It’s always frustrating when players cheat in online games, but in the surprise hit Dark and Darker, everyone is losing their progress because of this.
What kind of game is this? Dark and Darker (PC) is a dungeon crawler with a PvP focus, developed by the Korean indie studio Ironmace, and set in a medieval fantasy setting.
- The gameplay of Dark and Darker resembles extraction shooters like Escape from Tarkov – only without the shooting. Within a match, you fight in teams of three for loot. If you die in a running round, you lose your spoils.
- In addition to magic and sorcery, you can use swords and shields as well as ranged weapons like a crossbow to gain the upper hand in the battle for your loot.
- Dark and Darker was supposed to be released on Steam and in early playtests, it captivated thousands of players, earning its status as a surprise hit.
- In March 2023, however, the South Korean gaming giant Nexon made serious plagiarism accusations against Ironmace and Dark and Darker, causing the dungeon crawler to disappear from Steam.
Meanwhile, the dungeon crawler is playable again and launched on August 7, 2023, in Early Access – but still not on Steam. Now the popular title resets the progress of all players for the first time.
If you want a clearer idea of Dark and Darker, we are embedding the gameplay teaser here:
Dark and Darker erases progress due to unfair players
What is the biggest nightmare for MMORPG fans? Dark and Darker resets the entire progress of all players.
As Ironmace revealed on the official Discord server of Dark and Darker, the popular dungeon crawler has struggled with cheaters (“exploiters”) in recent weeks, prompting the developers to carry out the first so-called “wipe” of the game.
During the wipe, the entire progress of all players was reset – all character levels, items, collected gold, and skills.
All character levels, items, gold, and skills were reset. This first wipe occurred much earlier than expected, as we faced challenges from exploiters. We learned from this experience and updated the game and our services to be more robust against these attackers. We hope to have more time between early access wipes in the future and to better inform you.
Ironmace via Discord
However, there is not only bad news for “Dark and Darker” fans: with the wipe, voice chat (VoIP/ Voice-over-IP) is also returning to the game.
Why is this a nightmare for MMORPG fans? For MMORPG players, a rollback is pretty much the worst that can happen. They lose all the progress, the hard-earned loot, and the levels they worked hard for. Many hours of gameplay are gone, and everyone has to start over.
For players of the extraction shooter Escape from Tarkov, with which Dark and Darker shares some gameplay similarities, the regularly occurring wipe is, on the other hand, a moment of joy. For them, the wipe is an occasion to return to the game. It brings back the interest and motivates them to grind again.
