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Dark and Darker has been removed from Steam.
Visit the game's Steam storefront – or follow the link from developer Ironmace's website – and you'll be redirected to Steam's front page, intimating that all traces of the game have been scrubbed from Steam. At the time of writing, however, Ironmace's website is still live.
According to the game's Reddit community, it started off with movies and trailers being pulled, then screenshots, categories, online PvP, online co-op, early access, and then finally, the legal small print and store description. The last to go was the store name, apparently.
Rumor has it, the team was allegedly served with a cease and desist request from publisher Nexon, which alleges that some of Dark and Darker's development code – which was created by members of Ironmace's team whilst they still worked at the publisher – originates from Nexon's own dungeon crawler, codenamed P3.
"To all our fans, we have recently been served a cease and desist letter and DMCA takedown by Nexon regarding Dark and Darker based on distorted claims," Ironmace explained in a statement posted to the game's Discord community (via Reddit).
Dark and Darker has been removed from Steam from r/Games
"We are currently working with our legal team to remedy this issue in the best manner possible. Due to the sensitive legal nature of this issue we must be careful with our statements so as to not jeopardize our position.
"We ask for your understanding as we work to get the game back up as quickly as possible. Please know that we will do all that is possible for our fans. Thanks!"
The game's removal from Steam comes just weeks after we learned that Dark and Darker devs could face legal action following allegations that they stole assets from their previous employer, Nexon.
The developer was forced to reassure fans via Discord that whilst the police did pay the studio a visit, "it was a quick process, and nothing was found", adding that the visit would have "no delay in development, and there is nothing to worry about".
We also recently learned that a Dark and Darker player had reportedly been asked to join a cheat server via Discord which offers a cheat package for the game in exchange for $10 in real-world currency. According to the message, the package will give the player Chams, Noclip cheats, and the ability to disconnect other players.
Thinking about getting started with the fantasy FPS if/when it returns? Take a look at our Dark and Darker class guide.
