Dark and Darker from developer Ironmace Games didn't have a specific release date yet for its early access launch, but whatever that planned date might've been, it's now been delayed further away due to the studio's ongoing legal troubles. Ironmace confirmed as much this week in a post within its Discord where it said "the Early Accession release has been delayed a bit." It's not clear what "a bit" means in terms of how long we can expect to wait on the game, but given that the legal woes certainly don't look like they'll be resolved anytime in the near future, it could mean a longer wait than Dark and Darker fans would like.

Within the game's Discord, the Ironmace dev Terence (presumably Terence Park, the CEO of Ironmace) shared an update on the status of the game. It referenced the legal situation which everyone in the Discord and elsewhere is well aware of by now, though a new release date for the game couldn't be offered. Terrence said that the team's working to get Dark and Darker out ASAP, however.

"We truly hate not being able to communicate as freely as we usually do, however due to the sensitive nature of our current situation, we can't divulge too much information right now," Terence said in the game's Discord. "I know this isn't the announcement everyone wanted to hear but we needed to let our fans know that the Early Access release has been delayed a bit. Just know that we are working on a ton of things to ensure the game gets out to you as soon as possible. We ask everyone to hold the line just a little longer. Thanks!"

For those who have maybe not been following along quite as closely, Dark and Darker was hit with a lawsuit and a cease and desist order from Nexon, a publisher which alleges Ironmace used assets stolen from a canceled Nexon game called P3. Several employees at Ironmace, Terence included, used to work at Nexon.

Ironmace of course denies these claims, but it's put the game in a sticky situation regardless. The last playtest, for example, was distributed via a torrent download since the game was removed entirely from Steam. There's no telling right now when it'll be back up there or when the game itself will be released now that the early access release date has been delayed.



Posted: May 13, 2023 5:08 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dark-and-darker-release-date-delayed/