The Long Dark is a game made by
Hinterland Studios that I enjoy playing late at night
when I need to chill out.
There's a story mode - Wintermute - which follows the story
of Will Mackenzie (and later, his ex-wife Astrid ) but while it does
intoduce you to the games various mechanics, I much prefer and higly
reccomend, Survival Mode, which can be a serene and plesant
experience of strolling through the woods or a bitterly relentless and
tense game of trying to stave off hunger, thirst, exhaustion and the
unrelenting cold of Canada's far northern Winter.
Three things I particularly like the game is the beautiful sound track
composed by Cris Velasco (Mass Effect, God of War, Overwatch, Resident Evil 7) and Sascha Dikiciyan (Borderlands, Quake III, Mass Effect), the unique sound design (all of the sounds present in the game
from footsteps to making a fire were recorded for the game and not
utilised from a audio library; simple actions are much richer and more
diverse as a result) and how a very stylisticly simple game can shift
dramatically in tone just from simple lighting or weather changes.
If you are interested in learning more about
The Long Dark, or playing it, the links to Hinterland
Studio's page, the Steam store page and the Wikipedia page are below.