On the near first anniversary of first-person dungeon adventure Dark and Darker's removal from Steam, developer Ironmace has announced its launch on the Epic Games Store.
Last year, Ironmace was accused of allegedly stealing assets from publisher Nexon, where some of the Dark and Darker staff reportedly used to work. Ironmace's CEO has previously denied these accusations, stating that "ABSOLUTELY NO stolen assets or code were used to make our game." However, not long after this, the game's Steam page was taken down, and it was claimed that the developer had received a cease and desist and DMCA takedown. While Dark and Darker is now available on a PC storefront you likely haven't heard of, the game still hasn't returned to Steam, and it's not clear if it ever will, so its upcoming launch via Epic Games is pretty huge.
"Hi everyone, with increased confidence in the quality of our game, we have started preparations on introducing Dark and Darker to a wider audience. As a first step, we are happy to announce the launch of the Dark and Darker store page on the Epic Games Store," Ironmace says on Discord.
"This is a big preparatory step for us in our journey to deliver a polished product to our fans," it continues. "If you have an Epic account, we encourage you to show your enthusiasm and wishlist the game. We will continue working with various partners to give our fans the best options and properly grow the community to foster a long and healthy game. Thanks to everyone for all your love and support!"
It's not that Dark and Darker has been totally unavailable to play this entire time, as last August, it launched into early access and became available to download via Ironmace's website or Chaf Games. With the Epic Games Store being far more known than either of these options, though, it seems likely that the game could see an uptick in popularity.
At the time of writing, Dark and Darker is listed as "coming soon" on the Epic Games Store, so it's not clear exactly when it'll be available to play – we'll just have to watch this space.
Looking for more games to play? Be sure to check out our top 25 best PC games for some recommendations.