The Long Dark
Worth it · Strategy · 2017
Steam Deck VerifiedThe verdict
WAIT.
Worth it today. The Winter Sale opens Dec 17, and it was discounted in 7 of its last 8 seasonal sales; 66% in the Winter Sale 2025.
Today
$34.99Worth it
Typical seasonal cut
$13.9960% offWorth it
- Cost per hour▼
- $1.49/hr
- ReviewsA
- 89% of 124,794
- Genre rank
- Top 2% Strategy
Holding it back: Cost per hour
Why
Recent reviews trending down: 79% over the last 30 days against 89% all-time.
Watch this gameOne alert at $13.99 or less.
Time and effort
- Main story
- 23.5h
- To 100%
- 247.6h 10.5x the story
- Achievements
- 87
Price and sales
- Sales
- 94 on record
- Typical cut
- 50% off
- Steam low
- $3.49 April 2025
- Sale every
- 40d last October 2026
Players and genre
- Online
- 2,732 now
- Recent reviews
- 79% 30 days
- Cheaper than
- 2% of its genre
- Better reviewed
- 94% of its genre
Price and player charts
The drop-off
50% start to <1% rarestThis site could not identify an ending achievement for this game, so there is no finish rate. Steam global achievements
The value story
The value story
Across all 94 discounts in the 12 years tracked, the median cut is 50 percent, about 6 weeks apart. Today it is at full price, and its last discount ended about 3 weeks ago.
Its score puts it in the top 2 percent of the games it competes with. It is pricier than 98 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 94 percent. Among the games that feel like it, The Forest ($19.99, scores 85) beats it on value, while it beats Among Trees ($14.99, scores 19).
More about The Long Dark
Players rate it 89 percent positive over its lifetime, but the last 30 days run 79 percent. Something recent has soured the room. This site sampled 800 of its Steam-purchase reviews; 11 were written by buyers who refunded it, sampled from reviews written May 2026 to October 2026. That is more refunded reviewers than 8 in 10 paid games this site has sampled to the same depth, and among the 2,604 games in its genre sampled this deeply, 612 have a larger share. Inside the two-hour refund window, 69 percent of the 7,313 reviews written there were positive, against 89 percent overall, and those are 7 percent of everything written about it.
Finishing takes 23.5 hours; clearing it takes 248, which is 11 times the campaign.
124,794 people have reviewed it, which is a big enough crowd to settle the number.
Valve rates it Steam Deck Verified, so it runs on the handheld without fiddling.
Buy now or wait
Buy now or wait
Last discount ended 24 days ago.
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
What drives the score
Grades: S best, D weakest
S is the best grade and D the weakest, judged as a buyer. ▲ raises the score, ▼ lowers it, ? is an input we do not have, • is a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
What players say
Well, I promised myself once I had finished the Campaign that I would make a review, and I finally finished it just now. The Long Dark's strengths are in the Survival Mode, in my humble opinion. It is what attracted me to the game originally, it is what keeps me playing, and it is what gives me hope for Black Frost in the future. However, much of the obvious advancements since early development (and yes, I played...
2 more reviews
absolutely love this Game it's a masterpiece love interloper survival its never crashed ever Good FPS 100% recommend getting this amazing Game
One of the best survival game i have ever played! I have been playing since its release on pc for beta back in i think 2014-2015
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
About the game
THE LONG DARK is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies -- only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 4 GB of memory, Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better, 7 GB of storage. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
No data upstream: critic score (Metacritic).
Cite this score
The Long Dark scores 80/100 on the BANG Score (worth it) as of Nov 8, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/305620/the-long-darkReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Nov 5, price as of Nov 7. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.