It’s always best to boil the water you’ve melted or use purification tablets, which are found inside man-made shelters, for the most part. Drinking unsafe water may quench your thirst, but you’ll be putting yourself at risk for infection. In addition to keeping the fire running for long enough to melt the snow, you’ll also need to boil the resulting water so that it’s potable. But there’s more to drinking water than just melting it. You’ll never run out of water in the winter. Yes, it’s snow, but it’s water nonetheless. The nice thing about being in a frozen Canadian wasteland of doom is that there’s an abundance of water. The more time you spend wandering around gathering, the hungrier and thirstier you’ll get. Gathering takes precious time and that time spent uses up internal resources. You can find tinder in the form of newspapers and books inside dwellings (if you’re lucky), but you can also use crafting to create tinder plugs from a couple of sticks. Locating tinder and an adequate supply of fuel is tricky.

At the beginning of the game, the most effective starter is the cardboard matches. And simulators require attention to detail. This is a simulator, fellow survivalists. It’s not merely a matter of finding wood and a starter of some kind. Once you’ve located your shelter, you need the means to build fire. Trust me, it gets cold faster than you’d think, even indoors, so you’ll need a source of warmth as soon as possible. If you manage to find a man-made shelter, make sure it has a stove or a bed. Without dry ground, you won’t be able to build a fire. When you start playing, you’ll either need to find a cabin or a reasonable environmental shelter.

I recommend using the beginner map if you’re brand new, no matter how tempted you are by the other options. In survival mode, well, that’s a bit more tricky. In “Wintermute,” the game’s story mode, this means that you need to carefully walk up the hill to the first cave. As is the case in any survival game - yes, even Minecraft – you need shelter. There’s a lot that needs to happen in order to survive the bitter cold.

The first hour of gameplay in The Long Dark is crucial. Long Dark Survival Guide: Tips on what to do in your first hour of gameplay Get ready to dig in for a long, cold spate of days and even colder nights. It’s going to take more than just a good down jacket to survive this winter. If you’ve been struggling to survive in Hinterland Studio’s freshly minted (and finally out of early access) adventure-survival game, well, welcome to the frustrating party. All we’re missing is a Tim Hortons and a smattering of Ski-Doos. The Long Dark is almost a “survive a Canadian winter” simulator.

The long dark story mode map