Welcome to The Long Dark, the innovative exploration-survival experience Wired magazine calls "the pinnacle of an entire genre". The game is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies but only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster.
Best gaming PC for The Long Dark in 2026
Full buyers guide →Below are the four PC tiers we'd actually recommend for The Long Dark today. These are our 2026 hardware picks, not the dated publisher minimums you'll find on Steam.
Budget
£7991080p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 5 7600
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
- RAM
- 16 GB
- Storage
- 1TB NVMe SSD
Mid-tier
£1,2991440p · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Super 12GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
High-end
£1,7991440p · 144fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB
- RAM
- 32 GB
- Storage
- 2TB NVMe SSD
Enthusiast
£3,4994K · 60fps
- CPU
- AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D
- GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 32GB
- RAM
- 64 GB
- Storage
- 4TB NVMe SSD
Official system requirements
These are the minimum and recommended specs as published by Hinterland Studio Inc. on Steam. They tend to be conservative — usually "what ran the game at 1080p when it shipped". For what you should actually buy in 2026, see the tier cards above.
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 8 | Windows 10 |
| CPU | Dual-Core Intel i5 CPU @ 2GHz+ | Intel i7 CPU @ 2.6GHz or higher |
| RAM | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| GPU | Intel 4xxx Series w/ 512MB VRAM or better | nVidia GTX 555 w/ 1GB VRAM or better |
| Storage | 7 GB | 7 GB |
| DirectX | — | — |
Verified 18 May 2026 against the Steam store page.
Can your PC run The Long Dark?
If your CPU is roughly equivalent to Intel i7 CPU @ 2.6GHz and your GPU is at or above nVidia GTX 555 w/ 1GB VRAM, you'll hit recommended settings at 1080p/60. For 1440p or higher, see the tier picks above.