What's New in the Latest Dark and Darker Demo?
The latest demo for Dark and Darker is now live, giving players another chance to jump into the game and test it out for themselves.
This is the fourth playtest for Dark and Darker, and some new features have been added to the game since the previous test, as well as some updates and fixes to existing features.
In this article we will summarize the most notable changes, and provide the full patch notes for those who would like to read them.
What's New in Dark and Darker?
One of the most major new additions is a Gathering Hall - a hub area where you can hang out before games and search for a dungeon party.
There's a new Karma system, which allows you to give a rating to allies after your adventure. This system is likely to be useful for identifying players with a bad reputation, who might have previously done things like betraying their team and running off with their loot.
Another major new addition is the Goblin Caves, a dungeon for solo players who don't want to jump straight into the team-based PvP that Dark and Darker is most known for.
There are new cosmetic items, new weapons (the Short Sword and the Quarterstaff) and a new spell for the Cleric, called Sanctuary.
Besides that, there are some smaller bug fixes and balance changes. Below are the full patch notes for this playtest/demo, however the developers at Ironmace stated that there are many minor changes that are not documented in these notes.
Full Patch Notes for Dark and Darker's February Demo
The full patch notes for Alpha Playtest #4 are as follows:
New Features and Updates
- New Gathering Hall System - Hang out at the Gathering Hall and build the perfect dungeon party.
- New Karma System - Rate your fellow allies after your adventure. Beware! Scoundrels and deviants are unable to participate.
- New VoIP - In-game voice chat to interact with other adventurers.
- New experimental Goblin Caves for a solo adventurer experience!
- New Trading Channel QoL features.
- New Report system to help us round up and punish the wicked.
- New Cosmetics
- New Weapons - Short Sword and Quarterstaff,
- Some Unique Weapons have been greatly improved.
- Attack animation improved for the War Maul, Double Axe & Battle Axe.
- Weapon attack animations now do more varying amounts of damage.
- New Armors for the 'head' slot.
- New 'Sanctuary' spell for the Cleric.
- New Ore and Craft Items.
- New 'Valentine' NPC.
- The secretive 'Goblin Merchant' now sells mysterious wares.
- An improved party invite system.
- Added bundled items to the merchants.
- Added Flavor texts for more immersive game mood.
- Added a new Tokyo Region + preliminary Japanese localization - first draft.
Balancing
- Moved the starting spawns from the edge of the map to the interior and added more variations to test.
- 2-handed weapon attack movement penalty has been reduced.
- Added +1 base stat point to 'agility' to the Cleric to normalize the class with all other classes.
- Rebalanced the Wizard's starting stats.
- Added a projectile damage falloff system where damage slightly decreases based on distance. Currently the effect is very small.
- Plate armor improved to give more bonuses,
- Lightfoot Boots, Regal Gambeson and Templar Armor are a little slower.
- Rapier damage slightly buffed.
- An installed Pavise can now be knocked down by an attack.
- Buffs for many of the less frequently used Perks and Skills.
- Wizard's 'Light' spell now removes the 'Hide' status. Does not remove the 'invisibility' status.
- Increased the duration of an installed campfire but the recovery effects per tick has been reduced. You will need to sit at a campfire for a longer period compared to the last playtest for the same recovery effects.
We hope you enjoyed this article about Dark and Darker.
