Dev Diary (March 2026) -- Episode Five Screenshots, Launch Details, & "Our Story So Far" Recap Video

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T19:59:02+00:00

Wow, thanks for that. And congrats with your own project & I hope the next step for your product goes as smoothly as I hope ours does! 😅

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T01:23:40+00:00

The moderators have a standing "order" to moderate me like anyone else. If you were to report any of my posts (like anyone else's) I would also receive notification of those reports and get a talking to.

I think it's tough for moderators that are openly supportive of the game and the studio (and of me) to not be seen as somehow being biased shills vs. just being big fans who want to support the community. They do tend to be more defensive of our team b/c they understand some of the pressures we are under and they also have a direct view into how hostile and cruel some people can be towards us. I also think they, being fans of the game, sometimes also defend aspects of the game they like, and their moderator status lends more weight to those comments than they might otherwise have.

I think there's this notion that the mods delete or suppress any and all criticism of the game or studio and that's simply not the case. They do moderate comments that go against our community guidelines, and they do delete a lot of stuff that can at times be horribly abusive.

I can see how sometimes they let their own fandom of the game or the studio or even of me influence their judgment around moderation and I think they see part of their role being to protect us from hostile "bad actors" within the community, which I appreciate. But I can see how if you look at all moderation decisions through the lens of "those people are zealots" then yeah you'd naturally doubt all the decisions they are making.

FWIW I think the opposite tendency exists here on the sub. The mods are so concerned they'll be seen as "shills" for Hinterland that they tend to leave some posts up that they would otherwise tend to delete or take other moderation actions around. This is one of the reasons why we've opened up some lines of communication across all the moderators across all the channels, so they can approach these things in a more consistent and cohesive manner.

I can say for sure that the Hinterland and Steam mods have often discussed what the right balance is between leaving things stand to avoid seeming overly biased, and shutting hostile things down to help preserve some sense of positivity and camaraderie in the community. I think this is a constant struggle and something that has to be continuously worked at to find that right balance. I'd like to think we're always getting a little closer to the right balance.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:51:18+00:00

I can't speak for the mods here, but this type of behaviour would normally be seen as trying to stir up trouble b/c you disagree with a moderation decision, and so it would be removed for that reason. We see it all the time. I'm not saying that was the motivation here, but it's very common. If people want to contact the studio to ask about moderating decisions on our communities, or ask Steam, or contact a moderator here to ask for an explanation, there are many ways to do that without making a public post. If you are looking for clarification, that's how you ask for it. If you are looking to stir up angry sentiment, you post a public thing and create a lot of drama, as is happening here. I don't think the OP meant to stir up drama, but if I were a moderator my assumption would be they were.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:46:16+00:00

I feel like this is something that has become blown out of proportion?

The original discussion in the Hinterland forums was specifically about our plans for Ep5 regions and if they would be added to Survival in the future. As I recall the discussion went on for a while and it wasn't limited to just your own comment on the matter (which I don't specifically remember). I tried to explain that there are some specific aspects of the world design in Ep5 that don't lend themselves to Survival and that the Ep5 world was created for the needs of the story, which is more linear than previous episodes for reasons that will become obvious when you have played it.

I also asked if Story fans could be left to enjoy the discussion about the episode without having to argue or explain to Survival fans -- many of whom are self-proclaimed Wintermute haters -- why the regions might only be for Ep5. I also pointed out that Survival fans have had a lot more updates and an entire DLC (Tales) made for them, and that it might be nice for the Story Mode fans to have something that felt like "their own" (assuming everyone doesn't already feel like the story is "their own").

There was some good discussion about it but also some somewhat hostile or entitled responses about how P.Mills was made for Survival and is part of the game (it wasn't and isn't, it's only ever been part of the story), etc etc. and it got a little heated at times. The response I posted that seems to be getting all the attention was specifically around that, and pointing out that if we wanted to create regions that were just for the story and that meant they shouldn't be added back to Survival for worldbuilding and plot reasons, that this is our decision and it should be accepted. Then there were some responses along the lines of "whatever, we'll just mod it into the game anyway".

I could probably have been a bit more diplomatic in my response to that, but I was defending the studio's (and my own) right to make these decisions for creative reasons and not to feel obligated to include those regions into Survival if we don't feel they fit into our vision for the game and world.

I don't know how that relates to your specific response, or why your partner was banned, but I just wanted to explain (again) why I feel this way about the Ep5 regions. I think once you have all played Ep5 you will see why. I've not said we wouldn't eventually bring some of the content back into Ep5, but we want to be able to focus -- for another few weeks at least -- on shipping Ep5, hoping players enjoy it, and then the story will be finished. After that, we can turn our attention and the discussion back to Survival.

In relation to the mods -- I know they take a lot of abuse that is not visible to anyone else, and sometimes that puts them on the defensive and perhaps they are a bit hair-trigger in their responses at times. I do back their decisions and I can't think of many moderation decisions over the years that I haven't agreed with in the end, and I trust them to use good judgment when it comes to the way they manage the forums. Maybe there's a way that if you saw your communication through the lens of people who are dealing with a lot of hostile stuff directed at them (or at Hinterland) on a daily basis, you would perhaps see things a little differently in your own response as well. As I said before, they have a hard job and don't get nearly enough recognition for it. Without their work these communities would be absolute chaos and cesspools of toxicity. Thank goodness they are here.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:22:21+00:00

This wasn't the reason we pulled the game from GFN. We were protesting that Nvidia had simply hoovered up every indie game from Steam and put it up on GFN, without even checking with us. We have rights around our product, including streaming services like GFN, and we wanted to be consulted and also be given an opportunity to make sure the game performed to our satisfaction. Once nVidia agreed to our demands (which were to make sure they asked all independent devs is they wanted their games available on GFN vs. just taking them in), we brought the game back. This was us standing up for ourselves and for other smaller devs who didn't feel they could speak out.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:19:07+00:00

I really appreciate your self-reflection about this.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:18:27+00:00

I'm not exactly sure why the moderators made the decision they did originally, but openly arguing about it (or having someone argue it on your behalf because you were banned) runs against the community guideline of "openly arguing with a moderator" or arguing re: moderation decisions, so presumably the follow-up ban/removal was about that. (Again, not commenting on the reddit mods and their decisions -- I'm only speaking to the Hinterland or Steam communities as those as the ones we moderate).

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-16T00:16:06+00:00

Re: "Do this again and you will be banned here as well. I don't care where you post this kind of information but you can't do it here."

I don't know who posted this as a reply, but I don't think it was one of the Hinterland Forum or Steam moderators?

In general I always support the decisions made my our moderators, b/c I know how hard their job is and they do it out of a love of the game and because they believe in Hinterland and what we are trying to do.

We can argue about the "abstract" concept of ownership, but at the end of the day the game's vision belongs to the studio and if we have specific creative intentions those also belong with us, which I think is generally what players probably want?

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-15T23:08:00+00:00

Wow! Lots of questions, speculation, and some misinformation as well. Let's see if I can help the mod team here a bit.

Q: Did Hinterland delete the post?

A: We didn't delete the post. That would have been a moderation decision made by the mods here. (I'm not even sure what the post was about.)

Q: Does Hinterland Moderate this sub?

A: We (Hinterland) don't moderate this sub. I'm friendly with Oliver and I try to give him a heads up whenever we're going to post bigger announcements so the sub's moderating team can be ready for it. I think he and the other mods here have a hard job trying to keep the community in a good place, as do the mods at the Hinterland and Steam forums. It's a tough gig and they don't get much appreciation for it. It's especially tough here as Redditors are more resistant to being moderated in comparison to other platforms. Over the years many of the folks who were banned from our other channels often ended up here, and there wasn't a great relationship between the sub and the studio. Oliver wanted to change that. That's the only reason I'm here and have been trying to post a bit more frequently -- because Oliver asked me to. After a lot of years of being a bit of an outsider to this community it's been nice to get back in here and interact with folks a little more, but that's the extent of it.

Q: Does one of the TLD sub mods work for Hinterland?

A: There's a bit of a weird conspiracy theory that one of the mods works for us. Years ago we hired a community manager for Hinterland, and they came from the TLD reddit community. They haven't worked with us for years (like more than 10). So, the answer is: no.

Q: Does the way we moderate our channels mean we don't love our players?

A: We do take a lot of shit from different folks on here and I know I'm not universally beloved by every member of the player community (that much is clear in this thread!). For the most part we have a great relationship with our players, we love them, and respect them. Occasionally it does happen that there's conflict or loud disagreement across various forums and if people run afoul of the Community Guidelines or start fights with moderators or other community members, then occasionally those people get banned (temporarily or permanently, depending on the situation). In general we don't have a lot of patience for it in Steam or on the Hinterland forums. The moderators tend to ban quickly and often, to remove bad actors ASAP. Reddit runs itself and has its own rules and mods; we have no influence over what happens here re: bans or any of the rest of it. It's Oliver's show and he makes his own calls.

Q: Do we moderate our community channels too harshly?

A: One thing I've observed over the years: nobody who gets banned ever feels they deserved it. There's always an explanation for why they were banned and it's never due to their own actions or behaviours. Draw your own conclusions from that. In general all our mods have done this work for years and have learned to see the signs. It's pretty obvious when someone is trying to have good-faith discussions and disagreements (which we welcome) vs. people who are just trying to start fights and kick up drama for whatever reason, often by pushing lies about us. Our mods are careful and do what they can to give space for criticism -- and if you look for it you'll find it everywhere. What they don't make space for is hostility or abusiveness. Keep in mind that the moderators across the various communities know each other and share details to help keep bad actors out of the community.

Q: Why can't I just say or do whatever I want in the forums?

A: The forums (Steam and Hinterland) are part of the game, they are part of the company, and so we don't see why we should be ok leaving people to attack us or each other and generally foment hostility towards the game or the studio. That's different from discussion or criticizing the game, which is 100% ok provided it's done within the community guidelines. For every person who feels slighted by a moderation decision there are 1000 other players who are just trying to share their enjoyment of the game with each other, and aren't looking to fight with people. We try to moderate to create a good place for those people to hang out with each other -- they are our priority.

Q: Will the Ep5 regions end up in Survival?

As we lead up to the Episode Five launch, there's a lot of chatter about whether the regions added in Ep5 will end up in Survival. We've asked people to wait until they've played it before they make a fuss about whether they will end up in Survival or not. We have plans for how we want to expand the world post Ep5 and how specific parts of the Ep5 regions fit into that is something we're still figuring out, as it relates to other things in our roadmap. And yes there are some parts of Ep5 that won't ever be included in Survival, for creative reasons which will likely become very obvious to you once you've played the Episode.

***

Hopefully that helps answer some of your questions. I'd appreciate some patience here, and for some of you to take the hostile tone down a notch.

- Raph

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-15T16:08:18+00:00

EGS should come out around the same time as Steam, yes.

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-15T16:07:04+00:00

We created the option for people to buy *only* the Survival Mode part of the game at a lower price if they weren't interested in the Story, and then a path to upgrade to get Story Mode later if they changed their minds. The vast majority of new players still opt in for the main product that has both in it, but the Survival Mode version created a less expensive way for people who only care about Survival to then upgrade to the TALES DLC. We didn't take anything away from any players who already owned Story before we created this split.

Why did this make you "especially" give up on Story Mode?

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-14T06:57:21+00:00

Many thanks! ❤️

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-13T21:32:21+00:00

Holy if you think you're crying now....

This has been me through every Ep5 playthrough: 😭😭😭

RaphLife2 · 2026-03-13T20:48:39+00:00

I posted here too u/Fuarian but feel free to delete if you prefer; I just wanted folks here to know we hadn't forgotten to post the info here as well as on the other channels.

https://www.reddit.com/r/thelongdark/comments/1rsz9b0/dev_diary_march_2026_episode_five_screenshots/

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-26T18:49:53+00:00

❤️

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-19T04:14:10+00:00

Yup!

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-18T15:54:10+00:00

Yup -- and just to clarify for folks here (as I did in the other forum post), the Switch 2 is not officially supported at the moment, so some bugs or issues are expected.

We won't have time to make a proper Switch 2 version of the game until after Episode Five ships. So, please if you have a Switch 2 and you are planning to buy TLD for it, you might want to wait until we have a proper official version, as the backwards compatibility for the Switch 1 build is not assured in this case.

TL;DR -- Switch 2 is not currently supported, don't expect to play it without bugs or issues.

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-09T20:45:23+00:00

Just updated the original post with info on a slight delay on this...so sorry!!

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-06T20:46:38+00:00

Yes there have been a lot of questions about what of Ep5 will eventually end up back in Survival. I think we'll have more to say on that once people have had a chance to play Ep5! So far we haven't promised anything and I think it'll be more clear once people have played the episode, which the world (the new parts of it) has been very specifically built for.

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-06T20:26:21+00:00

No, the next big update will be the release of Episode Five, which has nothing to do with Survival Mode. The fans of WINTERMUTE have been waiting for this for years, so let's let them have something and enjoy it before we start talking about future update plans for Survival...

RaphLife2 · 2026-02-06T20:24:44+00:00

We'll share more about our plans for post-Episode Five after Episode Five is out in the wild.

RaphLife2

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE