For the upcoming Dark and Darker Playtest players will have the opportunity to play using a new solo queue feature and proximity chat (VOIP). Here is what you need to know about Dark and Darker Playtest 4.
Playtest 4 – Steam Next Fest
As part of Steam Next Fest, which starts on February 6, Dark and Darker will release a new demo and hold another playtest, opening up the game again to play for everyone during the Steam Next event. Developer IRONMACE has announced it will add a variety of new features to the game, some of which are highly requested by the community, like a solo queue and proximity chat! This is what you need to know ahead of playtest 4 of Dark and Darker:
Solo Queue
One of the most requested features to be added to Dark and Darker is the ability to queue for a game by yourself. The developers will add a special solo queue dungeon for players to experience, called The Goblin Caves. The new dungeon will also feature a new boss, The Cavetroll! They do say this will be a experiment and that their vision of the game is not to make it fully based around solo queue content. The game is based around the vision to go into a dungeon with your treasure-hunter crew. But the developers have also realized that sometimes people want to go on a adventure by themselves when their friends are offline. IRONMACE will accomodate those players and will do their best to base lore around it also, so it feels part of the Dark and Darker world’ experience.
Proximity chat (VOIP)
Another highly requested feature to be added to Dark and Darker is VOIP, and it will be here for this playtest! You will be able to switch between proximity chat, or to talk to only your group of friends. It is also confirmed that you will be able to rebind the key for push-to-talk. A lot of players are really excited about this feature and we are sure it will create even more epic interactions while going through the dungeons!
In-game party finder & Karma system
No more need to spam invites to everyone. Dark and Darker introduces a in-game chat room for players to find each other and to party up! It will be region separated and you will be able to inspect the player before chosing to invite them or not. Supplement to that there will be a karma system. This will hopefully prevent players from team-killing people they matched up with to extract with their loot. If you team-kill to many people, your name in-game will turn red, a big red flag for other people not to invite you to their party!
Wizard Changes & Leaving out the Bard
Wizards use powerful magic, which seemed to be a bit too overpowered during the last playtest in December of 2022. The starting stats of the wizard will be more balanced this playtest. Which should hopefully make the overall game feel more balanced! Furthermore, the Bard will not make it into this playtest. The class should be back at a later point in the development of Dark and Darker.
The developers are trying to push for a Early Access release near the end of April, or the beginning of May. The team at IRONMACE has been hard at work to implement the B1 map into the game, which is one of the hardest challenges the team has faced so far, according to Terry, CEO and lead developer at IRONMACE, he told to Onepeg in a recent Q&A interview.
Playtest Starting Times
The Dark and Darker Next Fest start times:
US West (Oregon) – February 6, 2023 4:00 AM
US East (Virginia) – February 6, 2023 7:00 AM
SA Brazil (Sao Paulo) – February 6, 2023 9:00 AM
EU Central (Frankfurt) – February 6, 2023 1:00PM
SEA (Singapore) – February 6, 2023 8:00 PM
East Asia (Seoul) – February 6, 2023 9:00 PM
Oceania (Sydney) – February 6, 2023 11:00 PM
All times are in their local timezone.
On the games Steam store page, a “demo” button will appear during the Steam Next Fest. To take part in the Next Fest playtest, you must download and run the demo version of Dark and Darker. The exact ending times for the playtest will be announced at a later point.
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