It’s the type of fragility that has a long history in the Canadian wilderness, now almost unthinkable among our modern comforts and technology.
It can be beautiful, but it can also be killing you at the same time.” Dark is about the exploration part of survival, about the minute-by-minute management of resources and body.ĭark follows, but doesn’t quite mirror, the rise of “vulnerability fantasy” in games and other media how we don’t want our heroes to always arrive with guns blazing, how it’s so much more interesting and threatening when everything can and will kill you. “Mother nature is the neutral threat in the game. The Long Dark is unapologetically Canadian, unlike games that avoid being location-specific in order to appeal to ‘the masses.’ That seemed like flawed thinking to Lierop who, after long years in the triple A industry, wanted to make something deeply personal and uncompromising. Everything that has shielded humanity from the disinterested power of Mother Nature is suddenly wrenched from us, dropping us a few links down the food chain. Bright aurora flare across the sky, and all humanity’s technological might is laid to waste, neutralized in a kind of quiet apocalypse. “Imagine the lights go out, never to return. Image: Hinterland Games True to the vision
