The dungeon crawler Dark and Darker caused quite a stir when he performed his first public playtest in February this year dominated the Steam charts. in one separate article our editor Michael has dealt with what are the reasons behind the rapid success of the indie game. Then came the shock, just before the start of the second playtest in April, the game was removed from Steam by the developers of Ironmace. The reason is a litigation with a Korean publisher who accuses them of various copyright violations. But, contrary to expectations, Ironmace have found a way to allow the test phase to take place as planned.
Ironmace distribute Dark and Darker Playtest as a torrent
About your discord the developers announced that they will start the new playtest for Dark and Darker like in the old days as free torrent provide. until April 19th you have the opportunity to test the already fifth alpha.
“You can rest assured that we are working around the clock to ensure the continued existence of Dark and Darker”the developers begin their message. “Unfortunately, due to the complexity of our situation, it will take quite a while before we get the Steam issue resolved, especially on an international level. In order to be able to keep our promise to our fans, we had to go the old-school route this time.”
Why did Dark and Darker disappear from Steam?
Because of a Injunctive relief and copyright action brought by the publisher Nexon compared to Ironmace, the title has been removed from Steam until further notice. They are accused that the dungeon crawler has several similarities to a discontinued project by Nexon called “P3” from 2021. The allegation is that Ironmace stole assets and source code. Because some developers from Ironmace previously worked at Nexon. It is unclear whether the title can be released this year as planned and how the legal dispute will end.
Source: IGN
