Xbox One Preview Program Launches With The Long Dark from Hinterlands

Written by Brandon Hofer on June 23, 2015

News: Xbox One now has an “early access” program where you can help shape the development of some games during the development process.

One of the announcements that Microsoft made during E3 was that they were going to have a “Preview Program” on Xbox One. This is similar to the “Early Access” program that Steam has had for a while. One of the first games to participate in this program is “The Long Dark.”

The Long Dark has already enjoyed significant success on Steam’s Early Access platform on the PC, selling nearly 350,000 units over nine months and garnering over 95% positive player reviews. The expertise that Hinterland has developed over the past months, and The Long Dark’s reputation as one of the highest quality community-informed titles, contributed to Microsoft’s choice to bring the game to its new Game Preview on Xbox One program, a first on any console.

“We’re excited to offer a select list of games via Xbox Game Preview on Xbox One, enabling Xbox players the opportunity to get involved with the development of innovative game experiences with excellent development teams behind them by offering feedback throughout the development process.” said Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox. “Hinterland’s The Long Dark is the perfect example of the quality and innovation we anticipate in all our Game Preview titles.”

Hinterland’s survival experience, The Long Dark, has so far only revealed its non-narrative, freeform Sandbox survival mode. Season One of its episodic Story mode, featuring the voice talents of Mark Meer, Jennifer Hale, David Hayter, and Elias Toufexis, has been shrouded in secrecy, but will be free to all players who purchase the game through Game Preview on Xbox One when the Story mode launches later in 2015.

“We’re thrilled with how community-informed development has helped us improve the player experience in The Long Dark, providing us with invaluable feedback and significant development resources with which to achieve our full vision for our exploration-survival experience,” said Raphael van Lierop, Hinterland Studio founder and creative director, and director of The Long Dark. “Being able to partner with Xbox to bring survival games to the console audience for the first time is an incredible opportunity for us. We can’t wait to add Xbox players to our community and incorporate their feedback into how we continue building and improving the game. And when we launch Story mode later in 2015, we’ll be sharing it with an even bigger audience, paving the way for more episodes and future seasons well into 2016 and beyond.”

What do you think about Xbox One getting its own early access program? What do you think about “The Long Dark?” Will you download these games and try them out or wait until they are completely done? Tell us what you think below.