Tales from the Far Territory is the first paid expansion for The Long Dark

Published October 20, 2022 9:30 PM, by Sam Chandler

As one of the best survival and exploration games out there, The Long Dark has long drawn in a dedicated fan base. Since its release back in 2014, the game has received countless free updates to expand its world but in a bid to tackle long-term sustainability, creator Raphael van Lierop has announced its first paid Expansion Pass, Tales from the Far Territory.

The Long Dark creator Raphael van Lierop revealed the first paid expansion for the game in a developer diary on October 20, 2022. In the blog post, Raphael unveiled Tales from the Far Territory. This expansion focuses on a new region, the Far Range, which is an “imposing wall of rock” that protects some riches – both materials and dark stories. Take a look at the teaser trailer below.

Players will set out to search for rumored abandoned mines and remote airfields. How they get here is via a long trek through railway lines, tunnels, and caverns. This new addition to Great Bear Island has a campaign that slowly expands over the course of the 12-month Expansion Pass. The blog post highlights a few key things players will see introduced with the expansion:

• Three new Regions, connected by the long travel zones and hub region. The first of these Regions, “Forsaken Airfield”, and the travel zones all launch with the Expansion Pass. The other two Regions will be released over the course of the 12-month campaign.
• Three Tales, narrative-themed Challenges that take place within your Survival game, each revealing insights into the Far Territory’s mysterious history.
• New gameplay systems including: Transponder, Travois, Safehouse Customization, Trader, Complex Recipes for Cooking, and new Item Variants. We’ll share more info about each of these features on the larger Expansion Pass site we’ll be launching closer to release.
• 20+ minutes of new Survival music (10+ minutes included in the first Drop).
• And much more…

Those who might be worried about free updates should rest assured, more free updates and improvements will continue to come to the “base” Survival Mode. The post notes the following:

• Full global loot and wildlife refresh. We’ve redone all the loot tables, all the pre-placed loot, and rebalanced the loot economy across the entire game. The Resource refresh will go live for all players when the Expansion launches, and the full Wildlife refresh will come some time next year.
• Visor Notes. You’ll be able to find notes under visors (and other locations) that point to supply caches and other useful things, hidden all over the world.
• New First-Person animations. We’ve added a whole bunch of new animations for harvesting actions, and more.
• Thermos. You know — to keep your drinks warm.
• Visual enhancements (focused on high-end systems).
• Burdock, a new edible plant.
• Improvised Crampons, so you can make them yourself. Watch those ankles!
• …and a range of enhancements to existing systems.

Though there isn’t a solid release date, the expansion is arriving in December. Players can also wishlist Tales from the Far Territory on Steam and it will set players back a mere $19.99 USD at launch. Those who own The Long Dark will see a bundle that comes at a reduced cost. It’s also worth noting that at the halfway point through the campaign, the cost will increase by $5 to reflect the introduction of additional content. By the time the whole campaign ends after a year, the price will increase to $29.99. Raphael also notes that none of the content will be removed at the end of the campaign, so what you buy will stick with you.

The blog post is quite large and covers a whole lot of content. There’s information on save compatibility, new SKUs, other platform releases for Tales from the Far Territory, Episode Five, and The Long Dark player count update (and the sales numbers):

• Steam (paid): 4,000,000
• Xbox (paid): 750,000
• Xbox Game Pass (subscription): 2,000,000
• PlayStation (paid): 500,000
• PlayStation+ (subscription): 1,300,000
• Switch (paid): 68,000
• WeGame (paid): 125,000
• Epic Game Store (combo paid + give-away): 1,500,000+

That's over 10 million players that have dipped into the icy and challenging world of The Long Dark. If you haven’t already, take a moment to read over our review of The Long Dark where Bill Lavoy states that Hinterland’s commitment to the game has “positioned The Long Dark at the top of the survival genre’s pecking order.” There’s also more to discover on our Long Dark page. Check out The Long Dark: Tales from the Far Territory on Steam and wishlist it ahead of its December release.