The Long Dark -- the first person sandbox survival game that was successfully crowdfunded by Canadian indie studio Hinterland last year -- will be coming to Steam Early Access in September 2014, the developer has announced.

The blog explains that the game's sandbox mode that will be available by way of early access, with the story mode being kept under wraps for the time being, to avoid pre-launch spoilers.

Curious about the difference between the Sandbox and Story modes? The Survival Sandbox is the open-world simulation layer where all the deep survival mechanics are built and tuned. This is a free-form, non-narrative mode where players see how long they can survive against the elements, while balancing the needs of their survival against the availability of resources and the risks they have to take to obtain life-saving supplies.

The Episodic Story mode tells the story of bush pilot Will Mackenzie, who crash lands deep in the Northern Canadian wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. He has to survive long enough to understand the profound ways in which the world has just changed. This episodic story experience is layered atop the rich simulation found in the Survival Sandbox.

A new trailer also accompanied the announcement, showcasing the game's impressive visuals and the themes behind the story mode, and if you want to get a really good idea of what will be on offer in survival mode, the developers have just wrapped up a 1 hour live stream of gameplay with Joystiq, which you can now view at your leisure over on Twitch.