Beginner's Guide to The Long Dark! | How to Survive The Long Dark

Are you new to The Long Dark? Struggling to survive? Or are you simply looking for a few beginner's tips before starting on your journey? You've come to the right place! This survival guide has all the basic information you'll need to start the game off on the right foot while maintaining a spoiler-free environment and focusing solely on game mechanics and granting you imperative tips along the way.
Even if you're a long time veteran of The Long Dark, there may be a tip or two here that you may find helpful in your journey through the Quiet Apocalypse. Survival is never guaranteed in The Long Dark, but after watching this series, you may have a fighting chance!
Twitter: / snowtippedwolf
Twitch: / officiallonelywolf
Steam Group: steamcommunity....
Outro music: "Mystic Force," by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

[@CNSninja]

Oh! 4:11 - when you get in cars, ALWAYS flip the sun visors down! You'll never find anything hidden in them, but flipping them down is widely regarded among players as GOOD LUCK. Do it! (Also, flipping visors down and leaving the hood open is obviously a good way to mark cars as "searched" so you don't keep searching the same vehicles.)

[@Landon669]

Thanks LonelyWolf. I enjoy the spoiler free feeling of this guide!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad you liked it! My problem with most of the other guides, especially by the bigger names on YT, are very helpful but they also help by completely spoiling everything that's great about the game! While it's important to get a head start in The Long Dark and avoid some silly mistakes that don't help you learn anything, is it worth doing that at the expense of what makes the game so great: namely, exploration and desperation? If you know where to go for everything and know every map inside and out before you even start the game, it steals some of the charms that this game offers. I feel jealous of all the new players that get to die to silly things for the first time or have their first night huddled in a cave with a quickly dwindling fire because they don't know where to go. I can only experience that every time a new region is given to us. That's why I created this guide series. I wanted to give new and existing players a leg up on the game when it comes to understanding the mechanics and surviving as long as possible without revealing or destroying that charm of exploration and the satisfaction that comes from learning to survive all on your own. I'm glad you were able to learn something and still hopefully be able to retain that charm!

[@conanholmes8620]

Yep! Wot had said, i agree.

[@KekkoLancer]

@@Lonelywolfofficial thx a lot! As a new player I appreciate so much your video and your intentions! I want to find out more things about the game but at the same time I don't want to lose what I'm feeling in these first hours of my gameplay!

[@nathan.dunahoo]

This video was super helpful! I'm just getting into the game for basically the first time and I've been a little overwhelmed. I REALLY appreciate how you didn't spoil the magic of the game, yet still said everything that needed to be said. Thank you very much LonelyWolf :)

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad it was helpful! I'm actually redoing my entire guide series to bring it all up to date on the current version of the game! Some of my advice is outdated or there are new things to consider!

[@nathan.dunahoo]

@@Lonelywolfofficial Sweet, I'll stay tuned!

[@stefanburczymucha8772]

Thanks! I was looking for such spoiler free guide, since I am just starting my trip.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Good luck and I hope you have fun!

[@theinternetpolice2078]

Headcanon: the player is watching this on their phone on the one working outlet on the whole island

[@omegathenoob6453]

This is probably the best game I’ve ever played

[@Jacob-iz6iz]

Wow don't play to many games huh

[@cougar2k720]

There is another thing that might be worth mentioning is the save mechanic of the game. I only kind of noticed it after playing the game for awhile and looking up on Lonely vid guides esp the hunting series. I noticed that the game auto saves if you enter certain structure, sleeps on a bed or bedroll, or take condition damage like sprains or food poisoning. Also might be a time one where you go twelve hours and it will save despite none of situations explain above happen to you. You can escape the game and reload again to try it for a second run. For example, you have all your hunting stuff set up and don't want to do it again to hunt same bear. Just escape the and don't do anything that initiate a save, you can keep on hunting and prac on the same bear until you are happy assume you don't take any damage during the hunt. This also could be use if you happen to run into bad weather during a trek or if you forget something at your home base if you don't want to walk back all the way. Though it might not be some players liking because it counts as playing repeat from a save state until you like the outcome. But for gamer who is not so hardcore, it reduces the penalty for trying some something that you might not be comfortable with, or want more practice to begin with. This is more so for sandbox mode than storyline mode.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I might make a video covering that or at least mention it in a new video, but I don't think it deserve its own video as its such a singularly niche thing that, while it does exist, isn't very complex or hard to understand.

[@cougar2k720]

@@Lonelywolfofficial for sure, I think this feature could have been included in this video, and I only pick up recently while playing. It make it easier to be a bit adventurous, without the penalty. Thanks to that feature, I was able to save myself from falling to my death while climbing mountaineering rope, lol

[@aliz6888]

well the game is free today lol and thank you for guide it really helped

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad it helped! More guides to come.

[@KarlOsuchowski]

Finally pulled the trigger and got this game, had a rough q4 and need some focused solitude, but just starting my journey in TLD so I absolutely *have to* second earlier comments and say I'm SO THANKFUL for this spoiler-free video. Very cool!!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thanks mate! Stoked you liked the layout of the episode. I found that (I think I've said it before but I'll say it again) most of the other guides available all go on about in depth region maps and other things that spoil the exploration and fun of the game. I did my best to give you guys concrete information to build off of with a limited scope example so that you could avoid some easy mistakes and get on the path to having fun without spoiling the entirety of the game!

[@Soarific]

Thank you my friend, this will help a lot, im only 20 secs into the vid but i can tell by your voice and what you've said so far will help me lol. Subbed, I love small channels, they make better videos than bigger channels the majority of the time. Keep it up

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Ah, thanks! That really means a lot. Maybe one day I'll be large, but if that day ever comes I will still put quality over quantity and clickbait!

[@Soarific]

@@Lonelywolfofficial LOL. I came to check your guides after you replied to my comment on one of your recent vids. Turns out I've already been on this guide over a year ago xD. I didn't stick with the long dark but I wan't to do that now, so here I am revisiting your guide(s)!

[@Luke-gg1km]

I just downloaded the game off the Xbox pass and have no idea what the game is or anything

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

You survive against everything but zombies XD in the frozen Canadian wilderness. Good luck!

[@toadthemushroom537]

Lonelywolf thanks for being so nice :)

[@thothtahuti5509]

Great video, not enough people do spoiler free guides

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad it was helpful!

[@unknownunknwon480]

Hey just found your channel and i love your videos already. keep up the great work :D

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thank you! Hope you have fortune and luck on your runs in The Long Dark!

[@darrenthompson7995]

I just got into this game and can’t stop playing. I walked outside of a cottage to cook me all kinds of deer meat lit a fire and everything and a bear was watching me the whole time I seen it shot it then it charged towards me luckily I was able to get right back in the house now I’m waiting to see if it will go away. Things like that is what makes this game so awesome lol

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

If you've already nipped inside, you can wait for about 20 minutes of in game time (pass time or break down something) and then head back out. He probably won't be dead from bleeding out just yet but he'll have wandered off.

[@sunfis]

Even though I don’t have the Long Dark i’m still watching all of these vids because they’re so entertaining (ima get it tho because of u)

[@andreaaristokrates9516]

The UI is not self explanatory, it made me alt f4 multiple times and almost quit for good, I guess I made the mistake of first trying story mode for a guided tour more or less, which turns out kills you, unless you already know where to click what. Also if you don't know how the ui works, out of luck, you'll work yourself to death screaming at your screen and utterly brainless guy. I spent far too many minutes staring at the UI, mousing over things, trying to figure out how to stop myself from bleeding out. This games UX is terrible enough to send me to your channel and a wiki.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I wouldn't say the UI is terrible, by any means. I've seen many a worse UI throughout many other types of games. That aside, it's not necessarily the UI that's problematic, it is that there are so many interworking mechanics of the game that display themselves in a tight format so it can be complicated to understand what you're looking for. However, I would contend that there are a few areas of the UI that are a bit rough, such as some of the cooking menus and such. Ultimately, it's a personal and subjective thing to some degree, and so what many people experience and have no problems with can be very problematic for others. I wish you luck in conquering the UI and getting up to speed on the game!

[@andreaaristokrates9516]

@@Lonelywolfofficial Thank you for the quick response! Reading back a couple hours later into a pilgrim game, it was a much better experience learning the UI, still a mess, but at least learnable, when you are too well rested in a dark trailer. I found myself picking up the bedroll accidentally when trying to sleep, I feel like that is not ideally designed. Also on sleeping, the fact that you can't just sleep until it's bright enough to read a book, that or the fake clock isn't good enough, at least until you bang your head against the brick wall for long enough… But the first impression was: why is everything flashing red, like I'm an idiot, I just need to quickly deal with the injury, show me that, I saw a wall of uncraftable and couldn't craft and immediately apply, so I had to search. Also one of the first things I had to deal with were rabbits in the story mode, which is wholy inappropriate for newbies and half the time I misclicked and threw a rock at the rock I tried to pick up, with the hitbox and controls being so inconvenient. Another horribly easy to make mistake is putting away clothes you wear, it's obvious now, but the little triangle was on almost everything and I looted a bit and was super slow, naturally I strip naked and wonder why it's so cold. I feel like worn clothes need to be separated somehow, because the carefully putting away what you don't wear mini game is stupid. Also comparing things in the clothing UI is nice, except when you put everything into the drawer. I feel like there should be something like when you try to burn an unread book, it should warn you about you storing away clothes you wear, except: you should be able to disable it for a couple minutes to put away everything undisturbed. Without people and help series like yours, I don't think I would have picked it back up soon. I think just knowing about the moose bag is a game changer, as is "don't mess with the moose - sincerely, ribs". So thank you for your helpful series and playlist.

[@jensb3946]

@@andreaaristokrates9516 The UI is not a mess, it is complex. This is not a game where you jump in and immediately understand everything. Typical noobs to say that the UI is bad just because they haven't learned it yet smh.

[@kermevh5660]

hope your doing beter in your game the ui is messy at first but i hope that you have learnd it and your enjoying the game. also my ribs telled me not mess with the moose... i did they broke bruh. i think the story mode is a good helping hand if you know the basic but if you realy just started its not guided enough. luv and see you later in the quiet apocalyps

[@kermevh5660]

and sorry for my english its not first my first one

[@Lonewolf.wildcamping]

Best explained beginners guide I have found, well done subscribed

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Awesome, thank you!

[@tristan9811]

Just commenting because I know you’ll see it eventually. I just met fluffy 2.0 in the bleak inlet and there’s no info on it at all. Just had to ask if you encounter this in the play through and if not...wtf dude I almsot had a heart attack.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I do not encounter it in any of my playthroughs so far but yeah, fluffy exists again!

[@gm4307]

Anyone else have a glitch where it just goes black and u have to pause,unpause game to refresh HUD? I was like wow it gets dark fast in Milton.

[@esmeld_3640]

Love this! Thank you

[@dominicp9296]

First time zero knowledge loll that's so true that's me that's why I'm here

[@CurtisJensenGames]

Literally about to die but because of this video I made a fire!!

[@ninetoedlizard6650]

Just a general guide for survival in general, but pretty important in this game: 3 minutes without oxygen 3 hours without shelter 3 days without water 3 weeks without food

[@rasmustagu]

Really like this guide + the series as a whole! - Well done and thanks for your help!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad to help! Let me know if there's anything else you'd like covered, as I'll be redoing this guide!

[@alexlurye1815]

Great videos bud

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thanks mate!

[@Jason8060]

Concise and helpful, thanks

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad you liked it! Perchance you may look at the rest of the playlist and find some other good tips as well!

[@Jason8060]

@@Lonelywolfofficial little late buddy! Already watched about another 10 before you replied. It's refreshing to get the information without the endless monologue. Keep up the good work mate!

[@filippomonsone2049]

Hi LonelyWolf, I'm arrived at Grey Mother's house and I've talked with her. I understood how I can sleep but I still didn't find a bedroll or something else where I can sleep... If I search in Milton could I find a bedroll? Because I'm beginning to be tired...

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

There's a bed upstairs in her house you can sleep in.

[@KorpiklaaniLordi]

Tried to preserve matches, and only used 20 or so on hardest loot setting in custom mode, day 410...only to die to cold in a cave by sleeping instead od 2hrs full 10 just because I was playing in the evening and was tired from work........

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Youch...

[@shdawnus]

your guide is quite helpful

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad you liked it!

[@orange_gamer6251]

Just got this game from the epic games sale, survived for 9 days and counting on voyager thanks to these guides

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Glad they helped you! I'm making many more!

[@Evelina5089]

I love your channel, the four dislikes are from the deer, wolves, moose and bears you’ve killed while making your tutorials

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Haha thanks man! Glad you've enjoyed!

[@gordjones2115]

Is it just me or is the main story bugged fron the start? Can manage to get a fire going o.k but by the time I've climbed up to the plane wreckage im pretty much dead. Have started over several times and its the same every time, seems to be something to do with the temperature gauge as it just drops straight away, building a new fire doesn't even help.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

You may be rushing too fast. There's probably a few other objectives you need to achieve first. Cold will kill you yes, but story mode will kill you really fast if you step out of a scripted bound too quickly. Cold should not kill you by the time you climb out XD.

[@gordjones2115]

@@Lonelywolfofficial I'm literally only doing what the game tells me i need to do, made bandages & fire in the cave at the start then sleep, wake up, climb up grabbing some of the red berries on the way, get to the plane wreck, loot up, grab coat, drink & eat from loot but by then my temp gauge has dropped. Just dont know what im doing wrong.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

@@gordjones2115 Gotcha. Your temp dropping is normal. Your temp gauge reaching zero doesn't kill you immediately, just starts to hurt. You have like 5 hours to continue faffing about before you'll freeze to death. The early game just after the crash is brutal but once you find some gear you'll get warm!

[@lepketheslime4792]

i died in 6 minutes time

[@HalfTex]

Very good tips, I should watch this video, now it´s too late for me, because i had to learn it by myself. How @Soarific said, I like too small channels, because they are more active and sometimes they know, how to record and how to edit. I had to subscribe and now I am going to wait for next videos. GOOD JOB! PS. Sorry for my English, if there is any issue.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

No issues mate! As long as you can understand enough that it helps you, that's stellar! Welcome to the pack and I hope you enjoy your stay!

[@Crow.c]

Do peaceful birds mean anything?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

As far as I know, no. Peaceful birds just contribute to the ambiance of the game. It's just the morning dove's coo that signifies potential danger.

[@Crow.c]

Lonelywolf gotcha. *proceeds to look up dove calls because I don’t Spend enough time outside*

[@skuleskjerdal]

Can you make an episode in this series on forging?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Dunno if there's really a point to it. You go to the forge. You make your items. You leave. It's quite straightforward and unambiguous. I typically make guides about things that aren't always as straightforward or have a lot of additional consideration to take into account.

[@razorgod65]

thank you !!! just started playing it.

[@Spectrik]

Nice and comprehensive instant sub

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Thanks for the sub! Glad you enjoyed the guide.

[@Spectrik]

Lonelywolf thank you for the heart as of right now I’ve spent 12 hours in game and have enjoyed every moment due to your help

[@ceh.8191]

Thank you so much for this.🙂

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

You are so welcome!

[@Marticus_97]

Is loot random in this game?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

It's quite randomized, yes. There are a few items that follow a loot table setup but the rest is randomized for each run.

[@stefaniarosca7264]

This is so cool! I really like the Long Dark and I've been playing for a few years but watching this is a great experience

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! The Long Dark is really a breath of fresh, icy air in the survival game genre. No zombies or undead, no nuclear fallout, just you, the wind, and the wolves...

[@GrannyGr]

I cant hit the fucking rabbits its so annoying

[@somecringelord5387]

this is my first time on this channel. just downloaded the game and was too stupid to comprehend how to collect snow but damn boi i fell inlove with your voice. i barely feel like playing anymore.

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Ohhhhhhh ohkay doughkay XD

[@shrimpininio]

you playning fortnite?

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

No, not a big fan of Fortnite.

[@starvedfrogs1111]

@@Lonelywolfofficial good man

[@mystery7621]

Thanks! Your underrated!

[@Lonelywolfofficial]

Awwhhhh thanks! Glad you liked it!