When does The Long Dark get good?

Give it 3 hours. In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (30%); after 20h it's 1 in 10 (10%). The biggest drop-off is between “Paradise Lost” (Make your way to Milton) and “The Long Winter” (Prepare Grey Mother for Winter): from 76% to 55% of starters.

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AdventureIndieSimulationStrategy

The Long Dark

Aug 1, 2017 Steam: Very Positive

Give it 3 hours

Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3

Started playing 50% of owners

Steam reviews 89% positive of 124,326

What the data shows

In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (30%); after 20h it's 1 in 10 (10%).
The biggest drop-off is between “Paradise Lost” (Make your way to Milton) and “The Long Winter” (Prepare Grey Mother for Winter): from 76% to 55% of starters.
Only 50% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.

When it gets good

Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.

before it gets good opening up fully opened up

Based on all 124,714 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 21h for positive, 6.6h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.

Where players quit

Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (49.7% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.

Started playing 100%
Your Journey Begins Escape the ravine after your crash. 93% −7
Paradise Lost Make your way to Milton. 76% −17
The Long Winter Prepare Grey Mother for Winter. Most players quit here 55% −21
Leaving the Old World Behind Leave Milton. Complete Episode One. 41% −14
Losing a Child is Like... Complete Lily's Story. 37% −4
The Old Trapper Bring Jeremiah back from near death. 36% −1
Lights in the Sky Survive the first Aurora event. 30% −5
Freight-Train of Hate & Hunger Kill the Old Bear. 21% −9
You'll Be With Her Soon Leave Mystery Lake. Complete Episode Two. 20% −2

story milestone ending biggest drop-off

Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.

All achievements (87)

story milestone ending side

The First of Many Survive 1 day in a single Survival Mode game. 100%
Your Journey Begins Escape the ravine after your crash. 93%
Paradise Lost Make your way to Milton. 76%
Night Walker Survive an entire Night outside (single game). 58%
The Long Winter Prepare Grey Mother for Winter. 55%
Leaving the Old World Behind Leave Milton. Complete Episode One. 41%
You Made It! Survive 10 days in a single Survival Mode game. 40%
Losing a Child is Like... Complete Lily's Story. 37%
The Old Trapper Bring Jeremiah back from near death. 36%
Lights in the Sky Survive the first Aurora event. 30%
Don't Starve Keep calorie store above zero for 10 days. 29%
There Will Be Blood Defeat your first Timberwolf pack. 24%
Freight-Train of Hate & Hunger Kill the Old Bear. 21%
You'll Be With Her Soon Leave Mystery Lake. Complete Episode Two. 20%
Beneath a Starry Sky Survive 3 consecutive Nights outside (single game). 19%
It was THIS Big! Catch a fish weighing over 5kg (11 lbs). 19%
Community Service Get to Thomson's Crossing. 18%
Natural Healer Heal yourself using all types of natural medicines (single game). 18%
Save Our Souls Enter the Crash Site. 17%
Ready for when the SHTF! Survive 50 days in a single Survival Mode game. 15%
Hippocratic Oath Rescue all three lost Survivors and stock the Hall with supplies. 14%
Stone-Age Sniper Stun a rabbit with a rock from over 25 meters (80 feet) away. 14%
He Lives Intercept the Radio transmission. 14%
The Crossroads Elegy Leave Pleasant Valley behind. Complete Episode Three. 14%
Welcome to the Sh#tshow Find Medicine for the Warden. 12%
Just Like New Sabotage the Locking Mechanism. 11%
Sounds Like Some Kind of Indie Band Find all Forest Talker caches. 11%
Too Big to Fail Open all Safety Deposit boxes in Milton. 11%
Something Stinks Locate the Detonators. 10%
Enemy For Life Turn the tables on Mathis. 10%
Leap of Faith Escape Blackrock and Complete Episode Four. 9.9%
Timberwolf Mountain Climb to the top of Timberwolf Mountain. 9.9%
Desolation Point Craft a full set of improvised Tools. 9.7%
Waste Not, Want Not Harvest 10 Complete Deer Carcasses (single game). 9.5%
Face the Impossible Survive one day on Interloper difficulty. 9.3%
No Half-Measures Uncover the latest Forest Talker Plans. 8.2%
Happy Harvester Harvest 25 of each kind of plant (single game). 8.0%
Centurion Survive 100 days in a single Survival Mode game. 8.0%
Graduation Day Complete all six Survival School objectives across Episodes One and Two. 7.8%
Penitent Scholar Complete all Research books. 7.8%
Tall Tales Investigate all four mysterious local legends. 6.6%
Resolute Outfitter Fill all clothing slots with 100% condition gear. 6.4%
Wrapped in Furs Sleep in a Bearskin Bedroll while wearing a Wolfskin Coat, Deerskin Boots, and Rabbitskin Mittens. 5.8%
Black Black Heart Collect all four bloody pages from the Blackrock Archives. 5.4%
Silent Hunter Survive the first 50 days without firing any firearms (single game). 5.2%
Pacifist Survive the first 25 days without killing anything (single game). 5.2%
Quarantine Explore Perseverance Mills. 5.0%
Living Off the Land Survive 25 consecutive full days only consuming calories harvested from wild plants and animals (single game). 4.6%
Every Last One Collect all six Notes with details on Forest Talker activity in Pleasant Valley. 4.6%
To The Bone Complete the autopsy of a missing Perseverance Mills townsperson. 4.4%
Deep Forest Keep a campfire burning for 3 days. 4.2%
Adrift Discover the truth behind the mysterious signal in Desperation Bay. 4.2%
The Hard Sciences Reach the Suzuki Radio Telescope and deliver Jeremiah's "Wintermute" message to Dr. Atwood. 4.0%
Exploration Game Visit every interior location in both Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway (single game). 4.0%
Hard Times Learn the truth behind all three Blackrock rumours. 3.8%
Song of the Earth Reactivate the Geothermal Plant and power up the telescope. 3.8%
Bending The Rail Retrieve the Trauma Kit. 3.6%
The Last Light Reunite with Astrid and deliver the Hardcase. 3.4%
The New World Complete Episode Five. 3.4%
Cache Mastery Find all hidden caches in Episode One and Episode Two. 3.2%
Skilled Survivor Get all skills to level 5 in a single Survival Mode game. 3.2%
Challenge Mastery Complete every Challenge. 3.0%
Quick Draw Kill 10 Ptarmigans with Arrows (single game). 2.2%
Faithful Cartographer Map all named locations in Survival Mode. 2.2%
The Will to Live Survive 500 days in a single Survival Mode game. 2.2%
Ends of the Earth Travel from Desolation Point to Sundered Pass (single game). 1.8%
Tackle Box Craft a full set of 3 Fishing Lures (single game). 1.8%
Rüdiger’s Dream Complete all 3 Tales (single game). 1.6%
Something Warm to Drink Collect 7 Insulated Flask Variants (single game). 1.6%
To the Teeth Collect 7 Expansion Firearm variants (single game). 1.6%
Wild At Heart Defeat and kill the Cougar stalking the Geothermal Region. 1.6%
Expert Angler Catch 4 different Rare Fish – Burbot, Goldeye, Red Irish Lord, and Rockfish (single game). 1.4%
Down Below Enter all 9 Prepper Cache locations (single game). 1.2%
Goods and Services Achieve the highest Trust level with the Trader. 1.0%
Hot Shot Kill 25 Rabbits with Fire Hardened Arrows (single game). 1.0%
Tasting Menu Find and Cook 9 Unique Recipes. 0.8%
Thanks for the Memories Collect 12 Mementos – one from each Lower Great Bear Island Region (single game). 0.8%
Broken Body Survive long enough to receive the final Affliction in Misery Mode. 0.6%
On the Lookout Reach all 6 Vista locations in the Far Territory (single game). 0.6%
Shutterbug Take 10 photos with each film type – Colour, B&W, and Sepia (single game). 0.6%
Too Greedily, too Deep Survive 25 consecutive days inside the Langston Mine. 0.6%
Dead Wake Collect all the writings and personal effects left behind by the ship's crew. 0.6%
Exposure Take a photo in each Great Bear Island Region for a total of 16 (single game). 0.4%
Tough Enough Survive 25 Cougar Struggles. 0.4%
Finely Tuned Complete “To SAR and Back” without using more than 50 pieces of coal. 0.4%
Search Party Find all three missing townspeople within 40 real time minutes. 0.4%
Something Wicked Survive 1000 days in a single Survival Mode game without Cheating Death. 0.4%

Steam page Updated: 2026-10-22.