Hinterland Studio
 | |
| Hinterland | |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Raphael van Lierop |
| Headquarters | , Canada |
Key people | Raphael van Lierop (founder, CEO and chief creative officer) |
| Products | The Long Dark Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 |
| Website | www |
Hinterland Studio Inc., trading as Hinterland, is a Canadian independent video game developer and publisher headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1] The company was founded in 2012 by Raphael van Lierop and is best known for developing and publishing the survival video game The Long Dark.[2] Hinterland is developing the game's sequel, Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2.[3] Van Lierop serves as the company's chief executive officer and chief creative officer.[4]
History
[edit]Raphael van Lierop established Hinterland in 2012 after previously working at Relic Entertainment and Ubisoft Montreal. The studio was publicly announced in September 2013, with its original team based on Vancouver Island and working remotely. Its founding members included technical director Alan Lawrance, audio director David Chan, art director Hokyo Lim and writer Marianne Krawczyk, who had previously worked for studios including Volition, BioWare and Riot Games.[2]
Hinterland's first project was The Long Dark, a first-person survival game set after a geomagnetic disaster. Van Lierop described the project as an attempt to create a more grounded post-disaster game centred on environmental hazards rather than zombies. The project received initial support from the Canada Media Fund, after which Hinterland launched a Kickstarter campaign in September 2013.[5]
The Long Dark entered early access through Steam in September 2014. The early-access release initially consisted of its open-ended survival mode, while an episodic story mode was planned for the completed version.[6] The game left early access on 1 August 2017, when Hinterland released its full version alongside the first two episodes of the five-part story mode, Wintermute.[7]
In 2021, Hinterland announced plans to separate the story and survival components of The Long Dark internally and to introduce paid updates for its survival mode.[8] In April 2022, the company announced its first paid expansion and transferred day-to-day leadership of The Long Dark to Katie Sorrell, while van Lierop remained the studio's creative director.[9] The expansion, Tales from the Far Territory, began its six-part release in December 2022.[10]
Hinterland announced Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 at The Game Awards 2024. The company initially planned to release the game in early access during 2026, with both single-player and cooperative multiplayer modes.[3] In February 2026, Hinterland said that the early-access release had been delayed beyond the end of 2026. The company laid off 10 full-time employees and announced that it would not renew the fixed-term contracts of four other workers, citing the need to preserve its financial resources while development continued.[11][12]
The fifth and final episode of The Long Dark's Wintermute story mode, titled The Light at the End of All Things, was released on 31 March 2026.[13]
Games
[edit]| Title | Type | First release or announcement | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Long Dark | Survival video game | 2014 | Released |
| The Long Dark: Tales from the Far Territory | Expansion | 2022 | Released |
| Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 | Survival video game | 2024 | In development |
References
[edit]- ↑ "Hinterland Studio". Steam. Valve. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- 1 2 Ligman, Kris (9 September 2013). "Hinterland: a new studio by veterans of Relic, BioWare and more". Game Developer. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- 1 2 Prescott, Shaun (13 December 2024). "Blackfrost: The Long Dark 2 will hit Early Access in 2026, and this time it'll have co-op". PC Gamer. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "About". Hinterland. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Sapieha, Chad (13 September 2013). "Post Arcade: Hinterland founder Raphael van Lierop talks about The Long Dark". Financial Post. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Prescott, Shaun (24 September 2014). "Sandbox survival sim The Long Dark hits Early Access". PC Gamer. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Donnelly, Joe (4 May 2017). "The Long Dark story mode and final release date set". PC Gamer. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Shutler, Ali (8 December 2021). "The Long Dark to split into Story and Survival games, add paid updates". NME. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Brown, Andy (30 April 2022). "The Long Dark is getting its first paid DLC as the game's creator steps back from development". NME. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Shutler, Ali (25 November 2022). "The Long Dark's first paid DLC launches with new areas next month". NME. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ Kerr, Chris (12 February 2026). "Hinterland confirms layoffs after delaying The Long Dark sequel". Game Developer. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ MacLeod, Riley (12 February 2026). "The Long Dark Studio Lays Off Workers After Game Delay". Aftermath. Retrieved 26 July 2026.
- ↑ "Episode Five: The Light at the End of All Things, Now Live!". Hinterland. 31 March 2026. Retrieved 26 July 2026.