Dark and Darker's return to Steam should have been cause for celebration. After a legal dispute with Nexon saw it removed from the platform in 2023, developer Ironmace was finally able to get it back on the store last week. Unexpectedly, it also shed its price, relaunching instead as a free-to-play deal. And that's where the trouble began.
See, Dark and Darker isn't really free to play. What free players get is a restrictive mode that offers a stripped down version of the full Dark and Darker experience. It's not uncommon for free-to-play games to restrict free players in various ways, though many simply sell cosmetics and conveniences to earn revenue. But the free-to-play version of Dark and Darker feels more like a demo.
