The Long Dark Full Walkthrough (Episodes 1-5): all Puzzles, Keys, and Caches

The penultimate story chapter, in which pilot Mackenzie finds himself in the hands of escaped convicts who have taken over the local Blackrock prison. We explain how to find all the missing people, sabotage the locking mechanisms, find all the caches and keys, and the bloodstained notes.

Watch the introductory cutscene, after which Mackenzie will find himself in a gorge. Keep running forward until you reach a small ruined hut. Interact with the rusty saw and enter the house to find a note on the wall.

Climb up the ledges to eventually meet Mathis.

After waking up, listen to the prison warden who is next to the main character, then the task will update. You need to sneak into the infirmary and get some medicine. Inspect the cars and follow the passage on the left. Even further to the left, you can see the entrance to the infirmary, but the main door is locked. You'll have to go around from the outside.

Go back and pass through the arch on the right. In the dead end, you can pick up a crowbar, a flare, and some supplies. At the back of the bus, there is a bloodstained note Archive Report. Doing this will start a new side quest Dark Star.

When you get outside, don't distract the first wolf and move on, then quickly run past the two wolves into the open door. Don't forget to lock it behind you! It is dangerous to explore this area now; you can return here with a weapon.

Enter the building with double doors and inspect the first floor. There are no particularly valuable items here, except for a sewing kit, a flare, and a flashlight in one of the prison lockers. In the restroom, on the tank, you can also find the magazine Black Stone Construction, Part 1.

When you are ready, climb to the roof and walk across two metal bridges to the infirmary building, then climb inside through the window.

On the second floor, in the room on the right, pick up the note on the floor behind the desk Late Worker (this will start the side quest Black Stone Rumors (1/3)), and in the closet, another note with details about the medicines and a key.

Before leaving the building, talk to the girl on the phone, and on the first floor, take the sleeping bag. Now you have the key to the prison gates. Open the door and inspect the checkpoint: here is a note with food markings, a service note about confiscated explosives, a newspaper clipping, a note Extremely Aggressive Wolf, a signal pistol, and other supplies. The note about the aggressive wolf opens a side quest in the section Black Stone Rumors (2/3).

Move forward along the road to the blue pickup truck. At this point, wolves will likely attack the hero — get rid of them with the signal pistol or a firecracker. In the trunk of the van, take the hunting rifle.

You can follow the storyline, but we recommend first picking up useful items and completing some additional activities. At the fork, head south and go through the slopes to the open clearing. There will be a pack of wolves here — scare them away with a firecracker and a signal pistol, then inspect the small shed. In the glove compartment of the pickup truck, there is a key to prison locker No. 3, and here you will also find an axe and other supplies.

From this place, go a little west and reach the blocked bridge. Inside the overturned truck, there is a revolver.

It is not worth going further yet — return to the fork and run towards the storyline marker. Cross the bridge, and a few meters to the right, find a backpack and bloodstains. Follow these traces and eventually, you will reach the cave. On the way, you will encounter wolves, so be on guard. Kill or scare the wolf away from the guard's corpse and take the medicines.

You can return to the prison or check the nearest place for the side quest. Return to the shed with the pickup truck and find the passage with the ascent on the left. You will be able to descend along the fallen tree and find the corpse of the prison guard, and in it, the key to the safe (located under the couch in the common bedroom) and a note.

But that's not all. Here you will also find a bow and arrows, and you can wait until morning or weather out the storm. However, at this moment, a wolf will appear behind you — you will have to kill it.

Note: We do not recommend going to the northeast part of the map to search for the wolf yet, as you have likely spent most of your ammunition on wolves along the way. It's better to visit this place later.

But if you still want to do this, we recommend climbing the climbing rope on the slope near the cave. Follow the road and find a small lake, where there is a mason's house. Inside, there is a backpack with supplies and the magazine Black Stone Construction, Part 3.

If you follow the opposite direction from the Mason's Shelter and pass the van to the west, you can find a small farm. In the green box, take the note with the convict's stash locations. All of them will be displayed on your map, so there should be no problems finding them. Here on the farm, you will also find a rifle.

In the trailer between the Mason's Shelter and the Cook's Farm, you can find a bloody archive report.

Continue climbing the road north until you reach the desired cave. Inside, there will be a wolf. Try to kill it with one accurate rifle shot. If you miss, you will have to finish it off — it will attack anyway.

Inspect the corpse, take the bloody note and food. This will complete the subquest.

Return to the prison and decide what to do. We recommend first getting rid of the wolves in the courtyard and inspecting the area: in the far part of the yard lies a guard's corpse, and inside locker key No. 2.

When you are ready, lay all your items on the floor (we tried to hide the items in a locker, but after the start of the next chapter, they disappeared) and return to the prisoners. You need to lay out even your clothes, as they will also be confiscated!

In this chapter, you need to explore the remaining part of the location, but we recommend doing this gradually. Go down the map to the fork and move forward along the road until you see a purple car. On the front passenger seat, there is a letter.

Your next stop is the Old Substation. It is located not far from the road and the car where you found the letter. However, we do not recommend moving along the road, as a pack of wolves awaits there. Go around the rocks on the right and climb the hill.

In front of the substation building, there is a pickup truck, on the dashboard of which you can find a note about a mysterious person (Black Stone Rumors (3/3)). The stash is hidden near the Mason's Shelter by a large stone.

In the substation building, take the archive record, prison construction journal (part 2), and storm lantern from the table. Additionally, read the worker's memories on the bench before the exit to activate the additional quest Missing Substation Workers. The necessary locations will be displayed on the map, but as you progress, we will tell you where to find them.

Outside, next to the workbench, take the rifle if you don't have one yet. You can simply unload it and drop it (there are a few bullets in the magazine).

Cross the Narrow Bridge, but make sure to leave the road, as a large pack of wolves awaits around the bend. You need to follow to the left under the rocks and find a small passage between them. This way, you will end up on a height and can bypass the collapse.

To reach the marked cabin with the missing substation worker, at the next fallen tree leading down, turn around and go up the hill on the left side.

Here, there will be two more trees you need to cross in the opposite direction.

Immediately after the arch, turn left and run down to the trailer. Inside, you will find the corpse of a girl, a revolver, and some supplies.

If you want to avoid encountering wolves and safely reach the next cabin on the map, we recommend not going out onto the road through the gate next to the electrician's trailer. Return to the fork with the fallen trees and cross one of them over the road. You will end up near a cave in a clearing with rabbits. If you go forward and to the right, you will see an attached climbing rope that you can use to descend.

In this point of interest, the only useful things you will find are a rifle and some firewood. When you are ready, head down the road to the power station building. As usual, wolves await on the road. We bypassed them on the left side, but closer to the substation gates, we had to speed up — the predators still noticed the hero.

Once at the station, approach the phone. Your new acquaintance will suggest sabotaging the locking mechanisms in the prison — this will be our next task. Walk down the long corridor and take the supplies and the Work Order note near the boiler on the right.

The door in front of you is frozen. Interact with the lever to melt the ice. This mechanic will be encountered here more than once.

In the next room, turn right, then left at the fork. Here, there will be a lever block that you need to use to defrost the pipes and passages throughout the complex.

Open the nearest valve and close the far one.

Open the lever under the far one, then immediately close the valve below. All that remains is to open the central and far lever below. It should look like the screenshot below.

But even this pressure will not be enough. Close the upper central valve and open the lower one.

Now be careful: hot pipes are leaking, so beware of hot steam. You need to adjust the second block of valves. Run to the opposite end of the corridor and find the levers on the right wall before the locked door.

All that remains is to follow the pipe back and open the remaining faucets to unlock the door.

Enter the opened door and turn the valve on the boiler.

From the boiler, turn left and go forward along the pipes. At the dead end, you will see a small crawlspace that leads to the next valve. If you interact with it from the opposite side, the hero will get burned by steam.

Return to the fork and find a similar crawlspace on the right. The path will lead you to a locked door, but you don't need to open it. Just interact with the faucet to unlock another door. Here, on the shelf, you can pick up a heavy hammer — it will be needed later.

Run to the second block of valves. To the right of the frozen door, there is a lever that you can now interact with.

Open the door and break the locking mechanism. The door to the right of the hero will open. Run down the corridor and stop at the stairs. To the left of it, you will see a green container, inside which lies the key to locker #8.

This will immediately put you on the prison grounds. You can go in search of the second missing employee before returning to the cell.

To find the first worker and complete the side quest, leave the prison grounds and run forward along the road to the blue pickup truck, then turn left. Here you will find a small bridge — you do not need to cross the ravine to the other side! There is a descent to the left before the bridge. Run to the water, then turn left. In the backpack, you will find the worker's ID card, and the corpse will be lying a little further.

When you are ready, return to Black Rock. Don't forget to get rid of items beforehand!

This time you need to go to the eastern part of the map to the place where you could find the aggressive wolf's den. If you haven't completed this task yet, now is the opportunity. This also applies to the convict's caches — you can pick them up along the way (where to find all of them is described in the following sections).

Cross the suspension bridge and climb into the abandoned mine. You will have to solve a few simple puzzles.

At the stairs, turn right and run straight ahead until you reach the elevator. Along the way, you may see a fork to the left, but you don't need to go there now — there's a locked door.

To the right of the elevator entrance, read the note and go right to the dead end. Here on the box lies a Forest Speakers' note (1/3) and a handle. Take it and return to the elevator.

Get into the elevator and go down one floor. Stop at the passage with the Toxic Gas sign. In such segments, you will either need to reach the vent in time to activate the gas extraction or simply run to a certain zone. Move forward and pick up the vent handle, but do not open the faucet — there's no particular point. This way you will save the handle, which may be useful later.

Run forward. On the left, you will see a locked door, but to open it, you will need the main gate key. A little further, you will see an air pocket. Replenish your oxygen supply and continue running forward until you come across a corpse. In the pockets, pick up the main gate key, the Forest Speakers' message (2/3), and the vent handle.

Return to the locked door and first open the locked faucet with clean air using the handle you picked up from the corpse.

Crawl under the debris and reach the vent in front of the elevator (there will be another vent along the way, but we recommend not touching it). Open the valve using the second found handle.

Stop on the second floor and run to the elevation. Here you can rest, and when you are ready, take the detonators. Right under them lies a corpse with the last Forest Speakers' message (3/3). From this moment, you can return to the locked door with the Forest Speakers' cache and simply open the lock like a standard safe (12-07-18).

To get out, take the bolt cutter in the dead end and open the grate leading to the elevator. Go up to the top floor, inspect the cache with the talkers' supplies, and talk to your new acquaintance on the phone. When you try to get out, there will be a collapse. Return to the stairs, climb up, and interact with the door.

Outside, turn right and find a new passage to the prison. Along the way, you will come across a cave with a corpse, and then you will need to descend two climbing ropes to the water body where wolves will be waiting.

Continue moving through the canyon and keep to the left side, then walk along the fallen tree and climb higher using the rope.

Note: Before returning to the prison, complete all additional tasks and save your progress!

After a long cutscene, you will need to escape the burning building within the allotted time. At the collapse, turn right and enter the door on the left, then crawl under the obstacle. Open the double doors and find the ventilation shaft. Once on the other side, immediately turn left and crawl under the wall, enter the room on the right, and climb onto the table using the plank. You will only need to overcome a few flights of stairs to get out.

Grab the case and answer the call. Go to the roof, head left, and then go down. When you reach the door that prisoners are trying to break down, interact with the yellow plank — this will prop the door and allow you to exit into the prison courtyard. Stay away from the spotlights, and soon you will reach a small area where wolves used to live. You need to run to the door leading to the power plant.

Getting through the tunnels is not difficult — always choose the safe path where the character cannot get hurt.

When the protagonist starts to suffocate, run to the left, then to the passage on the right, and exit the boiler room.

After opening the last cache, a marker with the survivalist's bunker will appear on the map. The third goal will be completed when you penetrate the bunker and read the note Conspiracy Theories. Here you can also find the document Prison Release Order.

The key to prison locker No. 3 is hidden in the glove compartment of the pickup truck at the Prison Warden's Residence location. You can get here immediately after finding the key to the prison gate and going in search of the medicine. Inside, there is a hunting knife, a first aid syringe, a pack of rifle cartridges, and a bloodstained note needed for the quest.

The key to the locked drawer in the common dormitory is located in the corpse by the river, which is marked as a side quest. How to get to it is described in the Dark Star section.

The key to prison locker No. 2 is in the corpse of a guard in the prison courtyard. To reach it, you will have to deal with several wolves. In the locker itself, you will find a pack of rifle cartridges and military clothing.

The key to prison locker No. 8 can be obtained at the power plant while completing the quest of the same name. When you break the locking mechanism system, run to the newly opened door and stop in front of the stairs. On the left, there is a green metal container, and inside is the key. In the locker itself, you will find a revolver and cartridges for it. This is the last key, so after opening the locker, the side quest will be completed.

This side quest can be taken if you inspect the green container at the Cook's Farm in the eastern part of the map. Four places with caches will appear on the map — finding them is quite simple.

The nearest container is the third one. Exit the trailer and go around the two rocks in front of you. On the left side, you can climb directly onto them. We are interested in the highest point with two trees. The cache is right under one of them. The box contains cartridges and a flare for the flare gun.

The next box is the second one. From the previous location, head north (you can follow the road or a parallel path). Behind a huge boulder, there is a cache. Inside are revolver cartridges, some incendiary mixture for the fire, and a firestarter.

Next, you should proceed to the intersection with the blue pickup truck and find the path to the radio tower where the cache is hidden. We climbed there via the slope on the right, but you can find other ways. For example, go around the mountain and find a climb or a climbing rope leading to the tower. Inside are a revolver, climbing socks, revolver cartridges, and a flare.

The last cache is located south of the old substation, before the canyon and behind a huge rock.