The Long Dark is an excellent survival game, and if you're looking for a challenge there's almost nothing that beats Interloper. Starting with nothing but the clothes on your back, and in a world with very few resources, Interloper provides a brutally hard experience and an amazing sense of achievement.

These are my own tips that I've found essential for survival.

Calories in Interloper are fiendishly difficult to come by, and Interloper makes it almost mandatory that you ration them. To understand how to do this, it helps to understand the mechanics for both hunger, sleep, and condition recovery.

• When your hunger bar is empty, you'll lose about 1% condition every hour.
  
• When all your needs bars are non-empty, you'll gain about 1% condition every hour.
  
• If your needs-bars are non-empty and you're sleeping, you'll gain about 2% condition every hour.
  
• The game provides a bonus for "uninterrupted sleep". If you're in a safe location, always sleep for as long as possible.

The result of these mechanics is that you can starve yourself during the day, and eat only before sleeping to maximise the length of time your food will last. If you're getting 16 hours of activity and 8 hours of sleep, and you have enough food for those eight hours, then you can maintain condition with 600 calories/day. Less, if you can get uninterrupted sleep.

It's also possibe to cancel eating using the escape key. If you're eating a large food item you can cancel once you've banked enough calories for a full night's sleep. This can stretch your food supplies even further.

If you've lost condition from exposure or other incidents (and you will), then you may wish to eat food during the day to help recover faster. If you do so, consider reading any books you've found. Books can only be read when your needs bars aren't empty.

Provided you're fully hydrated, you can sleep for at least nine hours before your hydration meter empties.


When consumed hot, herbal tea adds an additional 2% condition per hour of sleep, provided your needs bars are non-empty, for the first six hours. You can consume the tea any time during the day, and the buff will stick around until you've had six hours of sleep, which can be in multiple shifts. This bonus is huge, as it means a 6-hour sleep recovers a whopping 24% of your condition.

Tea allows you to continue to ration your food and regain condition.


Reishi and rosehip teas aren't just for medicine, they're a source of calories as well. Boil them up whenever you have the chance and keep them in your inventory. 100 calories per cup may not sound like much, but wild teas are so prevalent in some areas they can be a significant source of food. They never spoil, and they also count as cooked items, so if you raise your cooking skill you can gain more calories for them, even for tea you made before you learnt how to cook.

Don't forget these appear in the medicine tab, not the food tab. They also provide hydration; if there's a blizzard outside and you're out of water, a cold cup of tea is better than nothing.


While manufactured foods are dramatically reducd in Interloper, cat-tails seem to be just as plentiful as they are in other modes. They're light, provide food and tinder, and never go stale. If you can make it to the river in Mystery Lake, or the creek on the Costal Highway, you can find a lot of calories fairly quickly.


Fishing can provide a lot of calories, as well as lamp oil when cooked; but they spoil quickly and tend to be heavy for their caloric value. Fishing huts are cold, and cooking is essential, so a good supply of wood is also a concern. For this reason, fishing is best suited for when you're settling down in an area for a while, either as a permanent base or to spend some time crafting.

Fishing lines break easily, especially at low skill levels, so you may wish to prioritise reading a fishing book or two if you have them. Fish spoil less quickly when stored in an outdoor scene. Conveniently, this includes the fishing hut itself, which usually has ample storage space.

Interloper is unique in that it starts the player without a bedroll. Planning when and where to sleep becomes a significant part of the game, as you can't just snooze in a cave and wake up refreshed like in other modes. Besides from the obvious sleeping in beds, there are two other significant places to rest.


Cars provide some warmth and protection from the wind, and you can also sleep in them by using the radial menu. If you've got enough clothing, and the day is mild, then cars can be perfect for a nap.

If you're wanting to sleep in a car overnight, be aware that it can get very cold. You can build a fire next to the car and it will heat the interior. You can use the car itself as a windbreak, but make sure you don't build it directly outside the door otherwise you can burn yourself when exiting the vehicle. I always use the opposite-side door to leave just to make sure.

The wind can and will change direction during the night, and you will freeze if your fire goes out while you're sleeping. Unless you're very certain of your fire's wind protection, I recommend sleeping in hour segments and then checking on your fire.


Snow shelters require 5 cloth and 15 sticks to build, and they can be lifesavers when used correctly. Because they take some time to create, it's often best to plan where you're going to place your shelter (make sure you get a green placement), then build a fire (so you can stay warm and not worry about wolf attacks), and then build your shelter with the opening facing but to one side of the fire. Snow shelters let you manipulate the fire outside the shelter when you're inside them, so you can add fuel, boil water, and do your cooking while snug in your shelter.

Like with cars, you may wish to consider sleeping in one hour increments so you don't miss a change of wind blowing out your fire, or the night getting cold enough that you need to add more fuel. Luckily, when done correctly, you won't need to exit your snow shelter to use your fire.

Snow shelters can be particularly useful in pleasant valley, which has a good supply of cloth (in the house) and sticks (everywhere), but a shortage of places to sleep. If you build a shelter near a cave you can be curing your skins in it while sleeping; just don't forget them when you pack up and go.

In milder areas, like the Crumbling Highway, a snow shelter can keep you warm almost the whole night if the weather remains pleasant, even if you don't have a fire. However snow shelters do not protect against animal attack, so you want to be very sure your area is wolf and bear free before going fire-free.

Expect to use a lot more fuel in Interloper than in other modes. You'll need extra fuel to make the flames hot enough so you're no longer freezing, and if you're sleeping in cars or snow-shelters you'll likely need enough fuel to keep the fire running all night, but extra fuel for when the wind changes and knocks out your fire.

Matches are rare in interloper, so it's worth getting into the habit of always taking a burning brand with you at the end of any fire session. Not only will this give you extra warmth and slightly deter wolves, it may also let you save a match if you need to light another fire. Lighting many small fires can also improve your fire-starting skill, which is one of the most valuable skills in the game.

You never want to waste a match, and having a fire not catch can feel pretty bad. Lighting from brands, burning books, and using accelerant are all ways to make sure your matches don't go wasted.

If you've found and are using a flare, be aware you can start a fire from it as well, also potentially saving a match.

Coal is extremely plentiful in the various mines in the game, and provides lots of warmth and burn-time, but be aware you'll need enough other fuel to get 30 minutes into the fire when coal can be added.

If you're stuck inside during daylight hours, then consider breaking down any furniture you can get your hands on. Reclaimed wood is one of your most important fuel sources. A heavy hammer will let you break down almost anything.

Torches are doubly useful for conserving matches. You can light the torch (which always works) and then use it to light your fire, and you can also light a torch from a fire (wield it, look at the fire, and hold-left click). Torches are especially useful when exploring or travelling, as they provide a warmth bonus, wolf deterrent, and a source of ignition. Don't forget you can also extinguish your torch by holding left-click, and used torches can be thrown onto a fire to provide a little extra fuel.

Loud, slow moving unless provoked, and relatively rare compared to wolves. Bears make a lot of noise, and for some reason come with the sound of crows. Unlike most other sounds, the "bear in vicinity" sound doesn't seem to come from anywhere in particular, so it's hard to tell which direction a bear is coming from sound alone.

Since bears remove a percentage of your health, you've got a good chance of surviving a bear attack. Recommendation is the same as for other modes. Apply first aid immediately, and get away from the bear as quickly as possible. All the times I've died from a bear have been because I've tried to pick up items the bear knocked off me, and I've been re-attacked.


Wolves will mess you up. Most of my deaths are from wolf attack, and as your character is more likely to be without a weapon low on health in Interloper, surviving wolf attacks can be rare.

There are three things that will enormously help you survive a wolf attack. The first is making sure you're in good health. The second is a weapon; even a crowbar will do. The third, which is frequently forgotten, is make sure you are not fatigued.

All the wolf attacks I've survived have been when I've had plenty of rest. Every time I've been fatigued and jumped by a wolf, I've died, even with a makeshift knife on hand. It does not matter how sharp your blade is if you lack the strength to swing it.

If you do survive a struggle, the wolf will only bleed out and die if your weapon was capable of piercing. Braining a wolf with a crowbar will get it off your back, but it will not cause it to subsequently die.

If you find yourself being stalked by a wolf, and you can't quickly make it to a safe area, consider building a fire. Even if it doesn't stay lit, any sort of camp-fire will scare away a wolf, including ones in the process of being lit.

If a wolf is near something you want, you can build a fire, pick up a brand, move forward until the wolf starts stalking you, build another fire, and so on. This is especially useful in Desolation Point, where the kayaks near the bridge to the lighthouse often contain high-calorie fish, but are surrounded by wolves. Building a fire to deter a stalking wolf is another viable strategy, although one that depends upon matches and weather.

Do not forget decoys. Cooked or uncooked meat, fish, or guts can all be used as a wolf decoy. In most circumstances the wolf will ignore you and go for your decoy. In the default keybindings, '3' will drop a decoy.

Wolves will not follow you over cliffs and other hazardous terrain. While jumping off a cliff is unconvential, you're more likely to survive a short fall than a wolf attack, especially if you're unarmed or tired.

Finding a hacksaw is a serious boon. Not only can you hacksaw things into scrap metal, but they can cut through tree limbs, harvest saplings, and chop up frozen carcasses. They're also easy to fix, needing just one scrap and a toolbox. Hacksaws are one of the most useful tools in Interloper, and also one of the few tools you're likely to find near a starting location.

The heavy hammer can be used to smash furniture; reclaimed wood is a great source of fuel. It's also essential if you want to forge any other tools.

The crowbar is more useful than just prying open cars and lockers. It's one of the few weapons you can find in the game. It probably won't let you survive a wolf attack if tired or injured, but it will give you a fighting chance if healthy and un-fatigued.

Finding a firestriker is like finding happiness. Sometimes there's one on top of a barrel inside the mine out of Desolation Point. Unless you're using accelerant or otherwise have a 100% chance of success, always use your firestriker over matches; it gives you a bonus chance to start a fire, and your matches are best saved for when your fire-starting skill is higher.


If you're in an area with ample cloth such as the Coastal Highway, then be hesitant to harvest unwanted clothing items. If you ever do survive a wildlife encounter, then you'll likely find multiple pieces of clothing ruined beyond repair, and having any backup clothes can be very useful indeed.


Improving your cooking skill gives you 10% bonus to the calorie content of all cooked foods, which includes meat and fish. If you find yourself idle by a fire then you should consider cooking any cans of food you have, even if you plan to eat them cold later. Opening a can doesn't seem to make it spoil any faster. Cooking mushrooms and rose-hips lowers their overall weight, and should also be done whenever possible, even if you don't plan to drink the tea for a while.

If you find yourself with ample fuel consider harvesting carcasses in half-kilogram rather than full-kilogram pieces. Not only can you double the number of cooking skill-ups, the smaller portion sizes make it easier to ration your food.


With the notable exception of sleep, almost every action can be cancelled with the escape key. If the weather turns bad, you can cancel that long action and get out of there, rather than freezing in the dark.


There aren't many calories in Interloper, and so it's very important to stay on the move. Get used to dropping anything that needs curing as soon as you enter an indoors location, and get used to taking it with you when you leave.

Once you've got a more established source of food, either in built-up reserves or a way to fish or trap game, then you can think about settling down, but even then the lack of matches can make things difficult.


Many of the most popular bases, such as the gas-station on the coastal highway, also come with a very large wolf population. Since wolves in interloper are so dangerous, you may wish to think twice about where you establish a base.

The fishing camp in the coastal highway is a personal favourite of mine. It rarely sees wolves, it has a fishing hut nearby, an outdoor work bench, and it has good access to wood and rabbits up the hill or across on jackrabbit island. There's are also many pallets that can be broken down, and a decent amount of furniture inside the huts.


Particular thanks goes to Thedrun for many additional suggestions and expert commentary.

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May you rest with food in your belly tonight!