The Long Dark: Achievement Guide for the First 100 Days (v2.27)

Given the long evolution of the game, if you search online you often find material that is outdated and there are also a few achievements (Exploration Game being a prime example) where there are conflicting opinions. I hope to address these issues with a current guide, although I also recognise that the game continues to evolve – I for one am looking forward to Chapter 5 of Story Mode, for example.

Before moving on to the body of the guide, some caveats and credits to begin with:

• This is not designed as a ‘How To’ guide or as a suggestion of the best way to play the game. This is aimed at people that want to gain the Survival mode achievements [that would not threaten your sanity] as quickly as possible and with some guidance as to how to do that in the framework of a single game. I am not and do not claim to be an expert at Survival games or The Long Dark but I have spent a lot of hours on the game recently and, given that many of the guides available are out of date, thought this might be useful to some.
• This guide takes 100 days of in-game time. That is a chunky commitment of gaming hours, as there is a lot of exploration involved. Have snacks and beverages set up.
• Huge credit to those involved in the creation of the maps available on The Long Dark wiki. This guide assumes these are available to the reader as reference material. If you feel that referring to a map will spoil your enjoyment of the game, please do not continue!
• My approach to the Exploration Game achievement was based on a post on the Hinterland Forum by Senauer on October 8, 2018.

The guide will cover the first 100 days of a game on Pilgrim difficulty. This means that the predators in the game (wolves and bears) should not present an issue as they will not attack the player (I could not provoke a wolf into attacking me in 102 days). It also means resources are plentiful.

That said, it is still quite possible to run into difficulties, particularly on the Advanced maps where man-made shelters are less common (e.g. Timberwolf Mountain) and the weather can be much worse than the Beginner maps (e.g. Pleasant Valley). Readers should be advised that you can get hopelessly lost even when referring to a map in heavy fog or a blizzard, which can prove fatal if you are not adequately prepared or you take unnecessary risks (e.g. pressing on regardless, walking over thin ice).

Therefore, some general guidance is, if in doubt, err on the side of caution. None of the achievements are time pressured.

The aim is to achieve the following:

• Survive for 100 days in a single Survival mode game [4 achievements]
• For the first 25 days we will kill nothing, not even firing a rifle, revolver or distress pistol for the first 50 days! [2 achievements].

We start with a series of Beginner areas, where we will gain 7 achievements:

• Survive 3 consecutive nights outside [2 achievements]
• Collect a lot of natural resources and use the related medicines [2 achievements]
• Visit all internal areas in Mystery Lake and Coastal Highway
• Keep a campfire burning for three days
• Keep ourselves well fed.

The core of gameplay after the initial phase is exploration [5 achievements]:

• The Faithful Cartographer achievement forms the core of our activities
• Read all available research books
• Climb Timberwolf Mountain
• Craft a full set of improvised tools
• Harvest 10 complete deer carcasses.

To wrap up, we will complete the remaining 5 achievements:

• Live off the land for 25 days, hopefully catching a big fish [2 achievements]
• Wrap ourselves in fur
• Throw stones at rabbits
• Perfect our wardrobe.

Avoiding dying is a wise move in most circumstances and especially when we need to survive for 100 days. For this reason, readers should always ensure they have the following to hand when exploring if at all possible:

• Bandages and painkillers for treating sprains
• Small amounts of food and water
• Fire-lighting capability
• Bedroll, cooking pot and other ‘essential’ kit – don’t leave it behind when you move on!

There are achievements for surviving 1, 10, 50 and 100 days in a single Survival mode game and we will collect all of them by planning our routes to cover comfortable distances in a day, not falling off bridges, not eating rancid meat and generally playing it safe.

To gain Silent Hunter you need to avoid firing a rifle, revolver or distress pistol for 50 days. As we’re not going to hunt anything at this stage, and nothing should be trying to kill us, this should be easy enough. By eating lots of Ketchup Crisps and questionable tins of food, we’ll also earn Pacifist for not killing anything in the first 25 days (don’t worry, our blood lust will be sated in the last 25 days). You can eat meet from carcasses without fear as long as you do not kill anything (this includes fish).

We will start in the Mountain Town (aka Milton) area and move on to Mystery Lake and then Coastal Highway (via The Ravine). These are Beginner areas full of buildings and therefore very handy resources. There is plenty of food available (remember, we’re not hunting) and lots of opportunities to collect equipment, procure a decent set of clothes, etc.

Happy Harvester: we’ll need to harvest 25 of each plant (i.e. cat tail plants, reishi mushrooms, old man’s beard lichen and rose hips – each set of 8 counts as one harvest). Locations for these are on the Wiki maps and are also shown on your in-game version if you map an area using charcoal.

Natural Healer: you can craft three of the above items into medicine (cat tail plants still good for eating and tinder). For this achievement, simply use all three items once and it does not matter whether you needed it or not (e.g. no need to get bitten to apply the lichen bandage to stop infection).

Deep Forest: we will get this achievement for keeping a campfire going for three days in the church in Mountain Town, which has its own campfire. As it is indoors, it is not affected by the weather. The church should therefore be a makeshift first base for collecting all flammable materials – depending on your mix of books and different types of wood I would recommend some quick maths to confirm you have 72 hours’ worth (though you can always get more while safely leaving the campfire going). There are pallets that can be broken down with a hatchet between the church and town and more at the Orca Gas Station. The large house in town is a better long-term base for the area as it is more central.

Don’t Starve: as long as you eat with any regularity whatsoever, this should pop after 10 days. Just do not let your stomach become empty!

Night Walker and Beneath A Starry Sky: a good place to go for these achievements, which involve remaining outside during the night (marked by your character’s comments and the sun/moon indicator), are the Ice Fishing Cabins on Mystery Lake near the Camp Office. One of them has a door but still counts as outside, there’s room for your bedroll and there’s a heating/cooking unit available. Stock up on a little firewood first if you need to or collect it during the day (there are branches around the Lake). Remember: do not catch any fish in the first 25 days.

For Penitent Scholar you need to read one of each of the ten different research books. Their spawn locations are shown on the Wiki maps. Though the books may repeat (i.e. you might get Book A twice before you get Book B), by the time you’re done exploring you should have this.

Possible spawn points for deer carcasses are shown on the Wiki maps and you can also engineer them by i) chasing wolves towards deer before day 25 and ii) killing deer in our final phase of living off the land. They are common enough that you will have found far more than the ten required for Waste Not, Want Not.

You will need a forge (The Riken in Desolation Point, after which the achievement is named; Old Spence Family Homestead in Forlorn Muskeg; or the Maintenance Yard in Broken Railroad), coal to heat the forge sufficiently, a heavy hammer (usually found near the forge), 8 pieces of scrap metal and 2 pieces of cloth to make an improvised hatchet and improvised knife. I would suggest the Homestead as you will likely have the metal collected from the Dam and other locations stored at the Camp Office.

By following the guide for Faithful Cartographer you will achieve Timberwolf Mountain by, well, climbing Timberwolf Mountain.

Inventory management is a big part of the game and is challenging when traversing large parts of the map. If you find these items, try to hold onto them:

• Mountaineering rope – see Faithful Cartographer guide for times when these are required
• Revolver and rifle ammunition (so we can hunt most easily in the final phase)
• Sewing kits are common enough; maintaining clothing really helps.

The approach for these achievements is to get them with the minimum of unnecessary repeat visits to areas. That being said:

• Though we start at Mountain Town, we will later return to access Hushed River Valley
• We will go through Mystery Lake more than once also
• And to avoid an early visit to Pleasant Valley, we will go through Coastal Highway twice.

Therefore, although the guidance provided here is based on a single visit, don’t worry if you miss something or need to return. You can always go back and you have 100 days to fill after all.

Directions are given as up/down/left/right based on the Wiki maps rather than the cardinal directions to avoid confusion. Location names to map are in italics.

Remember: you need charcoal to map locations. You can collect this from extinguished fires / stoves / etc. whether you started the fire or simply found it. The time to use your charcoal is when the area location appears at the top-left of the screen – for transition areas (like cave systems), it is when you get the option to leave the area. You cannot map in low visibility (bad weather, darkness), so plan accordingly.

You do not need to map locations for Exploration Game, simply enter the building. The approach will be to give guidance for Faithful Cartographer and then add [EG] for additional steps for Exploration Game. You do not need vehicles, or burned out buildings, or prepper caches for Exploration Game. There are some locations where the state of buildings can be intact or destroyed. You only need to enter intact buildings and any destroyed buildings will not impact the achievement.

You can track your progress for Faithful Cartographer in your journal by pressing J and choosing the Collections option (third one down) and Surveyed Locations. This gives a breakdown by area and shows the names of the locations if you ‘force reveal’. Those you have mapped are shown. To avoid annoyance/heartache, I would suggest checking your journal after each mapping to ensure the location has been marked off.

You’ll need to grab some charcoal before you can start mapping, so the centre of Milton is the basis for the FC approach here.

• In the town centre, collect Old Schoolhouse and Town of Milton (near the large house)
• Head up over the bridge to the wood lot (one of three), St Christopher’s Church, graveyard, the exit to Hushed River Valley (which can wait til we go there last) and Spruce Falls Bridge (which can wait until we hunt the bear there)
• Head past the post office and up to the radio tower, the cave and the long trek to the crashed plane
• Head the opposite way to check out Pleasant Valley Farm
• Take the two down climbs (one up, one down) to reach Milton Basin, Rocky Refuge (the path up to this is at the back by the rose hips), the Hermit’s Cabin and exit to Forlorn Muskeg – stay at the cabin overnight given the climbs and rest at the cave between climbs if necessary
• The remaining road from town centre will cover the two other wood lots, Orca Gas Station, the crashed bus, the Arch by the larger wood lot and then when we’re ready to leave, Milton Park, the Picnic Area and the cave to Mystery Lake.

You will enter this area in the bottom left of the map.

• Collect the cave system to Mountain Town, the Trapper’s Homestead [EG], then across to Max’s Last Stand, up to the Deadfall Area, across to the main railway line where you can detour down to the Rail Tunnel and exit to Forlorn Muskeg before heading up to the Camp Office [EG], which will be our base for this area
• While doing the three nights in the Ice Fishing Hut, you can visit all the lake cabins [EG] and take a quick trip from the Office to the Lake Trail and Dave’s Quiet Clearing
• Lake Overlook can be reached via two climbs from River (Southern Access) or by a precarious climb risking sprains up the hill opposite the Office
• Derailment and Train Loading Area will be checked off when heading up to Carter Hydro Dam and the exit to the Ravine. You’ll need both the Upper and Lower sections of the Dam and the two trailers for Exploration Game.
• Turning up the hill from the rabbit area opposite the Office will lead to the pathway to Forestry Lookout
• Head past the rabbits opposite the Office and up to Frozen Creek, then along to Unnamed Pond and up past the Cabin [EG] to the Clear Cut and up to the Destroyed Lookout. You can return via the Logging Camp, checking out the Trailers [EG]
• On a return visit from the Dam, take the pathway past the trailers down to Alan’s Cave.

The Ravine has five locations to map. You need a mountaineering rope to access the basin. If you have found one already, bring it along and attach it to the rock near the log across the ravine for use later on.

Collect To Mystery Lake, Ravine Falls Trestle and To Coastal Highway while traversing this area. Watch out for the end of the Trestle!

You arrive in this area at the top-left corner of the map. The approach here assumes one trip through the area and one trip back:

• Collect the Ravine exit and head down before the bridge through Rabbit Grove and its cabin [EG], on to Bear Creek Campground, down to the Rockfall, back to the Fishing Camp [EG] and the Cabin [EG] just uphill of there
• Walk across the ice to Jackrabbit Island, onto Misanthrope’s Homestead, checking out both houses [EG] and over to Waterfront Cottages [EG]
• Head down to Commuter’s Lament and the exit to Crumbling Highway.

On the return journey:

• Take the long walk up the road to Quonset Garage and Coastal Townsite, entering all the cabins [EG]
• Head up to Silent Clearing, enter the Trailer [EG] and take the climb and the right fork to come around behind the Abandoned Lookout. Continue on to the mine and the exit to Pleasant Valley, on to the Trailer and then back to the cabins below the Lookout [EG]
• You’ll deserve a rest at the Log Sort (enter the trailer for EG) before taking in The Tooth. Return to Log Sort to head up the trailer, over the bridge and then detour up to the Cabin. Take in the Trailer [EG] by the loop before the next bridge before hitting Train Unloading with another Trailer [EG]

Given the next two areas only connect to Coastal Highway, it seems logical to take these in next.

This is probably the easiest area to collect all of the locations for this achievement.

Collecting the exit To Coastal Highway on arriving, you follow the road past the Abandoned Harris Home, The Arch and Road Collapse before picking up To No.3 Coal Mine.

This is another simple area in terms of mapping:

• Collect To #3 Coal Mine on arrival before heading down to Blocked Highway and taking a detour for Katie’s Secluded Corner, probably resting overnight at the Stone Church
• Amble across to Lonely Lighthouse and then look for Matt’s Truck at the bottom of the bridge. Stroll over to Little Island before looting The Riken and heading across to Hibernia Processing
• Head up to Broken Bridge and Waterfall before returning to Coastal Highway via Crumbling Highway.

There are multiple ways you could proceed from this point in terms of the order of areas, involving trade-offs between the amount of walking and number of transitions and the ease of playing in terms of equipment collected.

One option is to head to Forlorn Muskeg via The Ravine and Mystery Lake, as this provides access to the last Intermediate area, Broken Railroad.

This is not an area I can recommend mapping in one go. FM is a dangerous area due to the weather and the thin ice. I would therefore suggest three bites at this cherry:

• Arriving from Mystery Lake, map the exit and follow the rail track through the Poacher’s Camp and the exit to Broken Railway
• When returning, head down via the first of the Shortwave Towers to the Old Spence Family Homestead, on to the Bunkhouses, the Cave System to Bleak Inlet and on to Muskeg Overlook and the second Shortwave Tower
• Perhaps en route to Hushed River Valley as a final step, head up to Hat Creek, the Waterfall, the final Shortwave Tower and use the cave by the waterfall to reach Marsh Ridge and exit to Mountain Town.

Like Desolation Point, there is one way in and out of this area.

• On arrival, collect the exit to Forlorn Muskeg, head to the Landslide and then around to Locomotive Engine and continue down to Broken Bridge before heading back and down to Maintenance Shed
• Hunter’s Blind can be picked up before or after visiting the Hunting Lodge but you will need to take a detour to visit the Rickety Foot Bridge, unless you have a spare mountaineering rope.

You can also go to Pleasant Valley from Coastal Highway (which is what I did as I was comfortable with the area having done the Story mode first). If you do this, the directions for Forlorn Muskeg are the same, although your order of attack may differ if you use a different entrance.

This is a dangerous area due to the extreme weather conditions that prevail. It also has the most locations to map! Flexibility is key and be sure you have alternative sleeping arrangements in range if necessary.

• Mapping the Coastal Highway exit on arrival, take a small detour to End of the Road before following the road to Thomson’s Crossing – you can detour to Upper Falls here (you need to climb around to the top on the left hand side to trigger the location) – before resting at the Community Hall
• Using the Hall as an interim base, you can head out to the Barn at Pleasant Valley Outbuildings and the Lonely Homestead in the trees
• Take another day trip to cover Contemplation Bridge, Picnic Spot, Pensive Pond, Cascading Falls and Lower Falls, looking to stay overnight at Signal Hill
• From here, try a loop down to Long Curve and the Keeper’s Path South exit, around to Three Strikes Farmstead and back via the farmhouse and Heartbreak Bridge to whatever resting spot you can reach
• Launching again from the Community Hall, take the road up via the Derelict Cabins and Point of Disagreement down to Skeeter’s Ridge and overnight at the basement there
• Visit Burned Ridge Cave before heading up via the crash site to the Misty Falls Picnic Area Timberwolf Mountain exit
• On the return back from Timberwolf Mountain, make sure to map the Hilltop Cave before heading out via the Cave System to the Carter Hydro Dam and Winding River

NB Good news! You do not need to map Keeper’s Path North or South or Blackrock for the achievement (at the time of writing).

This is another area where the proverbial elephant can be consumed with carefully measured bites. Your equipment by now should be a match for the challenge…

• Map the Pleasant Valley exit on arrival and head to the Landing Gear. Move on to the Crystal Lake and Mountaineer’s Hut, an obvious interim base
• The first day trip will take in the Wing, Echo Peak East and Echo Peak West, Echo Ravine and the Engine. Return to the Hut
• Next, head around the edge of the map up to the Cave System to Ash Canyon, Deer Clearing, around and up to Secluded Shelf and overnight in the cave
• Fully rested, head around to the climb to Cave A, rest if you need to, up the Summit, to the Wing and Tail Section. You can sleep in the cave and take a rope from either there or the Tail Section
• Basking in your glory, climb down and head to the corner to take in Eric’s Falls, affix a rope to climb down to tick off the Cave System to Blackrock, the other part of the Engine and Andre’s Peak, sleeping in the cave
• Going via the Hut if needs be, go down Echo Ravine to exit to Ash Canyon.

While there are two entrances to this area, both are from Timberwolf Mountain. This assumes the cave exit via Echo Ravine as the starting point. The difficulty with this area is the number of different heights that locations are at, which requires careful planning.

• Mapping the exit on arrival, detour left to Shattered Cove before returning to the frozen water of Bitter Marsh and the hut. Hopefully there will be a rope here – you will need one later. If not, be sure to check the other spawn points on the map. You can head up to the cabin at Angler’s Den
• Take a day trip up to Long Falls via Broad Falls and then on to Stone Shelf Cave
• It is three climbs up to the spot you need to drop a rope down to the Mining Camp. You will need to rest! From the Camp you an access the Gold Mine
• After looting to your heart’s content, head to Wolf’s Jaw Overlook, steady your nerves for the bridges on way to Miner’s Folly and Foreman’s Retreat
• Move on to Fire Overlook and climb down to Homesteader’s Respite
• Return via Fire Overlook to High Meadow and down to the Climber’s Cave
• Descend to Pillar’s Footrest, trek up the left side of the map to climb up to the Runaway Bridge, possibly overnighting at Stone Shelf Cave once more
• Map the second exit to Timberwolf Mountain when leaving.

NB This is the fastest route to the Gold Mine – the Wiki has alternative routes marked. The Mine contains two guaranteed spawns that will make future areas a lot easier…

Once you have the mountaineering rope available to use here, you can climb down to Ravine Basin and the exit to Bleak Inlet.

There are two entrances to Bleak Inlet. You will need a mountaineering rope to deploy near the Pensive Lookout after using the Ravine entrance to avoid needing to utilise both to complete the map.

From the Ravine:

• Collect the exit to the Ravine and Summit at Ravine’s End. Head down to Echo One Radio Tower and back up to Pensive Lookout (NB You need a letter from the Tower to be able to access a room at the Cannery but not to map it)
• Assuming you have the rope, climb down and head up to Lower Raven Falls and then along the edge of the map to the Landslide and Raven Crossing. You can head down to the Cannery Worker Residences and the ruin of the Fallen Lighthouse
• Crossing the Long Bridge, you come to the Last Resort Cannery and its Workshop
• After looting there to your heart’s content, you can follow the road to the Coastal Highway Terminus, go up to the Washed Out Trailers and on to the Frozen Delta and the exit to Forlorn Muskeg and Ravine’s End Waterfall.

  Entering first from Forlorn Muskeg would involve reversing the path described but there is no way up to Pensive Lookout and you would need to go all the way to the Ravine to complete your map.

Only accessible through Mountain Town, this is our final stop for the Faithful Cartographer achievement. Even writing the guide is nearly as exhausting as the journey itself. In any event, the Mysterious Signal Fire has two spawn points and you will mark off both when you visit the one you get. You need a rope for one of the two.

• Map the exit to Mountain Town and take in Cloudtop Falls, Stairsteps Lake, Hushed River, Offset Falls and Reclusive Falls, stopping at the ice cave
• Locating Valley View Point is easiest from the log in Hushed River and cutting the shrubs [full disclosure – I got totally lost at this point]; move on to Many Falls Vista and to the helpful log taking you to Moose Overlook. Visit Landslide, Valley Cave, Little Bear and Cub Falls, Long Shot Falls and Twin Sister Falls. Sleep at the Valley Cave
• Make the double climb to Pensive Vista and bless your crampons before heading to Peak Cave. Head back to Monolith Lake, Watchful Falls and the adjacent Lake Cave, Banner Falls, Quarreling Falls and Mammoth Falls. One of the MSF spawns is down from here
• If you have the other spawn, you’ll need to climb up from the central area and lower a rope to Many Falls Vista. Turning the other direction from that climb and crossing a log bridge gets you to Lonely Cave and a chance to enjoy your Faithful Cartographer achievement in a place that highlights even more your utter isolation and inevitable lonely demise.

At this stage, we’ve completed our mapping exercises and are free to live out our days going slowly/quickly insane. However, before we do, there are some final tasks we must complete.

My preferred base for this phase was the Camp Office in Mystery Lake. It has a bed, work bench, internal fire units, nearby rabbits for snaring, ice fishing huts on the lake, wolves if you need their skins and a bear within walking distance. You will also likely already have resources stored there or in neighbouring zones if you need to collect them.

Living Off The Land: no more processed foods! For 25 days you need to cycle through snaring rabbits, catching fish, shooting wolves/deer/bears, drinking purified water and cooking for yourself. Depending on stocks, this is the first time where you can speed through the days if you do not need to go hunting or gathering resources. Your skills should be at the 3 or 4 level by now and you should have ample ammunition. The revolver will do for rabbits (one shot) and wolves (one or two) with the rifle handling deer and bear (also one or two shots).

It was THIS Big!: If you did Story Mode first and went for all the achievements like I did, this will already be picked up. If you have yet to catch a fish over 5kg, simply focus on ice fishing while living off the land and one should come along.

Wrapped in Furs: This involves becoming very warm and snuggly indeed, courtesy of the local wildlife. Creating the four items required will involve some hunting – but fear not, on Pilgrim difficulty gunning down a couple of bears and a handful of wolves should present no danger. There are 1-2 bears in Mystery Lake and one in the safest hunting area at Spruce Falls Bridge in Mountain Town. To avoid scaring off wolves and deer, creep towards them where possible.

You’ll need the following resources, as well as the patience to stand at the work bench for a considerable number of hours:

Resolute Outfitter: to do this, we need to have all clothing slots with 100% condition gear. Most of your gear should be pretty good quality to start with, but to complete this, simply repair all of it to 100%. This includes accessories (you should have crampons and a moose-skin bag). If you do this after Wrapped in Furs, three items will be at 100% already.

Stone-Age Sniper: if you hit a rabbit with a stone, it will stun it. Under no circumstances can I advise you to pick up the rabbit when stunned as you are presented with one of the most disturbing screens I can remember from many decades of playing games. For the achievement, you need to be some distance away and it’s a lot easier if the ground is flat (so I used the rabbit area near the Deadfall Area rather than the one opposite the Camp Office). Collect a lot of stones (the more you have, the easier this will be) and have at it – your throw will go in the direction of the knuckle of your left hand if aimed. Rather than go for precision (due to rabbits moving and the ground not being perfectly flat), you might want to pepper them once they’re settled. Warning: this can take a while. I have read this is easiest in Story mode Chapter 1 but I passed up that opportunity on Mystery Lake.

I hope you find this guide helpful. If you have any comments, queries, complaints, praise or free money, leave a comment and I will seek to respond and/or update the guide accordingly.