Dark and Darker is a breakout hit, but figuring out how to purchase and download the game can be strangely disorienting. Unlike most popular PC games, Dark and Darker isn’t available on Steam or any other major distribution platform, despite a demo that helped circulate interest for the game being available on Steam earlier in the year. Although it’s not the only significant game to disappear from Steam over the platform’s history, it is strange for it to have gone missing before the official early access release. Luckily, playing Dark and Darker isn’t hard, it just requires knowing where to look.
Dark and Darker is a fantasy dungeon-crawling adventure, but the game stands out from similar titles by focusing on a unique multiplayer experience. Best played with two friends, Dark and Darker offers a first-person perspective of dank corridors and dread halls filled with enemies and loot. Not all enemies are AI, however, with the game’s other online parties providing the constant threat of a PvP encounter. This balance of pre-designed foes and human terrors brings an interesting take on Escape from Tarkov’s style of compelling risk to a new environment and genre.
Dark and Darker can be acquired through two different websites, which each offer a unique method of access to the game. The primary avenue is through the official Dark and Darker website from developer Ironmace, which offers a straightforward purchase of the game and a download for a launcher to play it. The other option is the subscription service Chafgames, which likewise features a one-time purchase of the game instead of including it in the subscription feature. Purchasing directly from Ironmace makes more sense for anyone focused on supporting the developer without an overarching interest in the Chafgames launcher.
Dark and Darker’s unusual Steam removal is the result of a legal battle over copyright issues surrounding the game. As reported by Eurogamer, the game was delisted in March following a DMCA takedown notice that Ironmace received from the major game publisher Nexon. Nexon alleged that Dark and Darker, made in part by developers originally working on a project called “P3” at the publisher, used ideas and assets from that project without owning the rights. Ironmace has painted a very different picture of the situation, resulting in a back-and-forth over the game’s legal status, making its availability on Steam a complicated issue until issues are resolved.
Although the current approach to playing Dark and Darker is slightly unusual in an era of PC gaming dominated by major platforms, the full early access release is much easier to acquire than the last couple of Dark and Darker playtests made available only through torrents. The complex legal status of the game makes it unlikely to appear on Steam anytime soon, but any eventual resolution of the case will decide its distribution one way or the other. For now, launchers for Dark and Darker can be downloaded through a couple of…
2023-08-17 13:00:05
Article from screenrant.com
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