Tales from the Far Territory, the first paid expansion for The Long Dark, launched on December 5, 2022. Two years later, Hinterland Studio is ready to ship Part Six, the final piece of the puzzle and one of The game’s most groundbreaking update yet. It has been for more than ten years. After sharing details about this update on October Developer DiaryI reached out to Raphael van Lierop, founder and creative director of Hinterland, to try and give us some more details about what players can expect. We talked about Cougar 2.0, Trader, photo mode, and the future of The Long Dark.
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Shake News: The Cougar returns for the sixth installment of Tales from the Far Territory. How does the team feel about version 2.0 of this highly anticipated hunter?
Raphael: I think we feel good about it. Some of the trepidation was based on the strong reaction to the first iteration. But we received feedback and the team worked hard to create something close to what our players were looking for without compromising our vision for the role we want Cougar to play in the wildlife ecosystem. Overall in the game I think we hit an interesting point between Cougar appearing in this world. But it also includes things that interact with the player and are threatening in themselves. We’re excited to see how players feel about its presence in their games.
Shake News: The Trader is an interesting addition to The Long Dark. Will this person appear in the game world or be a radio voice? Do you have any recommendations for some of the new items available exclusively through Trader?
Raphael: Trader is the first human that players will encounter in Survival mode, so we’ve approached this with an abundance of caution, knowing that some longtime fans will be a bit shocked. We met Trader. So many different versions, their surrounding mechanics, their backstories. and how they will interact with the players. and settled on something I was really happy with. And I think our players will appreciate it. It’s a difficult balance of making traders feel like they live in the world without making them too in-your-face. Or it seems like they are encroaching on your solitude. Our agreed-upon approach makes Traders feel part of the world. It’s a natural part of the IP, and we’re excited to see how players feel about developing their relationship with Trader over time.
In terms of trade items It is a combination of rare items available. But it also includes several new items that can only be obtained from traders. Including different foods, ingredients and even some new tools. When you build trust with a Trader, you gain access to a deeper story with them. This will help you learn a bit more about Great Bear Island and some of their own stories from before the First Flare. Eventually, they may ask you to help them complete specific tasks that have bigger rewards attached to them. We think it has a good mix of mechanics and storytelling. It builds on the lessons we learned creating the three Tales.
Source: long darkness
Shake News– Safehouse customization will dominate my interest in The Long Dark Since nothing on Great Bear Island is easy, is it safe to assume that those with a desire to craft, repair, and customize will have to do it?
Raphael: You must try your best. But we have been careful to balance players’ efforts with their desire to have fun with this feature. We don’t want to make things too easy, because choices and consequences have always been a cornerstone of our gaming philosophy. But it’s not so difficult that players won’t feel like they could enjoy warmer or more creative aspects of the system. Safehouse customization is one of the biggest systems we’ve added to the game over the years. past in creating it And it required touching every property and more than 100 interiors. It was a huge effort from the team. Yes, this system is more than just moving furniture around. There is also an element of internal cleaning. Repairing broken cabinets and items and creating an entirely new series of rustic furniture items that are new to the game. We are very excited to see where players decide to build their personal safehouses. and the attractive and funny decorating challenges they have to face on their own.
Shake News: The Long Dark feels like the perfect choice for Photo mode. How important is it to ensure that the system exists as an immersive experience?
Raphael: It was very important that we found a good way to deliver a type of Photo Mode experience without compromising the tone of our IP. This is why we chose not to have any original plans for a darkroom. This is because it requires electrical equipment that we allow players to use only during the aurora borealis. We came up with a great solution that lives up to our legend. It also gives players freedom of expression. For example, you can take photos of yourself and create a framed portrait for your safehouse. The photo will be in your photo album. Inside the diary and can add annotations So you can take note of places you’ve been or anything that’s particularly striking about the photo. It allows players to create an almost visual journal to track their survival adventures.
Shake News: Refreshing wildlife around the world should help reduce player anxiety. Since everyone will learn the respawn points for bears, wolves, and cougars, I know there’s no chance you’ll provide specifics. But is there an evil hunter waiting?
Raphael: I think our long-standing players will be surprised by unexpected wildlife encounters. And of course, cougars are also being added to the wild spawning system. We are also balancing the overall diversity of wildlife around the world. For the first time, we can think about the presence of wildlife across all game regions simultaneously, and not just individually. The region we are building I think the impact will make the game feel more alive and fresh for players who have been playing it for a long time.
Source: long darkness
Shake News: I know the visual improvements are being pushed to next year. But can you provide details on what might be included for those of us with high-end systems?
Raphael: We have over 10 different visual improvements, including better anti-aliasing solutions for things like colored shadows and fog, sharper textures, and more. Better atmosphere for things like snow blowing across the surface of the terrain. or cold vapor that appears Above the waters along the coast We also have a few surprises that add to the overall dynamism of the world. We’ll release those in the Spring Visual Enhancements update. (No exact date yet)
Shake News: You mentioned that you might support The Long Dark in 2026. Are there plans for additional paid content? Or will that support come in the form of free updates to current systems?
Raphael: Now that TALES is over, the TLD team is focused on delivering Episode Five as soon as possible next year. We also promise support for features like Trader and Safehouse Customization. continuously This is because these features can be greatly expanded with new content once the core system is implemented. We also promise to do some work on Mod Support and the aforementioned visual improvements. Anything that is not part of TALES will be added to the base game for free. If our players want more paid DLC based on TALES, we’ll be ready to create it. But until Episode Five is complete, the direction future updates can take is almost limitless. We just have to be careful in balancing our workload. and not accepting more burdens than we are capable of
Shake News– The Long Dark has been publicly playable for over a decade. How far has the team moved beyond your original vision? or there are things Did the lot go as you expected?
Raphael: If I think back to how I imagined THE LONG DARK at the lead-up to Kickstarter in 2013, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the game was 100 more than I expected we would make. We’ve basically delivered a massive open-world survival sandbox that rivals anything else on the market. But we do it piecemeal while maintaining our independence. I don’t think I expected to still be working on the game 10 years later, and I don’t think our fans back then expected us to either. It would be dishonest to say that things are different. As I expected Because we’ve been responsive to our community about our priorities and what we’ve built into the game. And we’ve certainly taken a lot longer to do that. Came here more than we expected. But I think you can go back and look at previous versions. And compare it to what we will launch in 2024 and look directly at the lineage there. We have been true to the game and its values from day one. And as we expand the world and add complexity to the experience, THE LONG DARK’s core vision has never changed. The best part is that we now have 10 years of gaming community and players to build on with our next project. Let’s see how far we can go.
Shake News: Finally, when can players expect and start playing Tales from the Far Territory Part Six?
Raphael: Part Six is tracking an early December release on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, and Epic Nintendo Switch. Part Five and Six will launch in the new year. We’ve given ourselves enough time to make quick fixes before the team departs for winter break. And we will come back again in the new year.
Tales from the Far Territory launches the week of December 2, 2024, and I’ll follow up on my thoughts and impressions once I’ve spent time on this new Great Bear Island. Check out The Long Dark on Shacknews for more. more
