The Long Dark: How to Navigate Tales from the Far Territory Map

Tales from the Far Territory looks like one new DLC area, and that mental model is exactly what gets you lost. The Far Territory is a chain of connected regions, not a single open map, and you navigate it by understanding one hub and one cave.

The short version

• Way in: Mystery Lake → Forlorn Muskeg → Broken Railroad → Far Range Branch Line → Transfer Pass.
• The hub: Transfer Pass (Region 13) connects to every other Far Territory region. Orient everything around it.
• The three destinations: Forsaken Airfield, Zone of Contamination, and Sundered Pass.
• The key shortcut: those three regions all link to each other through one large transition cave, so you do not have to backtrack to Transfer Pass between them.
• The first Tale starts when you reach Forsaken Airfield and pick up the note at the top of the Control Tower.

How the Far Territory map is laid out

The Far Territory is a remote stretch of Great Bear built around dead railways and abandoned industry. Navigation is less about one huge landmass and more about a hub-and-spoke network. Far Range Branch Line is a transition zone that funnels you in; Transfer Pass is a full standalone hub region; and Forsaken Airfield, Zone of Contamination, and Sundered Pass are the three large destinations.

• Access spine from the base game: Mystery Lake → Forlorn Muskeg → Broken Railroad → Far Range Branch Line → Transfer Pass. Mystery Lake connects directly to Forlorn Muskeg, and Forlorn Muskeg connects directly to Broken Railroad, with no transition zone between them.
• The gateway: Far Range Branch Line, the rail transition zone that delivers you from Broken Railroad into the DLC.
• The hub: Transfer Pass, which connects directly to all three destination regions.
• The destinations: Forsaken Airfield, Zone of Contamination, and Sundered Pass, all three linked to one another by a single transition cave system.

That last point is the one most players miss. The three headline regions do not bleed into each other across open borders — they share one cave network. Plan your route around that cave and around Transfer Pass, and the whole expansion stops feeling like a maze.

The route into the Far Territory

Start in Mystery Lake, cross into Forlorn Muskeg, push to Broken Railroad, then follow the track into Far Range Branch Line and on to Transfer Pass. If you are already camped in Broken Railroad, skip the early legs and ride the rail line straight into the branch line.

Inside Far Range Branch Line there is a small side room with restock loot, including a prybar and a lantern. The prybar is optional: it pries open a door on the right-hand path that crosses a railroad bridge toward a rope climb — a shortcut, not a requirement. You can reach Transfer Pass without it, so do not treat a prybar as a gate on the trip.

What to bring before you make the move

This is a multi-day relocation through some of the coldest regions in the game, not a scouting loop. Pack for warmth, fire, and predators:

• High-warmth, windproof clothing — the destination regions run cold and the wind bonus matters more than raw insulation here.
• Fire-starting supplies: several units of tinder, matches, and a few lumps of coal for emergency fires.
• Food and water buffer for a long round trip, plus predator deterrents.
• Light sources (torch, lantern, or flares) for the transition cave between the destination regions.

Transfer Pass: the hub you orient around

Transfer Pass is the 13th region in the game and the connective tissue of the DLC — it links to every other Far Territory region. It is relatively small and linear, which makes it an ideal base. From here, Far Range Branch Line takes you back toward Broken Railroad, a mountain road runs to Forsaken Airfield, the railroad past Immutable Hesitation drops into the Zone of Contamination, and the road north (past a collapsed tunnel you bypass with a rope climb) heads to Sundered Pass.

Use named landmarks to keep your bearings: Vacant Depot, Feedwater Cave, and Immutable Hesitation are reliable anchors. This is also the smart place to stash gear before a deeper push — every extra kilogram costs more once weather and transition segments stack up.

Forsaken Airfield: the first major destination

Forsaken Airfield is the 14th region and the usual first objective after entering the DLC — reaching it and grabbing the note at the top of the Control Tower triggers the first Tale. You get here from Transfer Pass via the mountain road. From the airfield, a large cave system south-east of Fallow Dugout, near the downed helicopter, connects onward to the Zone of Contamination and Sundered Pass.

The hazard that defines navigation here is visibility: Forsaken Airfield gets frequent fog and blizzards, and it is genuinely easy to get lost on the open landing strip. Move landmark to landmark, and do not push across exposed ground when the weather turns.

Zone of Contamination: a toxic open-pit mine

Zone of Contamination is its own destination, not a side room of the airfield. It is built around a massive open-pit mine and is highly toxic — chemical hazards blanket the industrial areas and toxic gases fill the mineshafts. It also houses the exclusive Poisoned Wolf, an aggressive, starving variant, and it is the centerpiece of the Buried Echoes Tale.

You reach it from Transfer Pass along the railroad at Immutable Hesitation, or from Forsaken Airfield and Sundered Pass through the shared transition cave. For route planning that cave is the point: a storm or a wrong turn costs more when movement is funneled through one network rather than open borders, so carry light sources and treat the cave as part of the trip, not an afterthought.

Sundered Pass: the cold, high-altitude third region

Sundered Pass is the 16th region, added in Part 5 of the expansion, and it rounds out the three destinations. It is a steep, mountainous region that gets colder the higher you climb, it is prone to avalanches, and it is hunted by Wolves in the lower forests and Timberwolf packs up in the high fields. It is also where the Last Horizon Tale begins.

It connects to Transfer Pass via a rope climb and a long winding valley, and to Forsaken Airfield or the Zone of Contamination through the same transition cave network. If you are sweeping all three destinations in one run, let that structure shape your carry weight, your emergency supplies, and your turn-back points — the altitude and cold here punish overpacking and bad timing harder than anywhere else in the Far Territory.

The transition cave that ties the destinations together

The single most useful navigation fact in the Far Territory: Forsaken Airfield, the Zone of Contamination, and Sundered Pass are all linked by one large transition cave. Its central intersection branches in all three directions, so once you know that one spot you can move between any pair of destinations without routing back through Transfer Pass. Bring a light source, learn the intersection, and the three regions stop being separate expeditions and become a loop you can run.

Common mistakes

• Treating the three destinations as one connected map. They share a single cave network, not open borders — plan around the cave.
• Waiting on a prybar to enter the DLC. The prybar in Far Range Branch Line only opens one optional shortcut door; the main route does not need it.
• Underpacking for the cold. The destinations run colder than the base game — windproof clothing and a real fire kit are not optional.
• Pushing across Forsaken Airfield in bad weather. Fog and blizzards here get players lost on the open strip; move landmark to landmark.
• Walking into the Zone of Contamination unprepared. The toxic mine areas and the Poisoned Wolf will end an underequipped run fast.

Practical takeaway

Read the Far Territory as a rail network with one hub and one connecting cave, not a single region. Take the spine in — Mystery Lake → Forlorn Muskeg → Broken Railroad → Far Range Branch Line → Transfer Pass — base out of Transfer Pass, then run Forsaken Airfield, the Zone of Contamination, and Sundered Pass through their shared transition cave. Pack warmth, fire, food, and a light source, learn the cave intersection, and the DLC turns from a maze into a route. For the full picture on the expansion itself, see our Tales from the Far Territory DLC guide.