BLACKFROST: The Long Dark II announced for PC

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BLACKFROST: The Long Dark II announced for PC

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt, I’ve seen survival games come and go. Some have been forgettable, while others have left lasting impressions. However, when it comes to Hinterland Studio’s latest announcement – BLACKFROST: The Long Dark II – I can feel the excitement bubbling within me like a pot ready to boil over.

Backcountry Studio unveiled “BLACKFROST: The Long Dark II” for personal computers via Steam. This game is set to debut in an Early Access version by the year 2026.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

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About

Blackfrost: The Long Dark II” is the follow-up to the popular survival game, “The Long Dark,” which was refined over a decade of open development after its Early Access launch. This sequel represents an advancement of the survival sandbox genre by improving upon all aspects of the original, and introducing cooperative play for the first time. The creators behind this sequel are the same team that brought you the original game, known as Hinterland.

Key Features

  • Brave New World – Experience the Quiet Apocalypse as survivors in the northern industrial city of Harmont and its vast environs. A year has passed since the Aurora first appeared in the sky, rendering all technology inert, with survivors just starting to emerge to face their new reality in its aftermath. Surrounded by a majestic, rugged wilderness, encounter the remnants of an isolated society still coming to terms with how the world has just been forever changed. How will you choose to survive?
  • Live Together. Die Alone – Survive as a lone wanderer in this frozen wasteland of city, town, forest, and farm, or huddle together as a group of survivors in whatever shelter you can make for yourselves. As solo players, decide how much you’ll learn to live with NPC survivor communities struggling to find their way in this harsh world. As cooperative players, lean on each other and combine your skills and efforts to eke out another day of existence in the hostile environment. Alone or together, choose your own path to survival.
  • The Next-Generation Survival RPG – Built on the foundation of survival gameplay pioneered and perfected by THE LONG DARK over 10 years of development, BLACKFROST evolves every aspect of the survival formula to its 2.0 iteration, setting the table for the next generation of survival games. Build your own survivor, customize traits and skills, collect scars and stories, and experience a life as a survivor in this beautiful yet dangerous world. Many games have tried to bring survival mechanics to their open-world RPGs, but BLACKFROST is the first survival game built ground-up as a survival RPG.
  • Urban Survival – Experience the fantasy of wilderness survival at a 19th-century level of technology due to the aurora’s effects on the world and its inhabitants, and enjoy the same deep simulation of survival in nature from THE LONG DARK but with a new twist. Cities and towns offer new opportunities, and new hazards to your survival, introducing a fresh take on the established survival formula. The wilds are dangerous, but sometimes the city is where the real threats lie.
  • The Will to Live – Survival is as much about what’s in your head as what’s in your pack. With BLACKFROST, your success is no longer just about your physical Condition. BLACKFROST‘s new Will to Live system adds elements of psychological survival to the mix, introducing Resilience and its sub-stats to the well-established mechanics. Manage your doubts and fears, and find comfort in the small things if you want to survive.
  • New Hazards – Urban risks. The deep freeze of an intense northern winter. Extreme weather events. Aurora Storms. And the dreaded radioactive Blackfrost, emitted by the reactor complex looming on the horizon. Layered on the dangers from wildlife and other survivors you encounter along the way, BLACKFROST introduces a whole host of new hazards to the survival sandbox.
  • Permalife – The innovative Permalife system turns every death into a new adventure. Accumulate new risks and fears for your survivor as you move through the world and succumb to various hazards. Face your fears, overcome their downsides, and strengthen your Survivor’s story in the world. Make your mark. (Classic Permadeath still an option!)

Early Access

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BLACKFROST is being developed using Early Access for an optimal feedback loop between players and the development team, enabling them to consistently refine and improve. This follows Hinterland’s history of being a frontrunner in the Early Access model with THE LONG DARK, as it was one of the first games to be available on multiple early access platforms simultaneously across PC and console (Xbox Game Preview launch title in 2015). Likewise, BLACKFROST will be constructed piece by piece and launched without the full intended world or feature set. We think this strategy is best for fostering community-informed development and iteration, but it might not suit everyone, so make sure you’re on board with this approach before diving in! Further details regarding the team’s plans for roadmaps, timelines, and player feedback will be shared as we approach the 2026 launch.

Watch the announcement trailer below.

Announce Trailer

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2024-12-13 05:01