Dark and Darker undertakes emergency maintenance to protect against "a concerted DDoS attack"

Dark and Darker is up and running again after it made changes to its login server to better protect itself against a "concerted DDoS attack".

Developer Ironmace took to social media earlier this week to report that it was "deploying servers with extra DDoS protection", taking the game offline for several hours to undertake emergency maintenance.

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But even after bringing the servers back up, players continued to report issues logging in, and Ironmace was still battling the denial of service attacks the following day.

"We are experiencing a concerted DDoS attack," the team announced on X/Twitter. "Because of this, it seems that our response will be require [sic] additional running. Accordingly, the maintenance [to add extra DDoS protection] will take a little longer than expected."

Later that same day, Ironmace said it had brought the servers back online, but it was "still being DDoS" and warned players "access might be spotty".

Since then, Ironmace says it has worked to update its servers "to better protect against the DDoS attacks and fix the current login issues", but comments on the studio's social media posts suggest that even today, some players are continuing to experience issues when trying to log in.

As Victoria previously explained, the Korean developer behind the mediaeval looter Dark and Darker had its office searched after allegations the studio created its game with stolen code, and Ironmace was served a cease and desist letter and DMCA takedown by Nexon, something the developer said is "based on distorted claims". As a result, Dark and Darker was removed from Steam. It then used ChatGPT to try and prove it hasn't infringed any copyright claims.

Now, however, Dark and Darker is back online, albeit in early access, with Ironmace having opted to create its own launcher, known as Blacksmith, and sell the game directly from its own website and via digital storefront Chaf Games. Ironmace's also currently fighting another battle, this one with its own cheaters.

ICYMI, Dark and Darker is coming to mobile. PUBG: Battlegrounds publisher Krafton has acquired the rights to bring the RPG to mobile devices, lauding the game's "potential and distinct creativity" and stating developer Ironmace had "tapped into something compelling".