I'm playing on the default difficulty setting, though I'm very tempted by the ultra-tough Interloper mode, which sounds brutally apocalyptic with a climate that becomes more hazardous as time goes on, and declining wildlife. I have a home, a large stockpile of wood for my fire, and a freezer full of bear, wolf and deer meat. My second attempt has been far more successful. I started playing on Saturday night and my first character didn't manage to find shelter before dying, frozen and exhausted. I'm not sure if it's easier now or if it's that I got lucky with my starting position, but this is the longest I've ever lived. Previously, my attempts to survive The Long Dark hadn't lasted more than a couple of in-game days, but that was a while back, when the game first entered Early Access. These are my adventures in The Long Dark, a game which has singlehandedly convinced me that the survival genre has a bright future. I've been living at Pleasant Valley Farmstead for two weeks but it feels like a lifetime. They are wary of me, but their hunger for my flesh is stronger than their fear. The frozen fields are already littered with carcasses, and I'm wrapped in a stinking hide, but it's not enough to keep the wolves at bay.

If I could, I'd attach their heads to spikes and mark out the perimeter of my territory with their blood.

The long dark sandbox