Dark and Darker Developer Promises 'Absolutely No Pay to Win'

Dark and Darker, an upcoming Mediaeval extraction looter, appears to be just around the corner, as the game has seen a series of playtests so far. The game developer Ironmace recently participated in a Discord Q&A, revealing several details about the game.

The main focus of the discussion was on the game’s monetization model and approached toward cheaters. When asked how the developers intend to monetize the game for their bread and butter, Ironmace asserted that there would be no pay-to-win elements included in the game.

While discussing the plans for monetization features in Dark and Darker, the developers stated:

A monetization model that players can understand.
Devs

No doubt, this doesn’t paint a clear picture of what’s to come, but Ironside admitted that it’s difficult to tell right now because they haven’t figured out a strategy for monetizing the game. The developers simply said:

It hasn’t fully decided on whether to commit to battle passes or cosmetic item shops in Dark and Darker.
Devs

Ironmace admitted that game sales alone would not be sufficient to sustain servers and keep the studio running; some form of monetization will be required. They said:

Game sales alone can’t cover the cost of running servers on an ongoing basis, it needs to generate revenue at a level acceptable to our players.
Devs

It is unclear whether we’ll see an in-game cosmetic shop or battle pass system; however, Ironmace emphasizes that there will be absolutely no pay-to-win mechanics added. A few questions from the discussion revealed that the developer intends to add a Bard class to the game, as well as more poisons for rogues, additional maps, extra weapons, spiders, and demon monsters in the future. While discussing potential cheaters who will inevitably try to sneak their way into the game, developers admitted that this is one of the most difficult challenges ahead of them and that no cheaters will be spared. Ironmace declared: