Dark and Darker 2024 Roadmap: Future Updates and Content Plans

Dark and Darker might still be in early access, but it's grown a huge fanbase since first bursting onto the scene. With another busy year ahead, the game is likely going to roll out all sorts of new updates and the occasional wipe to keep the game feeling fresh. However, some fans might naturally want to know what plans the game has further afield.

This is typically where a game roadmap will come in handy, but as it stands there is no official roadmap for Dark and Darker as of February 2024. That being said, the devs haven't been shy about sharing information on the game and future changes they want to implement. So here's everything we know about the game's plans for a roadmap in the future.

12 April 2024 - Page checked for the latest news, leaks and information.

Unofficial Dark and Darker 2024 Roadmap

YouTuber Ryan6daysaweek has created something of an unofficial roadmap based on some recent interviews with fellow creators OnePeg and The Darkest Hour who both had time to speak with Terry Park, CEO of Ironmace Games.

This unofficial roadmap was more broadly looking at the updates coming to the game on the day of the most recent wipe, early season which is within the first 30 days of the wipe, and updates coming in the late season after the initial 30 days. Here's a look at what was mentioned:

On Wipe Day

• Squire Merchant
• New Items/Gear
• New Quest Chapters
• New Inventory/Equipping System
• Return of Gob, Caves (solo) & Ice Caverns (duo)
• Season Rewards Delivered

Early Season (<30 Days)

• The Druid
• Multiclassing
• Pre-Lobby Removed
• AP/Loot Rebalanced

Late Season (>30 Days)

• Ice Abyss (Map)
• Frost Wyvern (Boss)
• New Player Race
• PvP Arenas
• Dungeon Insurance & Expressman Services
• Backpacks & Quivers
• Guild Hall / Player Room
• Steam Release

Will There Ever Be a Public-Facing Roadmap for Dark and Darker?

Although there is no official roadmap, the devs at Ironmace have shared a document that lists various questions and answers from a recent Dev Q&A on Twitch with SoBadStrange. Included in the questions was one that asked directly 'Will there ever be a public-facing roadmap', to which the team at Ironmace responded:

"We would like to do that in the future to present a more professional front. We are just flying by the seat of our pants at the moment. We have a plan to expand our team our own way so it isn't too quick it's just going to take some time to implement. The success rate of even AAA studios adhering to their roadmaps is low so we would kind of rather just be accurate instead of doing something for show. Actual features are being planned and developed even further than 3 months out. The live service is currently being developed in real-time and so we try to focus on things that are high priority provided by the community (Like the Auction House)."

Note: We would also suggest that players join the Dark and Darker Discord server, where they can find a 'Dev Q&A' chat group. Typically the team keep players updated on any significant news, as well as in the 'Announments' group.

Are There Plans for a Test Server?

In the same roadmap question, the Ironmace devs confirmed they were working on a way for the founder's version to include a test server where they could run 'crazy' experiments.

"Right now most of the tests are released to the public and we go from there but eventually it will be a much more stable environment."

What's Coming to Dark and Darker in 2024?

Again, we can only speculate so far when Ironmace is unwilling to provide an official roadmap. However, the devs have gone on record as saying that they would like to focus "a lot more on creating NEW content progressing into 2024".

Why Don't We Know More?

According to Ironmace "Part of the problem thus far has been the sheer amount of DDoS attacks we have encountered as well."

It seems as though the developer is fully committed to fixing some of the technical performance issues and that's another reason why they've been unable to fully detail what sort of content they plan to add further down the road.

Despite this, it does seem as though the team has (internally) a roadmap that they're working towards. When asked if there are plans to add in-game events or random rare roaming monster spawns the team replied:

"Our secret roadmap has many of these ideas in development. We don't know when we can get to these really cool sort of end-game ideas but we like the feeling that those ideas will bring. Yesterday for instance a brand new AI Monster guy joined our development team. We want to invest in these stages of the game but it will have to be at our own pace."

So it's possible that Ironmace could have a bunch of ideas on the backburner that they're simply not sharing for the time being.