The Long Dark: Best First Aid Items

Key Takeaways

• Antiseptics are important first aid items to prevent the risk of infection.
• Water purification agents ensure access to safe drinking water, which is important for preventing dysentery.
• Antibiotics are essential to treat life-threatening diseases such as infections, dysentery, and parasites.

The Long Dark It is a realistic survival exploration game developed by Hinterland Studio and released in 2017. The player finds himself lost in the Canadian wilderness after a geomagnetic storm and subsequent plane crash. Stranded on an island where everyone seems to have disappeared, players must learn to live with and overcome Mother Nature. Luck can change in an instant, for better or for worse.

First aid items play an important role in survival by allowing players to prevent or recover from various illnesses. For life-threatening illnesses like dysentery, having the necessary first aid supplies can mean the difference between life and death. Even non-lethal pain can greatly reduce your chances of survival.

8 antiseptic

Risk of infection disappears

Preservative is a lootable item found in most containers, with an average of 5 uses. Infection is usually prevented by treating the risk of infection through wounds sustained from wolf or bear attacks. Like most lootable items, it cannot be crafted.

A very important first aid item, players should never leave home without a well-filled bottle of disinfectant. Infection can occur in as little as eight hours, quickly catching unprepared survivors off guard. Even for veteran athletes, infections can quickly become fatal if antibiotics are not available. Treating this disease is time, resource and condition intensive, so it is important to avoid it as much as possible.

7 water purification agent

Don't be afraid of dirty water anymore

Water purification tablets are rare loot items that can purify 1 liter of unsafe drinking water per tablet. These tablets prevent dysentery by providing players with clean drinking water.

These pills are helpful when players do not have access to fire or need time to boil water, such as when caught in a blizzard or recovering from severe pain. It only takes one minute to purify water, so even people in cold environments can use it without risk of exposure. In situations where a player is dying from dehydration, these tablets can save their life.

6 antibiotics

Fight against hardship

Antibiotics are lootable first aid items that treat infections, dysentery, food poisoning, and intestinal parasites. A bottle contains an average of 6 pills, with 2 pills needed to treat each disease. The exception is intestinal parasites, which require 20 to 40 antibiotics over 10 to 20 days, depending on the severity.

Infections, dysentery, and intestinal parasites are all fatal illnesses if left untreated, so players should always carry a bottle of antibiotics with them. Although not fatal, food poisoning reduces the player's health by 15% if left untreated. This makes them particularly vulnerable to animal attacks. On higher difficulties, players who eat predator meat should stock up on antibiotics in case they become infected with intestinal parasites.

5 bandage

old and reliable

A versatile first aid item, bandages can be looted and easily crafted from a single piece of cloth. You should always carry a sufficient supply of bandages, which are used to treat bleeding, broken ribs, burns, ankle sprains, and wrist sprains. You never know when you might need them. This is especially true for wildlife struggles where players can obtain many of these conditions simultaneously.

Of all the diseases that can be treated with bandages, it is important for players to use them to prevent bleeding. If left untreated, this disease will attract predators to the location and the condition will rapidly worsen. Ankle sprains can be fatal if left untreated, as they interfere with sprinting, making it nearly impossible to avoid predators and bad weather.

4 urgent stimulus

escape from crisis

First Aid Stimulants are rare first aid items that can be looted. Unlike most first aid items, it does not treat a specific condition. Instead, players can escape lethal situations by ignoring health limits and pain effects. By providing unlimited health in the short term, stimulation allows players to quickly escape from predators and return home after an attack. This item allows survivors with injuries such as broken ribs to climb the rope unhindered.

Use this item at a cost, so be careful. When the effect wears off, the player's fatigue instantly drops to 0 and the character becomes exhausted. Emergency stimulants should be used as a last resort to avoid a dangerous situation.

3 old man's beard wound dressing

Renewable treatments for infection risk

Old Man's Beard Wound Dressing is the herbal equivalent of an antiseptic. Like disinfectants, you need one dressing to treat one infection risk, but these wound dressings can be manufactured. It is used to treat the risk of infection due to animal attacks. Using this item quickly after an attack can prevent infection from occurring.

Unlike antiseptics, wound dressings provide long-term survivors with a consistent and easy way to treat infections long after most buildings have been looted. It's also a quick and easy way for players to eliminate the risk of infection without preservatives. Old man's whiskers are easy to find and collect, and are used to make wound dressings long before infection sets in.

2 Youngjicha

A natural alternative to antibiotics

Reishi tea is a craftable herbal remedy equivalent to antibiotics, allowing players to treat infections, dysentery, food poisoning, and intestinal parasites. Unlike antibiotics, each disease requires only one cup of tea per therapeutic dose.

This tea provides survivors with a sustainable, long-term means of treating these diseases long after antibiotics have run out. Unlike antibiotics, reishi tea does not spoil, so you can make several batches without worrying about it going to waste. Reishi tea also provides players with hydration, few calories, and warming benefits (if heated).

1 go! energy drink

Energy when you need it most

go! Energy drinks are single-use items that can be looted. Rather than preventing or curing disease, these drinks help players survive dangerous situations. It does this by increasing fatigue, reducing the rate of fatigue decline, and preventing loss of stamina.

These energy drinks are vital in allowing players to escape life-threatening situations such as animal attacks or blizzards. Even survivors far from home can escape this danger thanks to their temporarily infinite stamina. However, players should keep in mind the duration of these effects. When health drops, the player's health is immediately drained and fatigue is reduced by 50%. If players are running away from predators or climbing ropes, this can be incredibly dangerous, even fatal.