The Long Dark: The Detonators Walkthrough

The Long Dark: Episode 4 – Chapter 3: The Detonators Walkthrough & Guide.

The Long Dark: The Detonators Walkthrough

I don’t know about you, but I have a bad feeling about Franklin…

Oh well, back to the game. Now Will mentions something about a blizzard, but I wouldn’t worry to much. From what I can tell, it pretty much stops by the time you get all your gear sorted. To get to the mines, you need to to just follow the road like we did in Chapter 1, but without veering off at the prison truck.

Important Note: This is the chapter of no return so be sure to finish any sidequest you want to complete before bringing the detonators back to the prison. Mentioning it now because there are a fair number of sidequests that can be completed on the way to the mines.

Anyways, back to the story. Honestly, you can just follow the road all the way to the mines. In fact, there are little mine signs dotted along the way. As a warning, you’ll probably want a flare gun with at least two shells because the road does pass right by a bear den. Also, be sure to bring at least 4 noisemakers. There are a stupid number of timberwolf packs between here and the mines.

At the end of the road, you’ll find a swaying rope bridge. Be careful because you can fall off and die. Just past, you’ll find the entrance to the abandoned mine.

Alright, head in while veering to the left and you’ll eventually come to the large “doorway”. Once through, you’ll see a wooden staircase to the left and a passage to the right. Don’t bother with the staircase, but underneath it, near the painted orange square, is a door that you can investigate to trigger the Forest Talker Supply Cache sidequest.

We want to go to the right, where there will be a couple of signs saying “elevator”. After a while, you’ll come to a small tunnel where you need to crouch. After going through, you’ll come to the below area.

Head up the wooden platform and you’ll eventually come to the mine’s elevator. Sadly, it’s a manual handcrank elevator. On the plus side, the crank is in the locker area just off to the right.

Now, you’ll want to search and take advantage of the lockers here. Up ahead, there are some areas that require Will to move fast. Even when you’re not encumbered, you still move slower when you have 28 kg vs 15 kg. Plus you’ll burn through your sprint stamina faster when carrying heavy loads. So take the time to temporarily drop any excess gear. Stuff like guns and firewood are good to shed weight.

Once you’re ready, head back to the elevator and take it down to floor 3. Oh, and turn off the lantern if you want to conserve fuel.

After leaving the elevator, you might have noticed some signs about toxic gas, as well as the mine notice on the front of the elevator on floor 1. Well, here’s what the gas looks like.

Entering it gives Will the “suffocation” affliction. The lung icon on the left shows how long until Will dies from lack of oxygen. You either need to get out or pipe in some clean air to remove the effect.

Speaking of piping in clean air, you’ll notice there’s a red lever on the ground in the above picture. Picking it up and placing on the valve next to it will allow you clear the toxic gas from this area (remember to actually open the valve after placing the lever). This makes up the main puzzle mechanic of this chapter.

After clearing the gas, grab the lever (it can be removed), and keep going. You’ll come to some more toxic gas, and there will be another valve just a little further in.

Sadly, this time the lever will stick, so no more instant clean air for Will. If you look around, you’ll also see a wooden door to the other mine elevator. Spoilers, that’s where we need to go. Unfortunately, you need a mine key first, so further in we go.

And some more toxic gas… To get through this, you need to run for the area in the below picture.

This is an “air pocket” as Will puts it. If you look through the bars, you’ll notice that there’s another lever. We need to get that, and here’s where the inventory emptying from earlier comes in. Getting to the other side of the grate will basically take almost all of Will suffocation meter. And if you’re encumbered, you probably won’t make it. Or you’ll make it, but be stuck.

Another side effect of suffocation is that, as the meter drops, Will’s energy level (the eye icon on the stats menus) will drop faster as well. If you have any energy drinks, take them. Will’s vision will also start to blur once the meter reaches about the halfway point. And it gets worse the lower the meter.

Once you’re ready, sprint through the wooden arch on the left. Thankfully the path is completely straight. After you reach the other side, pick up the lever and search the body. The guy will have the mine key and another Forest Talker letter.

Once you’re rested, head back to the wooden door and open it. You’ll come to an area where you need to crouch and, oh joy, there’s also toxic gas. The thing to keep aware of where you can stop crouching, since that will let you start sprinting. Your goal is the valve below. Use the lever as usual and take some time to recover. There will be another valve further on, so rinse and repeat.

You should also take the time to rest if Will is getting tired. In the picture above on the right, you’ll see my tiredness meter is just below half. While I can make the next stretch, I’ll need a nap pretty soon.

Now, you might have noticed that there’s an elevator in that toxic gas. That’s right, you’ll have to do elevator cranking while suffocating…joy. At least this one’s short. We’re heading for floor 2 by the way.

So floor 2 is thankfully free of toxic gas. Head on and you’ll come to an open area.

The gate is locked, so you’ll have to climb the planks to the left. This will drop you down to the area behind the locked gate.

From here, turn right and walk toward the locked gate. On your left will be a mining pit. Climb the wooden plank to find the detonators.

Awesome! Time to leave. But before that, you actually want to go up the staircase that’s just past the detonators. You’ll find some bolt cutters on the nearby toolbox, which means no backtracking through toxic gas.

After picking up the last two Forest Talker clues (see that part of the guide for more details), head on back to the elevator and take it up to the 1st floor. From here, you can use the bolt cutters to open the gate, and the path will take you back to wood platform just before the main elevator (the picture above where I marked “gated elevator”). Grab your stuff and head out.

As you leave, the phone will start ringing. Pick it up to have a sobering conversation with Jace. Neither she or Will has any idea how to stop Mathis this time. You also learn that Atwood is an astrophysicist and Jace’s thesis advisor… very interesting.

After that somewhat depressing conversation, head on out… only for all the shaking to finally pay off and cause a mine collapse. At least Will came out better than Astrid; no injuries at all. But the main mine entrance has been blocked. Thankfully, just head on back toward the Forest Talker cache. Take the stairs and you can exit from there.

From here, it’s a pretty linear path back to to the prison. You can’t take the road, but instead you’ll be led to a couple of climbing ropes that drop down into the ravine. At the bottom, there are two wolves, but you can easily scare them away with a weapon, aurora or not. Just follow the natural path of the ravine, and eventually you’ll come across a fallen tree that you can “climb” up. This will lead you to another climbing rope, close to the prison. Use it, and you’ll come out overlooking the “lake” that surrounds the prison.

The game will again warn you to finish any sidequests that you want to complete. This is the last point where Will can freely explore the region.

IMPORTANT: Any clothing you want to keep must be stored in the maintenance yard. Just throw it into the toolbox next to the workbench.

Once you’re ready, walk up to the prison entrance for a rather ominous ending cutscene.