The Long Dark kept momentum after the final story episode landed on March 31; player numbers climbed and the team shared a summary of how things went and what’s next.
In month one the title picked up more than 500k new users on Steam. Peak concurrent players hit roughly 14.9k, and the devs expect that to pass 15k over the coming wknd. Across platforms, the fifth episode drew hundreds of thousands of players within the first 48 hrs.
Not everything was smooth. Several bugs turned up at launch; a patch is planned for April 8 to address them. Also, the Nintendo Switch build remains stuck in certification, so the Switch release won’t arrive before the end of April.
Another boost: The game has returned to Game Pass, which should broaden the audience even further.
Details about adding the fifth episode to survival mode are still pending — the devs said they’ll reveal more later. Project lead Raphael van Lierop has also been clear that he doesn’t intend to alter the episode’s ending, despite some player criticism (take it as you will).
Meanwhile work continues on the sequel, Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2. No release date has been announced.