LONE SURVIVOR: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT

it gives me great pleasure to present to you the new and extended version of Lone Survivor which is now entitled:

‘The Director’s Cut’

first, allow me to let the launch trailer* speak for itself:

 *(trailer by childhood friend and collaborator Caspar Newbolt of Version Industries)

so what is The Director’s Cut, exactly?

i won’t try to describe the original game again, much has already been written and said about it, and i prefer to leave the interpretations up to the players. especially with interactive media, everyone’s perception of a story is different and, to me, equally valid.

Lone Survivor has been lucky enough to have found a following, all of whom have their own interpretation of the game. and for those fans especially, i have made The Director’s Cut. it contains some elements which didn’t quite make it to the original game because they seemed too elaborate and i needed to get the game out, it contains a lot of new ideas which i’ve had since releasing the last update a year and a half ago (and having since had time to think more about my own interpretation), and it has a sort of meta-narrative which ties it all together which emerged as i began to work on it.

on top of this, the game has been polished, fixed, tweaked and honed in hundreds of different ways. i spent weeks improving the look of the lighting, and even found and fixed bugs that the 800,000+ people who own the game had hadn’t yet reported! 

the PC + Mac release, on Steam and the game’s website, won’t be far behind. in other words, it will be out as soon as i can physically do it. it will take time as it’s not a simple port, but it is my next priority and i will have more news about this soon.

PlayStation

i originally planned to do a fairly straight port of the original game, but when Sony said they’d be interested in new content, i started to think about whether i could implement some of these ideas. and i got a bit carried away with it. i thought it would take about six weeks, but it ended up taking around nine months!

i’ve been working tirelessly alongside Curve Studios for the whole period, not just creating the new content, but making sure the ports and all their related marketing materials are up to my (i now realise) stupidly fussy standards: drawing PS3 background images and store images myself, searching 7 years of old hard drives to re-source all the audio so that we didn’t convert from the .mp3 format the original game uses to the .ogg format that the PlayStation uses, rather, from the original .wav masters – for a marginal improvement in audio quality that only musos will hear. i’ve spent many a night uploading endlessly tweaked Photoshop marketing images to the Curve servers at 3am, or rewriting the cloud-save interface to look more ‘Lone Survivor’, repeatedly redrawing the PlayStation button images until i found the most beautiful ‘6/7/8/9 pixel circle’, playing the different paths through the game time after time alongside the QA department. i have had endless email debates with the production team and Sony on how to make the trophies as cool-yet-unobtrusive as possible, i have designed the competition prizes by hand, the list goes on and on… and that’s to say nothing of the hard work Curve put in on their side!

to my knowledge, anything that could be done to make the experience better has been done, and Curve totally got that these kinds of details were important to me, and humoured me time and time again when i asked for things to be tweaked. Sony were amazing to work with (and i must send special love out to Shahid Kamal who helped make it happen in the first place), listening to my outlandish requests, and even allowing me to be one of the first ever third-party games to mess with the Trophy format, certainly the first predominantly made by one person… yes, it’s been an almighty task, but we got there in the end.

Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut is out today on PSN in USA + EU

(priced $12.99 / €12.99 / £9.99)

i hope you enjoy the game

– jasper

The Changes

i knew the fans would be the most sensitive to changes in the game, so to me the challenge was to go back and improve the original game without in any way changing or spoiling the original vision. for this reason, i decided to make the majority of the new content, including the two new endings, only accessible in New Game+. so when you play the game for the first time, it should feel as before, only far more polished and nicer to look at and listen to. but when explore it for the second time, you may discover an entire extra layer to it…

it’s been really hard to keep the details to myself for so long, but the game’s secrets are no doubt being discovered right at this very moment by the fans. i greatly look forward to hearing what you think of the new content, so be sure to share your thoughts here (or via email, see address at top-right, if you’d prefer) if you do get a chance to play it.

anyway, here’s a rundown of the new features of Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut (without spoiling the specifics of its content):

general features:

  • whole new lighting engine, also supports 1 extra hardware light
  • many locations have additional lights and / or tweaked lighting
  • anamorphic lens flare for the flashlight
  • new sleeping and game over music
  • new title screen and game over screen
  • 2 additional locations
  • new gamma settings, saving of gamma and aspect settings
  • new expert mode
  • hundreds of small bug fixes, balance tweaks and improvements
  • automatic monster-facing on gun-draw
  • a few small easter eggs
  • new short sidequest
  • ending ‘collection’
  • ‘The Ritual’

specific to New Game+:

  • around 6 new locations
  • 2 completely new endings
  • 3 new songs
  • over 20 new items
  • 2 new sidequests
  • new enemy
  • new dialogue for all characters in the game
  • many other easter eggs that are better left unspoilt

specific to PlayStation:

  • trophies (including a platinum)
  • cloud-save (cross-play)
  • French & German languages (EU)
  • Cross Buy (buy on one format, get both PS Vita and PS3 versions)
  • controller support!

specific to PS Vita:

  • touchscreen controls for inventory, option screen & textboxes

specific to PS3:

  • rumbbbbbbbllllle

(new titlescreen on PC, to show it is actually in the works!)

Competitions! Competitions! Competitions!

we are also going to be giving out prizes that i designed myself, to the press to run competitions and so on. i spent a long time on them to hopefully make them really exclusive and unique:

 5 super-limited ‘First Aid Edition’ art-card prints, signed and individually numbered by myself

(now only 5 more exist and i’ll be keeping them for posterity!)

super limited edition physical prints of the game soundtrack in vintage PS2 survival horror style (i had fun making these and they look really cool in the flesh)

 

actual Sleepy Cat plushies (from my original sketch on the right) made by sukisuki.co.uk

(… yes, Sleepy Cat is real!)

for more information about the competitions and prizes, or to request a press kit / review code, please contact:

 pr@curve-studios.com

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  • Comments (34)
  1. avatar
    • Kaleb_22
    • October 7th, 2013

    1.When an estimated wait PC version? This week, this mount, this year, 2014 maybe?
    2.Are there plans about endless random generated freeplay mode? When i play in stadart version lone survivor, i end game, and after start new game and just live in game 20-30 days. World, atmosphere, music just dont give me escape. Great game.
    But always want more)

  2. avatar
    • JMonsterface
    • October 1st, 2013

    I’m gonna buy this game so hard on my vita! You are a hell of a creator sir, and I’m so glad you do what you do!

    Thanks!

  3. avatar
    • Kate
    • September 30th, 2013

    Could you, please, explain why & how the price in USD and EURO is the same?

  4. avatar
    • The Infamous Dr. Q
    • September 29th, 2013

    I had been aware of Soundless Mountain 2 previously, didn’t play it, but nonetheless found the concept utterly brilliant. I played Hotline Miami endlessly, particularly enjoying the track that played as the score tallied up at the end of the level. It wasn’t until the end of my first playthrough of Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut that I found out all of these things were the product of the same person. Mind. Blown.

    Jasper Byrne, I salute you.

  5. avatar
    • SlyBeast
    • September 28th, 2013

    Jasper :
    you have to find it. it’s well hidden, believe me!

    Give us a hint PLEASE! We’re trying to unlock the mysteries over at PS3Trophies.org! Help us! 🙂

    Loved the game, by the way.

  6. avatar
    • BOPZ
    • September 27th, 2013

    Wow, just bought your game this night, and just finished it… and went to your site to say thanks!

    did not enjoy a survival like this game since the old silent hills and resident evil on psx / ps2.

    keep the good work!

    cheers froms france 🙂

  7. avatar
    • Steve J
    • September 27th, 2013

    I hope new game + isn’t as well hidden as you say. How many people will never even realize it exists?

  8. avatar
    • ExodusC
    • September 26th, 2013

    Am I mistaken or does the Director’s Cut have greatly improved font quality? I recall the font being very large, and it actually gave me a headache to play for extended periods on my PC monitor. The first thing I thought was, “this game would be perfect on a Vita, the font would be more readable on a smaller display and with OLED blacks…”

    So you might imagine I’ve been psyched about the launch (I’ve already picked up and started playing a copy on my Vita). The game looks sharp and feels great on the Vita (haven’t played the PS3 copy yet).

    I do wonder, are there any plans for a discount of the Director’s Cut for people who already own the game on Steam? I know this has been done in the past for other games on Steam, and it seems like a good incentive for owners of the original to pick up the Director’s Cut.

    Either way, I’m super-pleased with the Vita port.

  9. avatar
    • Andy
    • September 26th, 2013

    This might be a dumb question but how does one access new game+ of LS? I beat it last night on my Vita with the green ending. The only 3 options I have after the credits ended are New game, continue & download from cloud. Do I just start a new game, overwrite my old save & the new content will just be in there?

    • avatar

      you have to find it. it’s well hidden, believe me! 🙂

  10. avatar
    • Ben
    • September 26th, 2013

    I, and many other people, would love to see this on Android! It would be amazing to play it on a smart phone. Any chance of a port ever appearing??

    • avatar

      i don’t think there will ever be a phone port of the game. i just find the screens too small for proper immersion (and very rarely play games on them myself, so it would feel sort of hypocritical, if you know what i mean haha?)

      i have considered an iPad port, though. it’s not completely off the cards sometime in the future

  11. avatar

    I’ve been really eager to play Lone Survivor since I first hear about it around the time the game came out on pc.
    I decided to wait to play the game on vita/ps3 when I heard it was being ported, and to my delight I spotted it in todays PSN update!

    Played the game for a little while since, I’ve got down a floor but now it’s about time for bed, loving the experience so far!

  12. avatar
    • justin
    • September 25th, 2013

    brb psn store

  13. avatar
    • Brandon
    • September 25th, 2013

    Mate, I’ve been excited for this game for a long time! So rare that we get proper horror games, especially on the Vita. And with this style? Absolutely fantastic.

    Can’t afford it myself for a while though, unfortunately. Hopefully one day though! Going to devour as much content about it without too many spoilers as I can in the meantime.

    Wanted to stop in to congratulate you. Seems that people love it and I’m sure I’ll be among them.

    Cheers from Canada!

  14. avatar
    • P.M.
    • September 25th, 2013

    Any plans for a GOG.com release down the line as well?

    • avatar

      i like their site and would definitely consider it!

  15. avatar
    • Carlos
    • September 25th, 2013

    Already got it on PC, buying it NOW on Vita. I can’t help but feel that you chose the perfect plataform, hope everyone who owns a Vita and tries the game feels the same way. You’re one of those guys who are giving the Vita a reason to “live”.

  16. avatar
    • ZL
    • September 24th, 2013

    I must have a Sleepy Cat plushy. I will accept no substitute. Please, Jasper, relieve my suffering, and tell me you will make it so they can be bought independent of a competition. I will get down on my knees and weep, if I must. I love you, Sleepy Cat!

    Ahem. Congratulations on making such an outstanding game, and best wishes for this new edition. I will certainly be purchasing the Steam version when it becomes available.

  17. avatar
    • Anthony
    • September 24th, 2013

    Congratulations on the release! The updates look amazing.

    Lone Survivor is an incredible game and one that I’ve made a habit of purchasing for friends. Looks like I’m going to buy at it least one more time, but this time it’s for me (again)!

  18. avatar
    • Jesse
    • September 24th, 2013

    Is there going to be 360 controller support for PC in the new release?

    Also, do existing owners of the game bought from your website get the upgrade for free?

    I just went to the fastspring store to see if the director’s cut was there, and it wasn’t (I guess you’re not done yet). However, it also told me that the original file wasn’t available as well!

  19. avatar
    • davidjs_uk
    • September 24th, 2013

    Hey Jasper, looking forward to getting this as I loved it on Mac through Steam.

    Quick questions, do you know if we’re getting cross buy in the EU and if there is PSN+ discount? These seem to be in place for USA but not EU at the moment and no info on PSN Blog at the moment.

    • avatar

      definitely Cross-Buy, but as far as discounts go that is really out of my hands, although i was lead to believe it would ‘have a discount’ on launch… could have been some crossed wires, sorry. i’ll see what i can discover!

  20. avatar
    • AmbientChaos
    • September 24th, 2013

    Props on being such an awesome passionate guy! I’m about to go pick up the game for my Vita and this post sealed the deal! I can’t wait to see what else you make in the future

  21. avatar

    hi Sefam,

    i just wanted to give Caspar, who made the trailer, completely free reign to show the game in any way he wanted to. and i think it gives a really fresh look at the game for the fans who already know the soundtrack?

    plus it’s a pretty cool tune! 🙂

    – J

    • avatar
      • Sefam
      • September 24th, 2013

      I was wondering if the tune had any relevancy to the game or if it was part of the added content, because it’s a cool and haunting track.

      Also, I forgot to ask this a few months back, I think you should add Lone Survivor to your list of finished games on your domain’s front page ( http://www.superflatgames.com/ ). All the other games seem lonely without it 😀

  22. avatar
    • Sefam
    • September 24th, 2013

    I like this new trailer, but I’m curious, why this track in particular rather than one of the in-game tracks?

    I don’t own a Playstation system, so I’ll be sitting tight for the new content to come out for PC 🙂

  23. avatar
    • Dmitriy
    • September 24th, 2013

    @Jasper

    Sorry, my mistake. Thank you so much for all. Your game is awesome.

    • avatar

      thanks for playing! i’ll do my best to get the PC version out asap!

  24. avatar
    • Dmitriy
    • September 24th, 2013

    What about PC version? (I’m ready to buy it.)

    • avatar

      i think i answered that pretty thoroughly in the post above?

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