Game development veterans announce The Long Dark

Former developers from Riot Games, Relic Entertainment, Volition and Bioware have banded together and announced survival sim The Long Dark.

The developers have set up indie studio Hinterland Studios which is formed of eight people in total. Being delivered in an episodic format, The Long Dark will be its first title and will take the form of a first person survival game set in a harsh northern wilderness following a storm that knocks out power to North America.

The game will place an emphasis on exploration in order to gather resources and knowledge about the world and players will face natural and man-made dangers along the way. The title will also feature difficult moral choices for the player to make that will guide the outcome of the story.

Hinterland Studios intends for The Long Dark to be a cross-media experience, although no specific details have been nailed down yet beyond the developers being in talks to translate it to other forms of media.

Indie studio Hinterland was founded by Raphael van Lierop who is best known for directing Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and being narrative director for Far Cry 3.

Also filling the studio's ranks is God of War lead writer Marianne Krawczyk, Saints Row lead programmer Alan Lawrance, League of Legends art director Hokyo Lim and Bioware audio director David Chan.

The Long Dark will be launching a Kickstarter campaign next week to bolster funding for the project.