, unavoidable Afflictions unique to Misery.
No active Feats allowed.

Custom

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For players lookingfor create their own Experience, separate from the standard Survival Mode difficulties, Custom is the Experience for them. Players can create a custom Experience here, with over 50 different variables which can be adjusted to their liking.

For players looking for a unique experience separate from standard Survival Mode.
Adjust variables including Wildlife spawns, Resource availability, and Weather.
Give your Custom Experience Mode settings to fellow survivors using a special shareable code.
Allows up to 5 active Feats.
NOTE: No Feats progression will occur in Custom Experience Mode.

Choose Region

Main article: Region

The player may select any region they want as their starting point. The player also has the option to randomize their starting region. Each region is unique, has different advantages and drawbacks, and are all interconnected.

If the Interloper Experience is selected, then the starting region will be randomly chosen. On Interloper, you will not spawn in Mystery Lake or Coastal Highway, and the number of possible spawn locations is limited.

Note that some regions are locked and cannot be selected to start a game in when first playing The Long Dark. They will always unlock in the menu selection screen for a future playthrough when the player travels there in-game for the first time.

Character Sex

May choose between a male or female survivor. The only differences are the character's voice, first person arms and hands, and the paper doll shown in the Clothing screen. The survivors use the same first person model, paper doll in the clothing screen, and voice as Astrid Greenwood and Will Mackenzie from Wintermute, minus their wedding bands.

The female survivor silhouette
The male survivor silhouette

Start

Every Survival Mode session begins with the same opening text: you are a survivor of a plane crash after a mysterious geomagnetic storm has grounded your vessel. A randomly generated real world quote regarding survival will be displayed on the screen and then the player is able to start playing shortly after.

The survivor is alone, not dressed for the cold, and carries only a meager amount of supplies. The player must find food and shelter before nightfall, when the temperatures drop. The amount of supplies one starts with is dependent on the experience mode selected.

Depending on the sandbox difficulty, the players may either find themselves inside a house or outside in the cold. On harder difficulties, it may already be dusk or night time, and in some cases bad weather may move in quickly.

Opening Quotes

Below is a list of survival quotes when first beginning Survival Mode.

"Life is an error-making and an error-correcting process, and nature in marking man's papers will grade him for wisdom as measured both by survival and by the quality of life of those who survive." - Jones Salk
"Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception." - Carl Sagan
"He is at home with his solitude as the note reverberating inside a bell." - Peter Heller, The Dog Stars
"He knelt among the shadows and felt his isolation bitterly. They were savages it was true; but they were human." - William Golding, Lord of the Flies
"It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am living proof of that: It can be done" - Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions
"No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes." - Cormac McCarthy, The Road
"It is not the strongest of species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." - Charles Darwin
"No one can tell what goes on between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side." - Stephen King, The Stand
"Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become more extraordinary because of it." - Robertson Davies
"What am I living for and what am I dying for are the same question." - Margaret Atwood
"Sometimes even to live is an act of courage." - Seneca
"On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." - Chuck Palahniuk
"You know, I once read an interesting book which said that, uh, most people lost in the wilds, they, they die of shame. Yeah, see, they die of shame. 'What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?' And so they sit there and they... die. Because they didn't do the one thing that would save their lives. Thinking." - David Mamet, The Edge
"The foraging for food and water, the struggle for life in a world without masters, housed in a body that man had made dependent on himself." - Richard Matheson, I Am Legend
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Differences from Wintermute

Some items, locations, and even events found within the Wintermute Story mode are different within Survival Mode, suggesting an alternate timeline of events has unfolded. A list of notable changes include:

Despite notes being found throughout the world suggesting possible survivor activity, no human NPCs can be found. (not counting dead bodies that can be found or the signal fires in Hushed River Valley).
All areas of the game world can be freely explored with no restrictions.
There is far less player dialogue. There are no scripted events.
Certain tools, clothing, and story related quest items cannot be found within Survival Mode.
It can be assumed that the player character you choose when starting Survival Mode is either Astrid or Mackenzie, as they share the same voice and appearance as their story counterparts and their backstory involves having their plane crash land on Great Bear Island after a mysterious geomagnetic storm. Will's crashed plane can also be found not far from Milton.
Grey Mother is missing and her home has been ransacked, with her blanket and rocking chair still present but tipped over. She is presumed to have been burned alive in the school house along with the other inhabitants of Milton after the convict riot that resulted from the crashed prison bus.
Paradise Meadows Farm often contains a corpse inside the toolshed. The inside of the farmhouse also contains evidence of a struggle.
Methuselah cannot be found anywhere.
The Trapper's Homestead lies dormant, with Jeremiah presumably being killed by the Old Bear since no help arrived for him.
The Forest Talkers and any trace of their activities are entirely absent from Survival Mode, including their supply caches, though occasionally their backpacks can be found.
The Pleasant Valley Farmstead is unoccupied, with neither Molly nor her husband's remains anywhere to be found. The nearby barn has a Timberwolf sized hole in the doors, but no dead wolf.
The Community Hall at Thomson's Crossing is empty and Father Thomas is missing. Subsequently, this resulted in the makeshift triage center never being made, as there is no lite bonfire in front of the hall to guide the plane Crash Survivors to the town.
The Blackrock Prison lies in ruins after a catastrophic explosion, with all known prisoners and on-site workers having presumably perished inside. Jace is also missing.

Achievements

Trivia

Although Survival Mode is intended to be a permadeath experience, some players back up game saves periodically so that if they die, they can load the backed-up save and continue, even with Cheat Death enabled. This practice is called "save scumming."

Gallery

Mode preset
Custom Toolbox v.1.62
Pilgrim Icon old
ditto
Voyageur icon old
ditto
stalker icon old
ditto
Interloper icon old
ditto

References

<references />{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox}} ru:Уровни сложности es:Modo Supervivencia fr:Mode Survie