After being pulled on Steam earlier this year, Ironmace’s PvPvE fantasy game Dark and Darker has been released in early access… but not on Steam.
Its been released on Steam competitor indie gaming storefront Chaf Games, Ironmace announced on Discord today. It’s also available for download on Dark and Darker’s official website.
In late March, Dark and Darker was pulled from Steam after the developer was served with a cease and desist and a DMCA takedown. Despite legal issues, Ironmace kept distributing Dark and Darker on Discord, with a playtest being held in April.
Before the game’s removal from Steam, it was reported that Korean officials searched Ironmace’s offices on the suspicion that the developer might have possessed stolen game assets and code. Roughly a month later, it was reported that Nexon was suing Ironmace for copyright infringement, with Ironmace starting a GoFundMe to pay for the company’s legal fees.
In today’s announcement, Ironmace noted that they “encountered some challenges” that didn’t allow them to support Dark and Darker in Korea for the early access launch.
“As much as it pains us, we won’t be able to service the game in Korea because we are still awaiting a rating from the Korean Game Rating Board (GRAC),” they said. “We will do everything we can to expedite this process as we have already been granted ratings from other globally recognized game rating boards, including the ESRB, PEGI, and CERO. We will officially support and service the game in Korea as soon as we can overcome this hurdle.”
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.