The Long Dark gets new lead as Raphael van Lierop starts new project

Raphael van Lierop has led development on The Long Dark for the entirety of its lifespan. That will change soon as the creator of The Quiet Apocalypse shifts his focus to a new project.

In the April 2022 developer diary for The Long Dark, van Lierop stated that Katie Sorrell would take over as Project Lead. Sorrell has been heavily involved in both the Survival Mode and Wintermute Story Mode over the years, personally designing every region from Pleasant Valley forward. Sorrel has also been the Lead Designer on all episodes of Wintermute.

I’m handing leadership of The Long Dark to Katie Sorrell, who takes over as Project Lead. Katie is no stranger to TLD or Great Bear Island, having personally designed every region from Pleasant Valley onwards, and having led the development of all our WINTERMUTE episodes as Lead Designer. Not only is Katie a 30-year game design veteran, but she’s been my close design collaborator for the past seven years, and I can’t think of anyone more qualified, or more suited, to take The Long Dark into the future. I feel so fortunate to have such a strong partner in this game, and so grateful that under Katie’s leadership, The Long Dark will continue to thrive well into the future. Katie is supported by a fantastic team of leaders and creators on the team across all disciplines, many of whom have also worked on The Long Dark for years, and I know that under her leadership and their steadfast support, The Long Dark is stepping into a new era of exciting growth and innovation.

While van Lierop will wrap up his work on The Long Dark with the script for the Wintermute finale, he will remain on as the boss of the studio, and he’ll have eyes on all new content coming to The Long Dark. His main focus, however, will be on a new project.

In case you’ve lived under a gaming rock for the last eight years, The Long Dark is outright one of the best survival games you can play, and it gets better all the time. You can keep tabs on what comes next using our Hinterland topic page.