Dark and Darker's Return to Steam Drags On; Devs Have No Say in It

Source: Ironmace.

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Studio Ironmace conducted another Q&A session on Discord for Dark and Darker. This time it was not held "live" - the developer felt that the community had grown to the point that it would be too difficult to conduct it in such a way. Therefore, the developers simply responded to the issues that players raised most often.

Back on Steam

1. One of them concerned the return of Dark and Darker to Steam. In this case, however, the developers can only hope that this will happen - the decision is up to Valve.
2. The removal of the game from that platform caused the developers to prioritize the implementation of friend lists in the game. Previously, they had intended to use the social features of Steam, but now they have to work out their own solution.

Maps

1. In the future Dark and Darker will receive more solo maps, which will provide more varied dungeons and adventures.
2. For the moment, the developers have no plans to add two-player maps.

Tasks and events

1. Ultimately, the quest system is to look like fulfilling the requests of individual merchants or travelers to establish closer relationships with them.
2. The goal is to create interesting, multi-stage challenges rather than short, repetitive quests.
3. The talent tree is currently one of the priorities.
4. The developers "have many ideas for seasonal rewards," but they don't want to reveal any of them for now.
5. The same is true of the planned events - here, however, the concept is still being developed and the devs are not sure which way they will go.

Metagame

1. The use of "mules" - i.e. additional, weak characters, which are a kind of deposits for items for the main ones - may not be necessary in the future. The developers are planning significant changes to the issue of item caches, but for now they have not made any decisions, as they are gathering feedback from players.
2. Devs will also introduce more items for crafting.
3. The game will feature a tab with detailed character stats, but this feature has been given low priority.
4. When the current rankings expire, "drastic changes" will be made to the character balance. In the future, all classes are expected to "experience ups and downs." First on the agenda will be the damage reduction feature and the rogue class.
5. The developers are considering introducing more modifiers or spells, but are concerned that this could negatively affect the game's balance.
6. It has been confirmed that the druid will be able to transform into animals with different abilities.
7. What has not been confirmed is whether unique items can be obtained from each boss. The devs want it to be possible to get different loot in each area and from each monster. They are also keen that players should be able to get loot where they want, and then exchange them with others to get the needed items in return, which they did not get themselves.
8. The developers are considering making it easier to acquire blue shards as some players believe it takes too long. For the moment, however, they are studying the situation.
9. Instead, they are working on introducing a quiver system.

Story background

1. Works on expanding lore of Dark and Darker are already advanced. The devs are considering how to naturally introduce the stories into the game.
2. The developers are also keen to see monsters appearing in the game fit into the story background - undesirable are the situations in which in the dungeons we meet beasts completely unrelated to the area, etc. In time, new enemies will appear, but it will take time, as only one person is working on their artificial intelligence and animations.

Other

1. In the not-too-distant future, it should be possible to pay using PayPal in the game.
2. In response to the many requests received, the developers will "try" to introduce the possibility of gifting the game to a friend.
3. We have not learned what cosmetic elements will be introduced in the next stages of the game's development. "We are constantly looking for things that players will be happy with," the developers assure.
4. They seem quite satisfied with the overall progress of the work, but admit that they have managed to create only the very core of the game and it still needs a lot of systems and content.

Dark and Darker is available exclusively on PC. The game debuted in early access in August 2023. Its full version is scheduled to come out in 2024. You can purchase it on the game's official website, among others.

1. Dark and Darker - official website