GAME · released

The Long Dark

Hinterland Studio Inc.

Quick read

The Long Dark is a winter that wants you quiet: calories, wolves, and a story mode beside sandbox. A storm is the boss, and the cabin is a delay.

What kind of game is it?

Solo survival without a clan as a requirement. You manage warmth, meat, and a rifle that jams when the weather turns. The region is a map you walk, and the save is a condition you failed to treat.

Who is it for?

For players who miss warmth, weather, and a storm that does not hurry them.

With friends

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Send a link to your friends. You see who already owns it, and the other multiplayer games you all have.

How it plays

Loop: Surviving hordes
Sessions: Medium sessions
Progression: A world that stays
Players: Single-player
Structure: Sandbox
Tone: Tense · Brutal

Game DNA

What playing it feels like, out of 100. Our reading, separate from Steam reviews.

Progression80
Estimate
Social18
Estimate

Key Steam facts

Steam store figures, checked 17 Aug 2026.

Release

released

2014-09-22

Review score

89%

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Steam positive percent.

Review count

123,311

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Store price

€16.99

Checked 17 Aug 2026.

Languages

Demo

Early Access

Next Fest

Players

Single-player

How many people play The Long Dark?

Estimates from public Steam data, not figures from the studio. Ranges, not exact numbers.

Estimated copies

3.1M – 6.8M

Steam reviews × 25 to 55. For a free game: players, not sales.

All-time peak players

15,003

Most people playing at the same moment, per SteamCharts.

Average players, Aug 2026

2,091

Peak that month: 3,571.

Median playtime

58.2 h

Half of 300 recent reviewers played 18.3–127.4 h. 4% under 2 h.

Players over time

Sept 2023Aug 2026

Where the players are

Languages of the last 300 Steam reviews. A proxy for regions, not a country split.

English36%
Russian23%
Simplified Chinese13%
Turkish8%
Korean4%
Ukrainian3%

Steam data checked 4 Oct 2026

What makes it different?

The storm is the boss, and the cabin only delays a winter of calories and wolves.

Core mechanics

Similar games

Full games-like page →

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7 Days to Die

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Related games

Nearby games. Not always a direct substitute.

Shared: Crafting, Survival, Surviving hordes, Survival

Rain World

Rain World is an ecosystem you do not top: hibernate before the rain, or the world eats you. Creatures have errands. You are food that learned to jump.

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Shared: Crafting, Survival, Survival, Horror

The Forest

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Genre / subgenre

Steam genre: Survival.

Related rankings

Sources

Store price checked 17 Aug 2026.

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