Dark And Darker Launches Today, Just Not On Steam

gamespot.com:

Ironmace's fantasy-themed extraction shooter was pulled from Steam due to an ongoing legal battle with Nexon.

By Cameron Koch on

Dark and Darker, which generated a large following via multiple playtests on Steam over the past year, is releasing today, just not on Valve's popular PC gaming platform.

As revealed by YouTuber Onepeg and later confirmed by PC Gamer, Dark and Darker's release is here, but players will need to purchase the game either through the official Dark and Darker website or via a Korean-based game-selling site called Chaf Games. As of writing, the official website is broken, presumably due to the surge of traffic as eager players look to purchase the game. While the game's listing on Chaf Games includes a purchase button, it currently doesn't work at time of writing.

Developer Ironmace's fantasy-themed extraction shooter, which was slated to release in early access on Steam earlier this year, was pulled from Steam's storefront following a legal dispute between Korean gaming giant Nexon and Ironmace. Nexon issued a DMCA takedown of the game, arguing that Ironmace, which consists of former Nexon developers, stole code and assets from a canceled Nexon project in order to create Dark and Darker. Ironmace denies those allegations, and legal proceedings are currently underway both in the United States and in Korea.

Since the game can't be released on Steam until the ongoing legal battle is settled, Ironmace has instead opted to create its own launcher and sell the game directly. According to Onepeg, who has extensively covered the game and its ongoing legal battle (so much so that his name is listed in official court documents related to the case), Ironmace CEO Terence Park messaged the content creator to tell