Ironmace released its most recent playtest, which was its third overall playtest, to test Dark and Darker on December 16. The idea at the time was to host a one-week beta test of the fantasy Tarkov-like experience, which focuses on a range of important new features, including the High-Roller dungeon queues that are now available and new map tiles, an online shop for cosmetics, and major balance adjustments overall. The test is strictly invitation-only however Ironmace is inviting playtesters immediately upon the Dark And Darker Gold request of players. This has resulted in astonishing growth in the number of followers and players on Steam.

Discussion of a playtest extension is brewing since the beginning of Dark and Darker's latest playtest with PC gamers due to some initial issues with the server. As December 23 got closer, the discussion shifted towards recompenses for the time wasted and to capitalize on the massive surge of interest. Ironmace eventually agreed, offering promises that it would offer "MORE darkness" in addition to confirming a three-day extension of this Dark and Darker alpha playtest. It's now scheduled to end on the 26th of December at around 6:00 AM.

The reason for the extension of playtests is due to "early problems with the network, instability and rollback issues." Ironmace says that this is a standard practice at the moment, because the previous Dark and Darker test sessions have experienced similar issues and extensions. The message that is underlying is the excitement about Dark and Darker's escalating popularity as well as Ironmace even posting updates about the number of players through social media.

Ironmace is addressing the current situation also. The playtest is live for over a week, and Ironmace has issued six hotfixes that address problems and making improvements. The most recent Dark and Darker hotfix arrived Friday morning, giving players the ability to defeat Skeleton Champion, Wraith Skeleton Champion the Centaur, as well as Skeleton Champion foes, nerfing their Longbow and introducing the map tile The Colosseum that could appear within the queue for High-Roller.

Dark and Darker remains planned for a full-blown release as a premium game the latter half of 2023. One year is an incredibly long time to be waiting, however, Ironmace is sure to keep running tests between now and the time of release. Three Dark and Darker testing sessions during the last four months. Each was being announced after the previous one had end of the previous. We can expect Ironmace to release more details about what's to come for the dungeon crawler with a hefty amount of realism soon after the playtest's end the 26th of December. We hope that the team gets the time off to buying Dark And Darker Gold recuperate as well.