We first discovered that the frosty survival recreation The Lengthy Darkish was getting a sequel during 2024’s Game Awards. Referred to as Blackfrost: The Lengthy Darkish 2, the follow-up to 2017’s glorious first-person recreation about surviving within the Canadian wilderness was stated to be coming to early entry in 2026. That’s now not the case, with developer Hinterland’s founder Raphael van Lierop now saying it received’t be out in any kind this yr, and as a consequence 10 full-time builders and 4 contractors from the studio are being let go.
“I’m sad to share the news that I’ve made the difficult decision today to part ways with 10 of our cherished colleagues,” begins an announcement from van Lierop posted to LinkedIn (thanks Game Developer). “We also will not extend some existing fixed-term contracts when they expire, impacting another 4 team members, bringing the total affected to 14.”
The explanations given allude to wider business points, however recommend the first challenge is that Blackfrost received’t be in a state to enter early entry this yr, which van Lierop says “means pushing significant expected revenue out as well, and these layoffs will help us preserve the financial resources required to get the game to launch, as well as to continue supporting our other games.”
The unique The Lengthy Darkish was first launched in its earliest kind in 2014, following a profitable Kickstarter the earlier yr. One of many uncommon examples of a very purposeful early entry growth, the shiver-inducing first-person survival sim then launched common important updates, every growing its core concepts in new and fascinating instructions, till its splendid 2017 remaining model. And all of them ensured you had been all the time probably to be eaten by a wolf. Its solely stumble was the preliminary addition of its Wintermute story mode, the primary two of the 5 chapters failing to win many over, however even these had been later recreated in a much better kind. Astonishingly, the fifth chapter nonetheless isn’t out, last said to be arriving on March 31, 2026, and van Lierop says the brand new layoffs is not going to have an effect on its launch. Deliberate updates for the unique recreation which are scheduled to seem this yr are additionally apparently unaffected.
“This is a heavy, heavy day for Hinterland,” says the CEO, “and our hearts are with all those affected by today’s layoff. I’m sorry to have had to let these people go.” The assertion says efforts have been made to assist these affected discover new work, including, “Any development studio in the industry would be fortunate to have any single one of these team members. We are a weaker studio for losing them, and they will be sorely missed.”
Being a weaker studio will certainly additional hinder growth of Blackfrost, not least given the intention was by no means to launch a completed recreation this yr, however relatively its earliest playable model. Hopefully some further cash will are available in to Hinterland with at present’s information that the unique The Lengthy Darkish is lastly returning to GOG, after being mysteriously pulled from the store in 2018. It’s on the freshly independent PC gaming store with a 25-percent discount for the next week.
