The Long Dark has arrived on Early Access, with a bunch of new features since we first looked at it, including a choice between a male or female protagonist, a lot more variation in loot – clothes, food, equipment – as well as some new locations to discover. One thing they haven’t done is made it any easier to play. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s gotten a whole lot more difficult. Here’s my diary entries for my return to the game.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good. Oh, I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good.

I’ve found a hut! Goodness knows, I need some shelter as the storm picks up. Inside I’ve found a new hat, some shoes, and there’s a fireplace. I can finally feel warm – I just have to go outside and get some wood and oh I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good. Luckily I can see a deer carcass right in front of me, and perhaps I’ll be able to cut some meat, and recover some hide, from its corpse except no I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. And it’s night time. Things really don’t look good.

I can’t see anything. I’ve hurt my legs, having apparently fallen off the side of a hydroelectric dam. I got my flare lit at last, and made my way toward some train tracks – followed them a good long way in the pitch black, but they ended in a rock fall. Turning around to go back, I saw on the bridge I’d crossed the green glowing eyes of a wolf. Didn’t like the look of him.

I got past the wolf, and foraged for some wood until dawn. That really took it out of me – calories are low, and I’m freezing. But the dam! I’ve made my way back, and it seems I had crashed right next to a door! Of all the luck – damned darkness. So I’ve come inside, shut the door, and I’ve found a good bit of equipment in the echoey rooms in here except somehow there’s a wolf in here and he’s eating me.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good. There’s an icy lake to cross, several huts scattered across it. I’m nervous it might crack, but the weather’s so bloody cold that it’s surely solid. I’ll just see if there’s anything to find inside the huts. Oh, no I won’t, because I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good. I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today I’m being eaten by a wolf.

Day One: Dear Diary. Today my plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. I’ve only got a few scant clothes with me, a couple of bandages, and a flare or two. Things don’t look good. I keep having this recurring dream about being eaten by dogs. No idea. But damn, it’s so cold. Found some woollen longjohns, and tin of pork and beans. So things are looking up! Just need to get some sleep, and I’ll be able to oh I’ve died of dehydration.

I should add that after I wrote this, I’ve gone on to have an extraordinarily successful game, where despite the absolutely idiotic demand to constantly eat food (seriously, this guy gets hungry ten minutes after downing 1.5kg of deer meat – it desperately needs fixing), I’ve kept alive for nearly four days. And I’m still alive, currently flushed with 3000 calories, a full tummy, and managed to recover my overall health from down as low as 21% all the way back up to peak condition. I’ve an arsenal of tools, and thick, warm clothes. It can be done! Although I still hear wolves howling outside.