What happened to Dark & Darker?

Edit: Well it's official, Dark & Darker is back.

I'm both happy and hesitant. With them charging, having premium currency, and the game being hosted on a site I've never heard of. Plus the fact that both lawsuits are pending and so the game could theoretically get another DMCA takedown at any point.

I'm excited for the game to be back and think it's kind of cool the devs are circumventing Steam, but could also see this all going very south very quickly.

Hope it turns out to just be a feel good story of indie devs getting their game out in spite of corpo greed.

We'll see.



Original Post: As of this morning we got new leaks of a potential early access release soon, via Chaf Games. Still no Steam version and likely there won't be any until the lawsuits clear up.

Its such a boring game..

one of the view voices you can clearly understand on 2.0 speed even though he speaks fast naturally anyways, good video quality good audio quality goo research

What happened? The game is a small fad filled with flawed gameplay, poor map design, clunky animations and bad balancing.

The fact that Ironmace is putting ALL of their eggs in one basket is a good sign. These people are so confident in their defense that they are willing to launch playtests, sell the game as early access, have a dedicated support team, and run micro transactions. All while every last dev is busy working on new content for a SINGLE PROJECT that is under "investigation." They are not afraid of this lawsuit. They have their asses covered and they know it, so it's full steam ahead even while burning millions in frivolous lawsuits. While most of the recent patches haven't been amazing, their level of dedication, feedback, and support is something rarely seen in the gaming ecosystem.

who doesnt know what torrents are and how to manage them? even if so, you can ''learn'' that in less than a minute
GG other than that :)

It’s shame that many users don’t know this company stole or copied Nexon’s assets. “So? I like this game than Nexon’s.” To be honest, whatever Nexon do… these stupid users will support this game and company. I would not support that company because I don’t like to get scammed and tricked.

Picture this scenario. You work for a game company. You dont like how they do things but theyre making a game you're passionate about. They tell you if you don't like how they do things you can go somewhere else and do it. The you do that and get taken to court because you did it better.

Games amazing.

Thanks for this video.

I stumbled upon this game on Twitch today (27 Sep 2023) and I thought it looked neat.

You explained everything in the video nicely.(what the game is, the timeline of events, what the devs seem to be doing, etc..)

I feel like an expert about the drama without actually participating.

Here's to hoping for a new fantastic game to be released!

Does the game "Greed is good" have anything to do with Dark & Darker and all this drama? Cause it looks really similar but more polished.

What?! They put it on a torrent? Wow what site? Kickasstorrents and pirate bay got shut down 😔. Imagine getting a copyright infringement warning from your ISP just to play a playtest 😂

As a programmer I would say that if you wrote the original code, you can replicate that (functionally, not one to one) at a fraction of the time it took to write the original. Because much of the development time is trying things and design approaches until you have something workable to build on, you even have the advantage of re-inventing things (software design) that were less well designed for building on.
So my point is, it is not a great benefit to run "stolen code", and I am sure it is any companys policy to not do so. It is however not unlikely that their programmers have some of the original code at home, for inspiration and looking up; or in todays environment it is also not unlikely that parts they did were shared online or acquired online; because it is stupid to invent the wheel for every new game. Then it becomes a grey area of .. is it stealing if you replicate something that you learned how to do in another company, or is it using your experience amd knowledge in your new job ?

Honestly the devs are incompetent and the game is ass, the only reason people like it is because they have nothing to compare it to. Its bad

If things go south, they could just crowd fund it

Nothing went wrong. The game is still going strong off steam. 40-50K concurrent. Nexcon is a POS, we all know that.

This game could've been sooo fucking good, but no, they turned a fucking DnD game into a sub par extraction shooter with clunky controls and a horrible grind that stole assets.

Fucking shame. Just wish the shitty trend of making games a garbage extraction shooter, even fucking BUNGIE is remaking MARATHON into a god damn EXTRACTION SHOOTER.

Fucking stop, please.

Nexon just afraid of any new company that may release a good game. And DnD IS a GREAT game. So big corpo bastards step in with lawsuits and legalese. Notice how they never sue failed games or mediocre games, only those that can threaten the fatsos of the industry.

If by any chance the game is taken down, I wonder if someone will make a single player mod, like SPTarkov. That would be cool, could at least raid the dungeons, wouldn't be as nearly as good but better than nothing.

this game is fucking ass

Although the whole DnD situation just seems like a big corporation bullying a small helpless company, it really isn't, and if Nexon doesn't win this lawsuit then it'll just make things so much worse for the gaming industry in Korea, and possibly worldwide. Bunch of former Nexon employees basically stole the idea (P3) that they were working on and moved to Ironmace, which made Nexon shut down the project altogether. If Ironmace wins this, then it'll be basically saying stealing other people's ideas is ok, and it could possibly mean bigger companies could be stealing from smaller ones instead. Looking at how they made Dave the diver, this game could've been so much better than Ironmace's take on it, but I'm honestly quite sad we wont be able to see that anymore because of Ironmace and hopefully Nexon wins the lawsuit.

If the game went down now(Which it wont) I fully support spending 35 bucks on it, this game is the best I've played in years. The combat is extremely challenging in both PVP/PVE, the skill ceiling is unlimited, the chase for gear is irresistible. Learning how to fight each AI effortlessly , learning your role in 3v3 PVP engagements, learning the good loot spots, all of this is extremely rewarding. Finding that synergy with my friends as a team of 3 was amazing. I cant express how much this game kicks ass.

Game is gonna die off so fast, new players can no longer progress since every lobby is flooded with overgeared people.

this game is horrible for new players i got the game yesterday and im currently running into lvl 20s right off rip and there just 1 taping me trash game ...

Dark and Darker is fun, but its really really bad for solo players and there's not enough content. The game is getting stale and is increasingly becoming unfair with all the healing nerfs and all the other bs they are adding and not adding and crapping on the game. Also F nexon. Ironmace deserves better unless they crap all over their own game. After all WoW killed WoW not another company

You are right on the money when you say "all the kids dont know what a torent is"
The only times they ever heard that word was in the news when old people media does some fearmongering about the darkweb so they thought it was straight up illegal hahaha

maybe everything is staged to get as much attention as possible, as a marketing trick. or even better if they charge people twice for the game for 30 dollars each... suddenly ironmace loses and closes, nexon releases the same game under a different name and voila, scam of the year... and I wouldn't be surprised in what kind of capitalism and greedy world we live in...

Dont support these shitty devs with a single penny

I don't want nexon to be in charge of Dark and Darker, the pay to win and all that would ruin the game entirely killing it instantly (or overtime).

holy fuck, they aren't even going to make it. Fuck off Nerxon.

dark and darker is absolute fucking dogshit game. The best thing about the game is the idea of it. The combat is dogshit, the graphics are shit, the movement is shit, the loot is shit, the ui is shit, the sounds are really shit, the maps are dogshit, the traps are shit, the mobs are cheap shit assets, the balance is non-existent, none of the classes are good, its compeltely fucking dogshit. Its the pubG of its time. Someone will come along in a few months and make the same game that isn't dogshit.

Am i the only one who cant help but ask that if choi not only left but was able to grab a substantial amount of his old coworkers maybe just maybe they were also recognizing that they werent treated well enough at nexon and that them not being able to leave and continue making games or code would only encourage abuse by companies? Add in that honestly little in dark and darker could be considered original or even an idea nexon could own would be terrible precedent? Like so what if they have the same classes? Gonna go after wizards of the coast next? None of the enemies are original. None of the spells are really original. Most of the perks again have literal translation into dnd. Even the code for enemies is basic enough to where its argueble if one should be able to claim ownership. Could maybe go after the art but if its made by the same artists and directors of course its gonna have similarities. To me this has little difference from the case pubg tried against fortnite for both being a battle royal.... the difference is dark and darker is an extraction game and p3 was a battle royal so technically even the game genre dont match fully.

Don't care one way or the other for nexon. If developers are getting fed up with nexon in the middle of project and have no issue convincing more people in nexon to leave with them, that speaks more of the soul sucking corporate conglomerate that is nexon now. Among piles of beloved games nexon killed off with ungodly monetization, I'm glad DaD is putting up a fight to survive. If this is a thief hunt, then I hope more people get away with "stealing" from nexon in the future. If this is traitor execution/money mongering, then I hope nexon get burned and get to deal with similar runaway developers doing the same thing in the future. Either way, I'm going to enjoy DaD as much as I can and only pray for the worst for nexon.

they are so salty they didn't capitalise on this gem of a game !

yeah, no one knows how to torrent anymore made me lul

this is the kind of moment where having a community that likes you instead of just the franchise you milk is important. in the court of opinion, nexon has already lost. if this was blizzard or EA, it would've been the same. if it were valve (or another reputable game company) im not so sure they'll still get this much backlash for opposing it.

If Nexon manages to actually shut down this project, it will give them a much worse reputation, especcially in the western market that D&D managed to catch. Don't know if they are willing to take the risk, especially considering they cancelled P3 and therefore having no benefit besides (seemingly) satisfying their petty ego.

Only those who know how to sail the high seas know what a torrent is :)

Their is a fairly strong chance they did take the code. You take enough of the high quality guys who remember a good chunk of the stuff from title they were working on and you will have a rough, but playable game within a few weeks.

Oh btw, p3 was completely different and much more closely resembled a normal battle royale, not an extraction game

Remind people that this type of annoying response came after... 1 delay of the game...

I get people like the game but if that is all true, which it seems like it is, then IronMace is a bunch of scumbags.

i want this game

Similar games? So have every other single D&D game since the 80s been as well ... nothing wrong with dark and darker!

Is it available on steam again ?

LMAO.. fuk Nexon, their games always had a shitty monetization

the timing of this video was hilarious

Wow, all the made up games stealing lawsuits... to this, a company that seems to of ACTUALLY stolen shit. And of course gamers run to the criminal as always. Prime example. What in ark is like dungeon defenders? Nothing. They have nothing alike or in common. I appreciate how gamers as a whole are so stupid they cant tell when someones in the wrong. As long as they can play a fun game. Sounds like drug addicts

Not sure I'd even call this a promising game. It's a cool concept with horrible execution. For anyone looking to this video to see if it makes sense for them to buy it, this is a $15 or less game with a $35+ price tag. Don't waste your time or money like I did. Oh! And they don't give refunds either, so don't think you can test it and return if it's trash. It is. Don't bother.

They have just put microtransactions in the store or something in this new version. 😂 After saying there wouldn’t be micro transaction. They seen how many people like the game & Adam this court case and they’re playing on their fans. Maybe they’re just trying to get a bit of money before the game gets taken down

Honestly at first I was shocked at how low Nexon had stooped; but then I remembered how fun Maplestory was back in the day; I mean WAYY WAYYYY back in the day when I was in early middle school. I could get into it but the US version of MS used to follow(albeit very very late behind) MS-SEA(South East Asia) -until suddenly, it didn't and seemed to veer off a cliff into hot garbage. Now they're making these absolutely pathetic claims when they have LITERALLY made basically copy after copy of other games, all half baked, with their most agregious offense imo being their copy of Mario Kart(Kartrider; literally). And honestly FUCK THEM. They releaseed it in the US so I mean really in my mind they shouldn't be able to do a mf thing. Besides, nothing they've ever made has ever been anywhere near as good as Dark and Darker so they can suck a dick frfr.