It is vital for your game packaging art to convey a game’s tone and gameplay to its audience. The Long Dark is an exploration-survival focused game that takes place in an expansive frozen wilderness. In designing the cover packaging and game disc art, we sought to capture the solemn atmosphere and beautiful scenery that the game features. On the cover, we have a back silhouette of the player armed with a hatchet, bow and arrow, and rifle. Past them, we catch a glimpse of the frozen tundra and wildlife. Moving over the the back cover, we displayed a variety of in-game locations and enemies. For the game disc art, we went with a much darker choice: a nighttime POV in the wilderness with a gorgeous aurora borealis in the distance. In creating the packaging art design for The Long Dark, we made sure to hit the many (often conflicting) artistic themes of isolation, untamed wilderness, and natural beauty.
