August 7: Ironmace has confirmed that Dark and Darker will be available in early access from August 7, and that it plans to pursue a return to Steam.
Dark and Darker, the Diablo-esque fantasy RPG game, will now be distributed on a Steam competitor. Following a lawsuit against developer Ironmace due to alleged similarities with an unannounced game (currently entitled P3) from Dark and Darker‘s former publisher, Nexon, the game was removed from several storefronts, including Steam. Despite this, as well as an alleged police raid, Ironmace has remained adamant that the game would still release.
On Monday, August 7, the Dark and Darker team confirmed in the game’s Discord that it has found a distributor for the game: Chaf Games. This has been confirmed by developer ‘Graysun,’ who writes “Chafgames is our official partner and they are also helping us prepare. Thank you!”
At the time of writing, the game is now available for purchase via Chaf Games’ website, with the standard edition coming in at $35, and the Founders Edition at $50. The latter allows you to become a ‘Trailblazer,’ which seems to grant you access to future content – specifically dungeons.
Dark and Darker is currently listed as ‘coming soon’, as shown in the image of the official listing, screenshotted by PCGamesN.
Several Reddit threads warn of downloading third-party clients claiming to be the game’s launcher, which Graysun has also debunked. They make reference to a “Dark and Darker launcher,” implying that the game will have its own downloadable client.
Following rumors that the game would launch in early access today (August 7), Ironmace CEO Terrance Park confirmed this to be true in a statement to PCGamer, where he also notes that Chaf Gaming is simply the distribution storefront, not the game’s new publisher.
Ironmace claims that it wants Dark and Darker to “return to Steam as soon as possible” as it “cannot ignore the largest PC storefront in the world.” Park goes on to state that the team “built Dark and Darker from the ground up here at Ironmace and stand by our work.”
For now, though, if you’re looking to see what all of the fuss is about or, alternatively, get your hands on the game ahead of the Dark and Darker release date, we have a Dark and Darker classes guide right here to help you choose your in-game persona.