Dark and Darker is for sale outside of Steam, lawsuit still ongoing
Dark and Darker, the first-person extraction dungeon crawler that disappeared due to a lawsuit from Steam, is available again. The game can be purchased on two platforms outside of Steam for around 32 euros. The lawsuit is still ongoing.
The game is available for purchase on its official website and on the site Chaf Games, an online game store from South Korea. Both copies of the game are the same and players can play with each other regardless of which store the game comes from. In an email to PC Gamer developer Ironmace reports that it wants the game back on Steam ‘as soon as possible’.
Dark and Darker costs 32 euros, but for 46 euros players can get the Founder’s Edition. It offers some cosmetic extras and these players get earlier access to new dungeons. This is an early access version, so the game is not yet finished.
Ironmace points out in a blog post that in-game voice chat is not yet present due to a legal issue, but this is most likely not the aforementioned lawsuit. The company is introducing this as a formality and expresses confidence that this will happen soon. Furthermore, players should expect ‘growing pains’ and ‘many important features’ are not yet in the game. These should be added ‘in the coming months’.
The game already has an in-game shop. Cosmetic items are currently being sold there and it is emphasized in-game that ‘no advantage in competition’ can be gained with them. Ironmace says the store wants to be “realistic about running an online game, but without turning to random loot boxes and fomo items.”
The South Korean Ironmace employs former employees of the South Korean game publisher Nexon, among others. According to Nexon, developers behind Dark and Darker violated their non-compete agreement by using Nexon intellectual property in this game. The game was previously removed from Steam at Nexon’s request and a lawsuit between the two parties is still ongoing. Dark and Darker did its earlier playtests on Steam, but the later playtests, dated after they were removed from Steam, were distributed via bittorrent.
Dark and Darker is a first-person extraction dungeon crawler. Players enter a dungeon alone or in teams, where a battle royale-style circle continues to shrink. Players must fight computer-controlled enemies, collect loot and escape the dungeon via teleporters. They can team up or fight with players they encounter, but when working together the alliance can collapse at any time; only one person can escape through a teleporter. The game has a fantasy theme and the different classes are fighter, barbarian, rogue, ranger, wizard and cleric.