Here is a message from THE LONG DARK's creative director:

Hello players,

Over the past few days, we've heard your feedback loud and clear: you aren't happy with our implementation of the Cougar.

I want to make it clear that the design we selected for the Cougar was my decision, and we shipped it as intended (apart from the bugs, of course). But there are a lot of different ways to deliver on an intention, and so I've decided that the fairest thing for our players, as well as for the dev team, is to pull the Cougar out of the build until we can do some revisions and come up with something we are happier with.

We don't want to simply fix bugs and react to player sentiment. The changes will go beyond just fixing the bugs in the current version. That doesn't mean we will deliver 100% the version that everyone is hoping for. At the end of the day, we have a clear vision for THE LONG DARK and we'll continue to work towards that vision.

For now, we're taking the Cougar back, and will work on it until it's ready. I can't say for sure how long that will take, but it'll likely be more than a couple of weeks. We'll deliver a re-envisioned Cougar before we deliver Part Six of TALES.

Thanks to everyone who shared constructive feedback and impressions over the past few days. Your input is useful and highly valued. I hope you enjoy the other features in Part Five, until we bring the Cougar back to you.

- Raphael

***

As a result of this, you will find the Cougar is no longer available in the game starting tomorrow (Friday) on Steam, and early next week on the consoles.

If you already have existing raw materials collected from killing Cougars, those items will remain in your inventory. You will still be able to craft the Cougar-related items, but you will not be able to find more Cougar materials to repair them. If you have unlocked the Cougar Feat, you will still be able to use it.

If you have any questions or run into issues, please report them to our Support Portal.

Thank you.

- The Hinterland Team