Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 will hit Early Access in 2026, and this time it'll have co-op

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Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 is in development and will hit early access in 2026. The announcement came during the 2024 The Game Awards, with a gorgeous trailer showing a considerably more varied color palette than what we saw in the brilliant original. Better still, this instalment will add co-op.

"Build your own survivor, customize traits and skills, collect scars and stories, and experience a life as a survivor in this beautiful yet dangerous world. Many games have tried to bring survival mechanics to their open-world RPGs, but Blackfrost is the first survival game built ground-up as a survival RPG."

Interestingly, The Long Dark 2 will take place in a vanquished world with "19th-century level" technology, and will add a new psychological survival element. It'll boast plenty more environmental threats than in its predecessor, and it's approach to death seems to take a leaf out of Outward's books (though a classic permadeath mode will also be available.

Like it did with The Long Dark, Hinterland Studio plans to spend a lot of time in early access iterating the game's prickly survival systems. "When we launch Blackfrost in Early Access in 2026, we anticipate the game including a portion of our full world map, and a range of foundational survival mechanics and supporting content. We will update players with more details about our specific plans for Early Access and what they can expect when we get closer to launch.”

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.