Dark and Darker was removed from Steam, now it is suddenly free to play, but there is a catch

Dark and Darker was removed from Steam due to a lawsuit; now the game is free to play, but only in a very limited version.

What kind of game is Dark and Darker? 

• Dark and Darker is a PvEvP dungeon crawler set in a medieval fantasy environment.
• You explore the dungeon alone or with friends. Different classes are available to you. Each class has unique abilities that help you in combat against the dangers of the dungeon.
• The dungeons consist of various dungeons and catacombs that contain valuable treasures for you to grab.
• While filling your pockets, you must watch out for monsters, hostile players, and traps that want to eliminate you. You only receive your loot if you manage to escape from the map.

Why was Dark and Darker removed from Steam? Dark and Darker was once very popular before it was removed from Steam. According to the developer studio Ironmace, the removal was due to a cease-and-desist letter and a DMCA complaint from the South Korean developer studio and publisher Nexon.

According to a South Korean magazine, Nexon accuses the developers of Dark and Darker of claiming that the founder of Ironmace worked at Nexon in the past and stole the idea and parts of the assets and code after leaving the company (via n.news.naver.com).

Dark and Darker is suddenly free

What’s the catch? During the OTK Games Expo, it was announced that Dark and Darker can now be played for free by everyone – and even back on Steam. However, there are several restrictions for free accounts.

Free players cannot play the full game. They receive a limited version of the dungeon crawler. While they have access to the normal dungeons, dungeons with a higher difficulty level are not included. Additionally, free accounts cannot trade and can only create one character.

However, if you enjoy the game, you can purchase a full version at any time, which gives you access to all existing content. The progress made up to that point will also be retained.

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Are there any other changes? With the Free2Play update, the game is entering a new season, set to begin in early June. According to the patch notes (via DarkandDarker.com), the game will offer less hopeless situations for newcomers coming in through the free version and be a bit more “forgiving”.

There will also be balance changes to items and classes, as well as the removal of “junk” and unnamed unique items with the new update.

To make the game a bit more beginner-friendly, all classes have received a slight buff to their base health points, which is intended to slightly increase the survival chances for new players.

A mobile version of Dark and Darker is also in the works. The mobile game is set to launch in 2024 and will offer entirely new gameplay content that is not found in the PC version. It is still unclear whether the mobile version will also be free in the stores. Here you can find out more about the mobile spin-off: Dark and Darker celebrates its release on mobile this year – Everything about the medieval dungeon crawler