‘The Long Dark’ is getting its first paid DLC as the game’s creator steps back from development

nme.com:

The Long Dark developer Hinterland Studio has shared a blog post discussing the survival game’s future, including plans for a “season pass” with paid downloadable content (DLC) coming later this year.Posted yesterday (April 29), a developer diary titled ‘The Future Of The Long Dark‘ has touched on the game’s eight-year history and looked ahead at what’s next.While Hinterland Studio expressed appreciation for the game’s fanbase, it also explained that the developer’s promise to make every update free posed a major challenge in “managing our resources”.The blog then added that in a recent poll, 80 per cent of players expressed a desire for Hinterland Studio to create paid expansion content.

With the community’s approval, that’s now underway – and this year, The Long Dark will be getting its first ever DLC since launching in Early Access in 2014.Expected to launch in 2022, Hinterland Studio has shared that DLC will be released with “some kind of “season pass”-type approach […] where we will have a ~15-18 month campaign of updates that unlock for anyone who has purchased the pass.”Updates will be released with “a regular cadence” over those 15 to 18 months, and will include “a combination of content and gameplay system updates, including new regions, new challenges, new mechanics, etc., as well as general improvements and updates to core systems in the game.”Each of the season’s updates will also be available as individual paid DLC, and will be “fairly priced”.Plans for paid expansions will not mark an end to The Long Dark‘s free content, and Hinterland Studio has confirmed it will still be adding “some free updates to the base Survival game.” – though they will be “smaller, more modest improvements compared to what you will.