The Long Dark is probably one of the most beautiful survival games, and quite brutal too. Ready to get cold again? A big new update to the Survival Mode is out now.

Gameplay in The Long Dark is split between playing through the episodic story (with Episode 4 due in 2021 ) and the open-world Survival Mode where you do whatever the heck you want. This latest free expansion named Hesitant Prospect adds in the Ash Canyon region where you "might find an abandoned mine that hides treasures worth more than gold to any survivor" but to get there you have to cross some worn out looking rope-bridges — eek!

That does not look particularly safe…

You also get access to Crampons, which will help prevent sprains and enable easier travel over weak ice. Plus there's a new Technical Pack that adds a permanent capacity buff to your inventory for all that burning wood you need.

A new challenge mode has been added too, based upon the Halloween event where you're being hunted by an invisible force. If you complete it, you will get a Darkwalker Feat to enable in Survival Mode to give you a stamina boost at night but it will drain you during the day. There's also a new setting where you can force an Endless Night for an extra challenging run - better wrap up warm.

See their roundup video below:

Watch video on YouTube.com

You can buy The Long Dark from Humble Store and Steam .

Continuing to be seriously impressive, the 1.14 update to the deep survival game Vintage Story is officially out now after multiple testing builds.

As mentioned recently , Vintage Story is the survival game for those of you who love the blocky style of Minecraft but want something deeper, something much more complex and exciting. This is actually a pretty large update to the base game bringing with it a character customization system so you can make it all feel a little bit more personal. Coming with it is also the Steel Age which adds in lots of new blocks, more metal working objects, a more expansive body temperature system, new shader effects and so much more it's hard to really sum it up correctly.

Take a look at their new highlights:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Honestly, I find it difficult to go back to Minecraft after spending a good few hours in this. Minecraft has its place, thanks to the simplicity it can get you easily into it and create and good for a younger audience too but Vintage Story is just a whole 'nother level of survival.

See the full changelog here .

You can buy it from Humble Store and the official site . I suggest you do, it's awesome. A community member is also hosting a server for Linux fans, check that out on our forum .

Klei Entertainment continue expanding their incredible looking survival game Don't Starve Together, with the Return of Them: Forgotten Knowledge update out now along with a Halloween event.

This is the online version of Don't Starve that you can play with friends, and it's been going through something of an evolution. Return of Them is a series of big updates, each expanding the game in different ways and Return of Them: Forgotten Knowledge continues that trend. First up, check out another fantastic animated short:

Watch video on YouTube.com

What's new in the update:

• Lunar Grotto Biome
  • Lunar Mush Trees
  • Mush Gnomes
  • Naked Mole Bats
  • Bulbous Lightbugs
• Ancient Archive Biome
  • You'll have to explore
• Improved Host Game Screen
  • Unlimited save slots
  • Retroactively enable caves!

The Hallowed Nights event is back on right now too, although it's not a huge change from previous years due to the COVID19 pandemic and their ongoing work on major content updates.

As for what's next? Klei have confirmed they're working on the next content update for November, along with the Winter's Feast event in December. After that they're taking a break and then the Year of the Beefalo event will appear. They're teasing that the November update could be a big one too and "something a bit different".

I absolute adore Don't Starve / Don't Starve Together, the art style is just so incredible and you could easily say it's perhaps quite Tim Burton like or Burton-esque if you will.

You can buy Don't Starve Together on Steam .

Klei continue going through all the characters in Don't Starve Together to bring them up to date with all the new content and game mechanics with a fresh upgrade out now.

As expected of Klei, it also came with one of their brilliant animated shorts that I love so much:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Highlights of the character refresh:

• When in combat Wigfrid now gains Inspiration, which, as it fills her meter, allows players to use the new craftable songs.
• Fighting stronger foes will provide more Inspiration.
• Disengaging combat will cause the inspiration to diminish.
• Wigfrid has a new Stagecraft crafting tab from which she can make her new songs.
• Singing adds a buff to all players in an area around Wigfrid, which remains active as long as she keeps her inspiration level up.
• As Wigfrid's inspiration raises, she can preform up to three abilities at a time.
• Some abilities have an instant effect, at the cost of reducing Wigfrid's inspiration

Klei also put up a fresh set of skin packs to further support the game:

• Wigfrid Deluxe Wardrobe ($10.99): This Deluxe Wardrobe contains Wigfrid's complete set of Guest of Honor, Roseate, Survivor, Triumphant, and Winged Victory skin items.
• Wigfrid Winged Victory Chest ($2.99): This Chest contains Wigfrid's complete set of Winged Victory skin items.
• Winged Victory Chest ($3.99) : This Winged Victory Chest contains the following skin items: Winged Spear, Winged Helm, and Marble Victory Armor.
• For a limited time Wigfrid's past skins are 50% off . After that her Guest of Honor, Roseate Chest, Triumphant, Survivor Chests will be available for $2.99.
• Starter Pack 2020 ($7.99): This Chest contains the playable character, Wortox: The Soul Starved, Wilson's Victorian skin set, Willow's Guest of Honor skin set, Wigfrid's Verdant skin set, Webber's Contenders skin set, the Weathered Spear, the Mini Beefalo Carryall, and the Sleepytime Ensemble.

A few assorted bugs were also fixed during this update. As for what's next, they mentioned the Hallowed Nights event is coming up next month. Don't expect a lot of changes though, although there's a few new bits, as they were focused on an upcoming major content update.

The next big update is called "Forgotten Knowledge" and it's going to be released in October. No details on what's in it yet but they did drop a teaser:

What do you think that is?

Whatever Forgotten Knowledge turns out to be, I've no doubt it will be fun. Klei have repeatedly expanded Don't Starve Together into such a massive exploration survival game, it's absolutely brilliant. The Troubled Waters update back in July was pretty great! It might actually be one of my favourite survival games, it easily has the best style.

You can buy Don't Starve Together on Steam .

The day no doubt many of our readers have been waiting for is here, as Valve worked with the community to create a brand new update to Left 4 Dead 2 named The Last Stand.

Made in partnership with over 30 members of the modding community, it's been a long time since Valve came back to Left 4 Dead 2 in any sizeable way which is why it's so exciting. What exactly does it include? A lot. Seriously, there's loads. Some highlights include: The Last Stand Campaign and over 20 survival maps, new melee weapons, new animations, new voice lines and so much more.

Watch video on YouTube.com

If you want to see the full list of changes, Valve put up a list here with some of the details.

Note: while I've seen plenty across the net call it a "DLC", and it is when you think about what DLC literally stand for, it actually comes in the form of a standard free patch for everyone to update their game with and not as a DLC item you need to download separately on Steam.

The player count is already spiking up dramatically compared to the usual amounts. Looking on SteamDB, it took all of 15 minutes to jump another 15,000+ players on top of around that amount already online. Considering it's one of Valve's most popular games, it's not exactly surprising. This new update might even keep those counts up for some time.

Play for free on Steam for a few days, with an 80% discount if you still somehow don't own it. Our livestreamer, Sin, is also checking it out right now on Twitch - live until around 10 PM UTC.

Underlings is a new Early Access 2D survival game where the protagonist is a former monster, trying to get away from their past life and start fresh.

Set in a ruthless world where everything is trying to kill you, the bosses of the underworld don't seem to be too pleased at you wanting the simple life. It mixes in exploration, mining, crafting, farming, base building and more into an experience that blends together all of that with daily survival as it sounds like you're often raided.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Feature Highlight:

• Challenging gameplay:
  • There's no hand holding, you will be dropped in the world where danger lurks everywhere, its up to you to survive, doing whatever it takes.
• Choose your difficulty:
  • Play casually without raids if you prefer just relaxing and doing your thing, or challenge the intended difficulties to get raided daily while you worry of permadeath
• Random generation:
  • Start each game on a completely different randomly generated world, try to find the best place for a base, explore the world and find the resources you need.
• Survival at its core:
  • Gather resources, find food, craft better weapons and armour, build a base, farm, breed animals and try to defend all of it each day or die trying.

Underlings can be picked up for $5 on itch.io while it's in development. The price will rise when it's ready and it will eventually release on Steam too.

Hinterland Studio have given an update on the progress of the next episode of the single-player story for the survival game The Long Dark.

Like with a lot of studios, COVID19 has caused all sorts of issues. Hinterland's studio lead, Raphael van Lierop, said in an announcement they're all doing well but they did shut down their physical studio back in March, so they've been in lockdown since then. Working from home (as I would know), increases your distractions many times and when you need to work as a studio, it can end up consuming even more time to communicate on simple things.

On the subject of Episode 4, they said they don't feel good about releasing it this year. Originally, they wanted it ready for December but work has been slower. However, they are making progress on it but the main point Lierop mentioned is that they don't want to "crunch" and end up compromising on quality or scope. No one wants that of course. They also mentioned a "more uplifting update" will come within the next few months with more info on other bits they have planned.

Sad news then if you're waiting on more story content but the good news is that The Long Dark has an impressive survival sandbox mode, which had a big update earlier this year .

You can buy it now from Humble Store and Steam .

A little midweek Zombie hunting? Sure, why the heck not. 7 Days to Die has a big upgrade out with Alpha 19. 7 Days to Die has become, slowly, one of the best open-world survival games around. They've gradually built it up with some seriously great features and Alpha 19 has continued that effort.

Some of the highlights include:

• HD Zombie models (some quite terrifying)
• New Survival System & Critical Injuries
• On Screen Sprite System for things like: Air Drops, Quest Markers, Player Bedrolls, Traders and more
• Better gamepad support
• World and Location updates along with lots of new environment art
• New Weapons & Items like an automatic shotgun and a Tactical Assault Rifle
• Enemy Break-through System so enemies react differently when breaking through a door, plus the same for when they fall door

It sure is starting to look pretty at times too with all the new environment art and visual effects. They've added in cloud moon glow, specific moon phases, sun punching through fog, new anti aliasing options, interior ambient light scaling, underwater fog, a background cloud layer, animation improvements, new trees and much more.

Saving the best for last: the Food and Water Bars have been added back to the UI.

One issue we've already seen in our testing on some machines (doesn't happen on all), is that when you go to make a new character they might not have a face…just some floating eyes. Slightly hilarious but if you see this issue, removing all the configuration files and saves fixes it. Found in "~/.local/share/7DaysToDie" and "~/.config/unity3d/The Fun Pimps/7 Days To Die".

Full list of changes here . You can pick it up on Humble Store and Steam . Our livestreamer / Zombie slayer will be taking a look at it so be sure to follow us on Twitch so you don't miss it.

Goner from Canary Islands based developer Loco Players is going to provide quite a frightening looking survival horror, with plenty of dinosaurs roaming the lands.

They're clearly not making another ARK: Survival Evolved either, as this seems to have much more of a focus on the story of your survival with plenty of primal fear involved. In Goner, you take on the role of Anthony Sunder, who is on a journey to find their missing mother and her expedition crew. This search leads you to the location of a ghost island inhabited by hostile members of a lost civilization and feral fauna you thought extinct.

Watch video on YouTube.com

"There's many dinosaur games but there has been no single player, story driven survival-horror game since Dino Crisis was released 20 years ago, and that one was not from the first-person perspective", says Yeray Schwartz, CEO at Loco Players.

Feature Highlight:

• Self-manage your hunger, thirst, fatigue, temperature and health.
• Hunt, collect, cook, drink, rest or craft.
• Save your progress using a specific consumable in a safe room.
• Limited inventory capacity.
• Day and night cycles with sun and moon phases + weather system.
• Complex AI and behaviors.
• Camouflage your smell with mud or water.
• Two Game Modes: Survival and Story.
• Custom your appearance and defenses with self-made armor or clothes, building and setting traps.
• The island will be fill with natural dangers such as toxic gases, poisonous flora and fauna, lava or quicksand.

It's crowdfunding on Kickstarter , and with 22 days still to go it's already fully funded passed the initial €24,600 goal. I spoke with Loco Players personally, where they confirmed their plan was to have a simultaneous Linux and Windows launch and they've now updated their Kickstarter FAQ to clearly mention release target platforms.