The Long Dark Reviews
The Long Dark is an onerous experience, but a memorably and powerfully atmospheric one. Its Survival mode stands out as something of a singular achievement on the Switch – and one we'd urge you to try if you don't mind freezing to death more than a few times before you've got a grip on how to last a couple of nights. It's difficult to call it outright fun given its sheer hostility, but it's certainly absorbing and at times downright terrifying game. Just like real life, nature is the real enemy.
If it sounds as if I'm overly frustrated with The Long Dark, it's because I am. The sheer number of times that it hints at being a special game that entirely dominates every single survival-based title that has come before it is staggering. But for every one of those times, there's another time where it's broken, bugged, or just plain poorly thought-out. If the development team patches up those bugs and tweaks things here and there, it's no exaggeration to say that this could be a must buy that reaches the top end of the scoresheet. The fact that it gets the score that it gets stands as testament as to just how enjoyable the game can be and often is in the face of a veritable snowstorm of issues and imperfections.
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.
Review in Polish | Read full review
With better job on technical aspects The Long Dark would be a pretty good game. As for now, it's better to wait for a sale and patches.
Review in Polish | Read full review
The Long Dark is a mostly functional game, but it’s dated survival mechanics make it a mostly forgettable experience.
The Long Dark is a title that successfully uses the classic plot device of man vs. nature. With so much detail put into the gameplay, it can be easy to feel as cold as your player in this freezing Canadian wilderness. The endlessly entertaining survival mode lets you explore Great Bear Island to your heart's desire.
The Long Dark is the perfect survival game for Canadian kids who grew up with frozen toes and winter camping.
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.
It has become one of those games interested in transmitting something else, instead of making us have an entertaining time without more. His way of facing nature is plausible (saving perhaps some other detail), such as making us go through an ordeal, whether we are beginners, the learning process, as if we are experts, for the possibility of modifying the difficulty, Because the long darkness, the real one, is what there is after each game, when it's all over. Luckily, we can face that moment again and again, try to do better, prolong it more.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In the end, The Long Dark won me over through the same war of attrition it demanded of me during playing. What starts as an oppressive wilderness and battle of the elements eventually unfolds into a gratifying progression as I learned how to survive efficiently through trial and error. They say that adversity builds character, and if you can grow some thicker skin, there's a lot of character in The Long Dark to discover.
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.
Keep that fire burning, stay warm… and beware the wolf.
The Long Dark is a satisfying experience of survival that is both realistic and has good game mechanics.
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.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
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.
If you want a challenging but enjoyable title, this is definitely it.
I’m a sucker for survival games, so when the opportunity to review The Long Dark came through I jumped at the chance to review it. Playing The Long Dark on the Nintendo Switch isn’t my first experience with the game. I had previously played the game during its early access state on the Xbox One way back in 2017/2018. Back then The Long Dark was just a shell of what it is now and only contained two explorable areas and none of the episodic story.
The Long Dark is not only one of the best survival games available, it also features a thrilling story with twists and turns at every corner. Thanks to the multiple play modes that provide many many hours of entertainment, The Long Dark is truly the type of game to want if ever stranded on a deserted island, or stuck in a lone cabin in the middle of the Canadian Arctic.
The Long Dark takes an interesting approach to the bustling survival genre by adding a story-heavy campaign, and it looks to be paying off so far. The tale being told in Wintermute has not developed into anything wildly deep at this point and there has yet to be given much of a reason to care for the characters in play, but by the end of the second episode I still felt the desire to see everything through to the end. I needed to know how this unique apocalypse pans out, so the developer is clearly doing something right. The slow, methodical pacing may turn some potential players away, but those that can carry the weight of the game’s encumbering systems will find a gorgeous adventure worth the time investment.
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.