The Long Dark
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played The Long Dark rate it? TrueGG Rating 78.1%

Release date: Aug 1, 2017 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it lower than Steam overall. Ratings tend to be steady from the first hours. Recent reviews are falling.

Think twice if you are

  • Players who put story first
  • Players who want a brisk pace
  • Players buying on the promise of future updates (complaints about the developers)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
78.1%
▼ −10.7 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 20+ hours (last 180 days) · 2,957 reviews

TrueGG, all time
90.1%
Steam overall
88.9%
Japanese, all time
83.3%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 6.9% of all reviews. Their positive share is 69.5%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (20h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 20 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h39%1361–2 h59%932–5 h75%3105–10 h83%35410–20 h79%49420–50 h78%83950–100 h78%873100–200 h74%591200+ h82%654Positive share by playtime0–1 h13639%1–2 h9359%2–5 h31075%5–10 h35483%10–20 h49479%20–50 h83978%50–100 h87378%100–200 h59174%200+ h65482%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h39.0%—136
1–2 h59.1%—93
2–5 h75.2%0.0%310
5–10 h83.1%100.0%354
10–20 h78.9%—494
20–50 h78.1%100.0%839
50–100 h77.7%66.7%873
100–200 h74.3%71.4%591
200+ h82.3%66.7%654

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 20+ hours. 55% had 20+ hours and 20% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

The Long Dark has a TrueGG Rating of 78.1%: the positive share among 2,957 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 20+ hours. That is 10.7 points below Steam's overall 88.9%, so players who really play the current version are harsher than the headline number suggests (all time: 90.1%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 7% of the total, with 70% positive. The early hours do not split opinion much.

Beyond the first hours, approval is fairly even across playtime.

Negative reviews most often mention the story, pacing, and updates and the developers.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 83.3%, 5.2 points above all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (88.2% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on the game's design (Story, Movement & pacing, Boring / repetitive). These rarely change with updates, so the rating likely reflects the game itself. Judge by whether it suits you.

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Story43% of negative reviews (26% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · 9 positive reviews say it improved
  • Movement & pacing21% of negative reviews (7% of positive) · most common among 2–20h players
  • Updates & developers20% of negative reviews (9% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · 5 positive reviews say it improved
  • Boring / repetitive17% of negative reviews (4% of positive) · most common among 2–20h players
  • Crashes & bugs14% of negative reviews (5% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · 6 positive reviews say it improved

+ What players praise

No standout topics

＋ 目標＋ 燃料＋ カナダ＋ チャレンジモード＋ 大自然＋ 資源＋ 部屋＋ グラフィック− stupid− walk− guess− items− fine− release− awful− tedious

Counted from 421 recent negative and 600 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating88.9%All time, all languages · 124,350 reviews
Adjusted rating88.2%Weighted by trust (95% range 87.8%–88.5%), −0.7pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews80.1%All time, Japanese-language reviews (−8.8pt vs overall) · 608 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review5%15%
Very short text31%11%
Key activated outside Steam9%10%
Received for free0%0%
Owns very few games20%9%
Over 100 reviews written2%4%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.800.85

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 36.9 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 2014-09: +320 / −10 2014-10: +327 / −18 2014-11: +722 / −38 2014-12: +1,144 / −37 2015-01: +831 / −34 2015-02: +610 / −38 2015-03: +341 / −18 2015-04: +274 / −15 2015-05: +237 / −9 2015-06: +644 / −44 2015-07: +296 / −16 2015-08: +367 / −21 2015-09: +421 / −29 2015-10: +296 / −24 2015-11: +509 / −33 2015-12: +739 / −31 2016-01: +1,022 / −69 2016-02: +744 / −54 2016-03: +386 / −30 2016-04: +409 / −32 2016-05: +566 / −54 2016-06: +591 / −57 2016-07: +613 / −49 2016-08: +374 / −25 2016-09: +352 / −32 2016-10: +550 / −40 2016-11: +1,738 / −58 2016-12: +759 / −63 2017-01: +704 / −55 2017-02: +443 / −27 2017-03: +319 / −46 2017-04: +649 / −66 2017-05: +637 / −114 2017-06: +596 / −79 2017-07: +575 / −56 2017-08: +2,430 / −336 2017-09: +415 / −53 2017-10: +278 / −43 2017-11: +2,544 / −78 2017-12: +958 / −148 2018-01: +920 / −133 2018-02: +440 / −49 2018-03: +284 / −44 2018-04: +1,174 / −179 2018-05: +324 / −41 2018-06: +747 / −122 2018-07: +590 / −118 2018-08: +304 / −49 2018-09: +245 / −29 2018-10: +231 / −34 2018-11: +3,711 / −170 2018-12: +1,059 / −168 2019-01: +741 / −111 2019-02: +424 / −67 2019-03: +260 / −54 2019-04: +228 / −26 2019-05: +686 / −169 2019-06: +1,128 / −64 2019-07: +1,225 / −88 2019-08: +270 / −38 2019-09: +204 / −38 2019-10: +982 / −94 2019-11: +2,831 / −99 2019-12: +1,855 / −95 2020-01: +1,135 / −68 2020-02: +739 / −61 2020-03: +881 / −274 2020-04: +816 / −71 2020-05: +1,581 / −180 2020-06: +974 / −284 2020-07: +1,053 / −105 2020-08: +643 / −77 2020-09: +530 / −48 2020-10: +687 / −64 2020-11: +1,670 / −87 2020-12: +2,196 / −247 2021-01: +1,146 / −94 2021-02: +736 / −65 2021-03: +889 / −91 2021-04: +567 / −65 2021-05: +815 / −67 2021-06: +576 / −53 2021-07: +592 / −59 2021-08: +568 / −42 2021-09: +1,009 / −114 2021-10: +1,173 / −134 2021-11: +1,790 / −72 2021-12: +1,144 / −114 2022-01: +862 / −88 2022-02: +530 / −47 2022-03: +427 / −41 2022-04: +484 / −46 2022-05: +438 / −47 2022-06: +412 / −38 2022-07: +523 / −44 2022-08: +534 / −65 2022-09: +375 / −41 2022-10: +696 / −82 2022-11: +1,304 / −68 2022-12: +1,241 / −333 2023-01: +611 / −80 2023-02: +382 / −59 2023-03: +501 / −71 2023-04: +411 / −54 2023-05: +409 / −69 2023-06: +448 / −73 2023-07: +495 / −72 2023-08: +422 / −60 2023-09: +388 / −36 2023-10: +382 / −38 2023-11: +1,116 / −52 2023-12: +744 / −112 2024-01: +633 / −80 2024-02: +411 / −53 2024-03: +379 / −47 2024-04: +294 / −42 2024-05: +313 / −56 2024-06: +406 / −91 2024-07: +478 / −84 2024-08: +330 / −48 2024-09: +302 / −36 2024-10: +384 / −50 2024-11: +750 / −40 2024-12: +1,242 / −244 2025-01: +759 / −147 2025-02: +458 / −88 2025-03: +482 / −81 2025-04: +805 / −234 2025-05: +1,183 / −252 2025-06: +633 / −110 2025-07: +501 / −77 2025-08: +386 / −70 2025-09: +415 / −73 2025-10: +494 / −79 2025-11: +1,227 / −73 2025-12: +627 / −138 2026-01: +622 / −106 2026-02: +383 / −72 2026-03: +966 / −191 2026-04: +1,989 / −1,382 2026-05: +652 / −274 2026-06: +461 / −110 2026-07: +520 / −100 2026-08: +410 / −99 2026-09: +419 / −119 2026-10: +356 / −87 2014/092015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 88.9% 2024-06: update2024-07: update2024-08: update2024-12: update2025-03: update2025-05: update2025-06: update2025-12: update2026-03: update2026-04: update 2014-09: 97.0%2014-10: 94.8%2014-11: 95.0%2014-12: 96.9%2015-01: 96.1%2015-02: 94.1%2015-03: 95.0%2015-04: 94.8%2015-05: 96.3%2015-06: 93.6%2015-07: 94.9%2015-08: 94.6%2015-09: 93.6%2015-10: 92.5%2015-11: 93.9%2015-12: 96.0%2016-01: 93.7%2016-02: 93.2%2016-03: 92.8%2016-04: 92.7%2016-05: 91.3%2016-06: 91.2%2016-07: 92.6%2016-08: 93.7%2016-09: 91.7%2016-10: 93.2%2016-11: 96.8%2016-12: 92.3%2017-01: 92.8%2017-02: 94.3%2017-03: 87.4%2017-04: 90.8%2017-05: 84.8%2017-06: 88.3%2017-07: 91.1%2017-08: 87.9%2017-09: 88.7%2017-10: 86.6%2017-11: 97.0%2017-12: 86.6%2018-01: 87.4%2018-02: 90.0%2018-03: 86.6%2018-04: 86.8%2018-05: 88.8%2018-06: 86.0%2018-07: 83.3%2018-08: 86.1%2018-09: 89.4%2018-10: 87.2%2018-11: 95.6%2018-12: 86.3%2019-01: 87.0%2019-02: 86.4%2019-03: 82.8%2019-04: 89.8%2019-05: 80.2%2019-06: 94.6%2019-07: 93.3%2019-08: 87.7%2019-09: 84.3%2019-10: 91.3%2019-11: 96.6%2019-12: 95.1%2020-01: 94.3%2020-02: 92.4%2020-03: 76.3%2020-04: 92.0%2020-05: 89.8%2020-06: 77.4%2020-07: 90.9%2020-08: 89.3%2020-09: 91.7%2020-10: 91.5%2020-11: 95.0%2020-12: 89.9%2021-01: 92.4%2021-02: 91.9%2021-03: 90.7%2021-04: 89.7%2021-05: 92.4%2021-06: 91.6%2021-07: 90.9%2021-08: 93.1%2021-09: 89.8%2021-10: 89.7%2021-11: 96.1%2021-12: 90.9%2022-01: 90.7%2022-02: 91.9%2022-03: 91.2%2022-04: 91.3%2022-05: 90.3%2022-06: 91.6%2022-07: 92.2%2022-08: 89.1%2022-09: 90.1%2022-10: 89.5%2022-11: 95.0%2022-12: 78.8%2023-01: 88.4%2023-02: 86.6%2023-03: 87.6%2023-04: 88.4%2023-05: 85.6%2023-06: 86.0%2023-07: 87.3%2023-08: 87.6%2023-09: 91.5%2023-10: 91.0%2023-11: 95.5%2023-12: 86.9%2024-01: 88.8%2024-02: 88.6%2024-03: 89.0%2024-04: 87.5%2024-05: 84.8%2024-06: 81.7%2024-07: 85.1%2024-08: 87.3%2024-09: 89.3%2024-10: 88.5%2024-11: 94.9%2024-12: 83.6%2025-01: 83.8%2025-02: 83.9%2025-03: 85.6%2025-04: 77.5%2025-05: 82.4%2025-06: 85.2%2025-07: 86.7%2025-08: 84.6%2025-09: 85.0%2025-10: 86.2%2025-11: 94.4%2025-12: 82.0%2026-01: 85.4%2026-02: 84.2%2026-03: 83.5%2026-04: 59.0%2026-05: 70.4%2026-06: 80.7%2026-07: 83.9%2026-08: 80.6%2026-09: 77.9%2026-10: 80.4% 2014/092015/012016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.

Updates and ratings before and after

DateAnnouncement2 months before → after
2026-04-08 The Long Dark WINTERMUTE Updated to version 2.23 84% → 74% (−9.3pt)
2026-03-31 EPISODE FIVE: THE LIGHT AT THE END OF ALL THINGS, NOW LIVE! 85% → 61% (−23.5pt)
2025-12-03 The Long Dark Updated to version 2.50 92% → 85% (−6.9pt)
2025-06-10 The Long Dark Updated to version 2.44 80% → 86% (+5.4pt)
2025-05-27 THE LONG DARK - VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS UPDATE - Now Live! 80% → 86% (+5.5pt)
2025-03-19 The Long Dark Updated to version 2.40 84% → 80% (−3.5pt)
2024-12-02 TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART SIX: "BROKEN SILENCE" -- NOW LIVE! 93% → 84% (−8.8pt)
2024-08-07 THE LONG DARK Updated to version 2.32 83% → 89% (+5.4pt)
2024-07-04 THE LONG DARK Updated to version 2.31 83% → 88% (+5.2pt)
2024-06-24 TALES FROM THE FAR TERRITORY, PART FIVE -- "LAST HORIZON". Now Live! 86% → 86% (−0.1pt)

Picked automatically from the titles of Steam announcements by the developer (one per month, last 3 years, up to 10). The dotted lines mark those months. Before and after are the positive rates of the two months before and after (excluding the month itself); shown as "—" under 50 reviews or when the two months after are not complete. An update is not necessarily the cause of a change.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 20 40 60 2026-09-19: +15 / −0 2026-09-20: +14 / −3 2026-09-21: +11 / −9 2026-09-22: +10 / −3 2026-09-23: +12 / −1 2026-09-24: +9 / −1 2026-09-25: +15 / −5 2026-09-26: +14 / −1 2026-09-27: +17 / −2 2026-09-28: +8 / −4 2026-09-29: +11 / −3 2026-09-30: +9 / −7 2026-10-01: +12 / −0 2026-10-02: +10 / −3 2026-10-03: +13 / −4 2026-10-04: +9 / −4 2026-10-05: +7 / −0 2026-10-06: +15 / −3 2026-10-07: +16 / −4 2026-10-08: +8 / −1 2026-10-09: +19 / −5 2026-10-10: +23 / −7 2026-10-11: +36 / −5 2026-10-12: +30 / −14 2026-10-13: +35 / −3 2026-10-14: +17 / −6 2026-10-15: +22 / −5 2026-10-16: +33 / −8 2026-10-17: +26 / −9 2026-10-18: +25 / −6 09/1909/2610/0310/1010/17
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2014-093201097.0%
2014-103271894.8%
2014-117223895.0%
2014-121,1443796.9%
2015-018313496.1%
2015-026103894.1%
2015-033411895.0%
2015-042741594.8%
2015-05237996.3%
2015-066444493.6%
2015-072961694.9%
2015-083672194.6%
2015-094212993.6%
2015-102962492.5%
2015-115093393.9%
2015-127393196.0%
2016-011,0226993.7%
2016-027445493.2%
2016-033863092.8%
2016-044093292.7%
2016-055665491.3%
2016-065915791.2%
2016-076134992.6%
2016-083742593.7%
2016-093523291.7%
2016-105504093.2%
2016-111,7385896.8%
2016-127596392.3%
2017-017045592.8%
2017-024432794.3%
2017-033194687.4%
2017-046496690.8%
2017-0563711484.8%
2017-065967988.3%
2017-075755691.1%
2017-082,43033687.9%
2017-094155388.7%
2017-102784386.6%
2017-112,5447897.0%
2017-1295814886.6%
2018-0192013387.4%
2018-024404990.0%
2018-032844486.6%
2018-041,17417986.8%
2018-053244188.8%
2018-0674712286.0%
2018-0759011883.3%
2018-083044986.1%
2018-092452989.4%
2018-102313487.2%
2018-113,71117095.6%
2018-121,05916886.3%
2019-0174111187.0%
2019-024246786.4%
2019-032605482.8%
2019-042282689.8%
2019-0568616980.2%
2019-061,1286494.6%
2019-071,2258893.3%
2019-082703887.7%
2019-092043884.3%
2019-109829491.3%
2019-112,8319996.6%
2019-121,8559595.1%
2020-011,1356894.3%
2020-027396192.4%
2020-0388127476.3%
2020-048167192.0%
2020-051,58118089.8%
2020-0697428477.4%
2020-071,05310590.9%
2020-086437789.3%
2020-095304891.7%
2020-106876491.5%
2020-111,6708795.0%
2020-122,19624789.9%
2021-011,1469492.4%
2021-027366591.9%
2021-038899190.7%
2021-045676589.7%
2021-058156792.4%
2021-065765391.6%
2021-075925990.9%
2021-085684293.1%
2021-091,00911489.8%
2021-101,17313489.7%
2021-111,7907296.1%
2021-121,14411490.9%
2022-018628890.7%
2022-025304791.9%
2022-034274191.2%
2022-044844691.3%
2022-054384790.3%
2022-064123891.6%
2022-075234492.2%
2022-085346589.1%
2022-093754190.1%
2022-106968289.5%
2022-111,3046895.0%
2022-121,24133378.8%
2023-016118088.4%
2023-023825986.6%
2023-035017187.6%
2023-044115488.4%
2023-054096985.6%
2023-064487386.0%
2023-074957287.3%
2023-084226087.6%
2023-093883691.5%
2023-103823891.0%
2023-111,1165295.5%
2023-1274411286.9%
2024-016338088.8%
2024-024115388.6%
2024-033794789.0%
2024-042944287.5%
2024-053135684.8%
2024-064069181.7%
2024-074788485.1%
2024-083304887.3%
2024-093023689.3%
2024-103845088.5%
2024-117504094.9%
2024-121,24224483.6%
2025-0175914783.8%
2025-024588883.9%
2025-034828185.6%
2025-0480523477.5%
2025-051,18325282.4%
2025-0663311085.2%
2025-075017786.7%
2025-083867084.6%
2025-094157385.0%
2025-104947986.2%
2025-111,2277394.4%
2025-1262713882.0%
2026-0162210685.4%
2026-023837284.2%
2026-0396619183.5%
2026-041,9891,38259.0%
2026-0565227470.4%
2026-0646111080.7%
2026-0752010083.9%
2026-084109980.6%
2026-0941911977.9%
2026-103568780.4%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-19150
2026-09-20143
2026-09-21119
2026-09-22103
2026-09-23121
2026-09-2491
2026-09-25155
2026-09-26141
2026-09-27172
2026-09-2884
2026-09-29113
2026-09-3097
2026-10-01120
2026-10-02103
2026-10-03134
2026-10-0494
2026-10-0570
2026-10-06153
2026-10-07164
2026-10-0881
2026-10-09195
2026-10-10237
2026-10-11365
2026-10-123014
2026-10-13353
2026-10-14176
2026-10-15225
2026-10-16338
2026-10-17269
2026-10-18256
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days80.1%677
Last 180 days76.7%4,327
All time88.9%124,350
Japanese, last 180 days68.4%19
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

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