Kickstarter-funded survival game The Long Dark came out of early access not too long ago, but Hinterland is still looking to improve their game’s experience. The most recent update of the game adds a new area called the Hushed River Valley alongside some bug fixes and a revamped cooking system in an update called Vigilant Flame. If you want to see the update in action, you can check it out in the video below.
The first major change of The Long Dark comes in the form of the new Hushed River Valley region, described as:
Hushed River Valley is a multi-leveled Region that connects to Mountain Town, extending some of the same difficult terrain you see around the town of Milton. The new Region is full of waterfalls, rivers and streams, and lots of cliff areas, but includes no man-made shelters. It’s a highly challenging wilderness area, but keep an eye out for natural shelters, supply caches, and perhaps a mysterious Signal Fire to guide your way.
Additionally, the revamped cooking system now adds a greater layer of immersion by having players place cookable items on hot surfaces. Different foods require different amounts of time on the grill to get all nice and edible, meaning different timelines to manage as you cook. It will require players to keep a vigilant eye on their cookable foods but also offer players the chance to complete other tasks rather than sitting around and staring at the stovetop for hours on end.
Another update comes in the form of “buffer memories”. Billed as information stuck in a computer’s memory before all the technology around Great Bear was suddenly rendered inert by the mysterious aurora, these bits of the narrative will appear at night and contain collectibles that promise to help flesh out the world.
Below, you can check out a video of the Vigiliant Flame update, as well as the patch notes for this latest release. The Long Dark is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux.
If you’re interested in the full patch notes, you can check them out here:
Changelist v1.33 [37608]
General Fixes
* [All] Fixed Crows spawning below ground.
* [All] Fixed Intro Movie not respecting Master Volume settings.
* [All] Updated localization.
* [All] Fixed duplicated resolutions appearing in Options.
* [All] Fixed FOV being limited to 100.
* [UI] Fixed inventory actions becoming broken when switching between Keyboard/Mouse and Controller.
* [UI] Improved responsiveness of Resolution Selector in Options.
* [UI] Fixed Main Menu flashing briefly before intro video when running the game on Mac or in DX9 mode.
* [UI] Fixed missing Title when viewing Map Screen in Mountain Town.
* [UI] Updated Region Description formatting to be more consistent.
* [UI] Updated UI art to include Climbing Socks.
* [UI] Fixed Feat progress bars to better represent progress.
* [UI] Updated Main Menu Custom Mode text to be easier to read.
* [UI] Fixed Fish appearing with missing or bright colours when taken from a fridge and inspected.
* [UI] Fixed Earmuffs appearing on Paper Doll when equipping other Accessories.
* [UI] Moved “Sort” icon in the Inventory screen.
* [UI] Updated Clothing UI tooltips for all platforms.
* [Linux] Fixed light shaft rendering incorrectly.
* [Linux] Fixed audio not playing for some players.
* [Wintermute] Fixed checkpoint screenshot showing image from previous save.
Gameplay
* [All] Fixed momentary freeze when opening Inventory for the first time.
* [All] Fixed Light Source menu being unavailable when Flashlight is the only light source.
* [All] Scaled size of Fish to work with new cooking system.
* [All] Consolidated UI actions around a single verb – “Use”.
* [All] Updated controller actions to support new Quick Placement feature.
* [All] Fixed Aurora not always appearing correctly when player is Passing Time/Resting at specific intervals.
* [All] Updated cooking surfaces around the world for new Cooking System.
* [All] Updated Campfire placement
* [All] Fixed UI not always updating after performing an action such as Purifying water.
* [All] Fixed Clothing Screen stats not always updating after changing clothing.
* [All] Fixed Living Off the Land achievement progress being reset when drinking tea crafted from Reishi Mushrooms or Rosehips.
* [All] Fixed items falling through certain rugs.
* [All] Fixed missing audio when crafting Tinder from Sticks.
* [All] Updated instant kill regions on cliff faces to be more forgiving in some locations.
* [All] Fixed incorrect text appearing when interacting with an active Fire during windy conditions.
* [All] Updated Disclaimer screen not respecting game language when set to Dutch.
* [All] Player can no longer eat ruined food from the Inspection screen.
* [All] Fixed Weak Ice warning persisting if player loads game while standing on Weak Ice.
* [All] Fixed Bear becoming stuck in animation when not in player’s view.
* [All] Fixed player being able to become stuck when attacked while Crafting.
* [All] Fixed Campfire rewarding extra Charcoal.
* [All] Fixed extra arrow being generated after Harvesting a corpse then saving and reloading.
* [All] Realigned Wolf positioning when it feeds off a Moose carcass.
* [All] Adjusted the speed of Rifle shot sound effect when firing indoors.
* [All] Fixed unintentional movement when player is using the Radial Menu with a Controller.
* [All] Fixed misaligned blood decal after harvesting corpse.
* [All] Disabled Radial Menu while holding a stunned Rabbit.
* [All] Lantern now shows Gallons when Imperial Units are selected. Was showing Ounces previously.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed Locations Discovered in the Stats screen to account for Regions with variable number of interiors due to ruined structures.
* [Survival Mode] General fixes for a wide variety of minor locations to make them easier to Survey.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed rare scenario where WINTERMUTE map could appear in your Survival Mode map list.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed Moose getting stuck in running animation when it dies while running.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed not being able to Survey Wolf Carcasses that spawn into the game.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed arrow trails remaining after firing an Arrow in certain scenarios.
* [Survival Mode] Removed Stone Church from Faithful Cartographer requirements, as it was causing an issue with legacy game saves.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed Moose entering hold position when player is holding a light source.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed wildlife resetting location after player transitions to a new Region/interior.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed player becoming stuck when saving and loading while on stairs.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed non-interactable brush near Lonely Lighthouse.
* [Survival Mode] Improved Moose pathfinding when under trees.
* [Wintermute] Fixed player being unable to save if they delete all their Story saves, while playing Wintermute.
* [Wintermute] Fixed several locations where Bear could become stuck during Jeremiah’s Folly mission.
* [Wintermute] Fixed missing textures on Cache boxes.
* [Wintermute] Fixed controller input registering during Episode One ending, resulting in UI popup.
* [Wintermute] Autosave option now only appears when playing Wintermute.
* [Wintermute] Fixed issue where Player could not enter Hank’s Hatch during the Episode Two side mission if they unlocked the hatch, but were missing the letter.
* [Wintermute] Fixed deer carcass disappearing at the opening of Episode One if Player interacts with, saves, then reloads game.
* [ Wintermute] Fixed Cabin Fever icon appearing in Story Mode, even though the player can not get Cabin Fever in Story Mode.
* [Custom Mode] Adjusted how Wildlife Flee chance is applied.
* [Custom Mode] Adjusted loot tables.
Art/Environment
* [All] Fixed missing texture from the Burnt Flare when viewed in Inspection mode.
* [All] Fixed Smoke “glowing” at night or in fog.
* [Art] Updated Gun Rack scaling to better match Rifle size.
* [Enviro] Tweaked many item placements.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous locations where objects clip into the environment.
* [Enviro] Polish pass on all Regions.
* [Enviro] Fixed floating snow banks.
* [Enviro] Fixed instances of bushes clipping into trees.
* [Enviro] Fixed Climbing Rope texture not appearing correctly.
* [Enviro] Fixed stretched texture on fallen tree trunk.
* [Enviro] Fixed numerous locations where players could become stuck.
* [Enviro] Updated various tree groups that were missing collision.
* [Enviro] Fixed some Ropes being difficult to interact with from the bottom.
* [Enviro] Fixed floating Rosehip bushes in Timberwolf Mountain.
* [Enviro] Fixed trees and bushes populating the same location in Desolation Point.
* [Enviro] Fixed Flag clipping into Lake Cabins.
* [Enviro] Removed extra exterior window on certain cabins.
* [Survival Mode] Fixed Moose scratch texture on trees appearing stretched.
* [Wintermute] Fixed Aurora during Episode One introduction sequence flickering at certain angles.
PS4
* [PS4] Added Italian and Polish translations of all in*game text and subtitles.
* [PS4] Performance improvements.
* [PS4] Fixed several memory*related crashes.
* [PS4] Fixed button prompts flickering when tabbing between menus.
* [Xbox] Fixed flickering when bringing up the Home Panel via the Xbox button.
Xbox
* [Xbox] Performance improvements.
* [Xbox] Added Italian and Polish translations of all in*game text and subtitles.
* [Xbox] Fixed issue where conditions for Achievements could take an extended amount of time to be reported.
* [Xbox] Fixed Japanese text flickering when scrolling through certain menus.
* [Xbox] Fixed screen overlapping when signing out of profile on certain screens.
Windows 10
* [UWP] Fixed Launching the title in Norwegian preventing Player accessing Survival mode.
* [UWP] Fixed issue causing mouse to lose focus, resulting in game minimizing unexpectedly.
* [UWP] Fixed debug info remaining on screen after pressing F8 for a screenshot.
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