Beginners Guide

Alpha Disclaimer

• Dark and Darker is presently in Alpha state of development. Features will be added and removed, thus the current state of the game is not representative of the final product.
• Many of the systems in the game are not yet finished and are in a placeholder state. Mechanics may break or not function as intended.

Getting Started

Currently, the game can only be played during scheduled playtests. Once a playtest is ongoing, simply request access on the game's steam page and download the game.

Once you start the game, you will be presented with the Character creation screen. You will have to a create a character to be able to click the "Enter the Lobby" button. Currently, there is no limit for character creation. You can also check the official guide by iron mace and dungeon guide.

What Class to Pick

There are currently 6 unique classes to pick from. In here we will briefly share what you need to know about each class. For more in-depth guides check Classes.

Fighter

• Pros
  • Versatile class that can equip a vast variety of Weapons and Armors, this allows for a flexible play style.
  • Well-rounded attributes.
  • Great gap closer/evade ability with the Sprint skill.
  • Can wield a shield, which is a great advantage, since only two classes can equip shields.
• Cons
  • Gear dependent to be effective.
  • Will take extra damage from Wizards and magic dealing enemies, due to heavy armor having negative magic resistance.
  • Cannot cast any spells.
  • Most abilities only have one use.
• Tips
  • If you have teammates, pairing up with a cleric is a great way to increase survivability.
  • Try to get your hands on a bow, this will enable you to dispatch enemies from range.
  • Use your shield to block arrows and spells.
  • Do not waste your abilities, since you cannot use most of them again. Be resourceful. However, they can be recharged with the use of campfires.

Barbarian

• Pros
  • Tanky class with the ability to dish out a lot of damage.
  • Starts out with decent magic resistance, enabling the use of some heavy armor.
  • Can equip a perk that allows breaking doors and chests.
• Cons
  • Has very slow interaction speed, attack speed and base movement speed.
  • Due to slow attack speed, Rogues are able to go in and out on you, making it impossible to land a hit.
  • Spiders are your greatest enemy. Even though you can deal a lot of damage, large numbers of enemies will be pain to deal with.
  • Relies on supportive spells from a Wizard or Cleric to excel.
  • Cannot cast any spells.
• Tips
  • Do not open chests or doors, just break them with the Smash perk. Your interaction speed is too slow.
  • Stay behind cover and surprise enemies. Take fights to close quarters.
  • If you have teammates, a Wizard or Cleric can allow you to excel.
  • Try not to fight Rogues while using 2handed weapons, their swing speed is very slow, allowing Rogues to bait your attack and punish you during the recovery time. Have either a Hatchet or a Horseman's Axe as a secondary to deal with them.

Rogue

• Pros
  • Fastest class, has very high interaction speed, attack speed and base movement speed.
  • Only character with the ability to have unlimited pick locking attempts.
  • Can detect and disable traps.
  • Moves quietly and can become invisible for a very long time, allowing you to d unexpected ganks.
  • Able to take most 1v1 fights and win.
• Cons
  • You are limited to very distinct weapons not allowing you to have much range.
  • Since Rogues don't have much health, your decision making needs to be on point.
  • Cannot fight skeleton mages without taking damage. You will most surely will take a massive hit from them before killing them.
  • Archers are very annoying since they can keep you at distance and poke at you.
  • You cannot cast any spells.
  • Rogues are not able to do a lot of damage without great gear.
• Tips
  • Always pick poison weapon perk early game. Without it you do not have much damage.
  • Try to use your invisibility skill to ambush enemy players or de-aggro enemies.
  • Use your throwing knives, they can do quite a bit damage.
  • You are not as durable as a fighter, don't take big fights.
  • You are able to kill Rangers and Wizards with ease, but against other melee classes you will need to go in and out.

Ranger

• Pros
  • Rangers are great ranged characters that can deal a lot of damage.
  • Has a perk that can track players.
  • Can set bear traps to lock down enemies in place.
  • Starts with a campfire, however, it's of the worst quality.
  • Has a perk that allows the use of spears with increased damage.
  • Great room clearing ability without putting yourself at risk.
  • Can shoot through door holes.
• Cons
  • You are really bad at close quarters unless you optimized for it.
  • Rogues will destroy you, so take steps carefully.
  • You have a very limited choice of melee weapons.
  • Arrows can be dodged easily at times.
  • Heavily reliant on hitting headshots.
  • Very Bow quality dependent. It makes a huge difference to have a better bow.
• Tips
  • Try to play Ranger with a teammate, because you lack cover.
  • You can place traps under environmental traps.
  • Use door holes to poke at enemies.
  • Nimble hands is so far the best perk to use at level 1

Wizard

• Pros
  • Has very powerful spells that allows a versatile play-style.
  • Only class able to replenish spells with the Meditation skill.
  • You can wield magical weapons to improve your spells strength.
  • Very strong against tanks that wear heavy armor.
  • Can become invisible to re-position.
  • Ability to break doors with Fireball.
• Cons
  • Slow when casting spells.
  • Very low physical damage.
  • Low health making every hit count.
  • Takes a long time to meditate.
  • Relies on good attributes to be able to have more spells.
• Tips
  • Try to meditate after every 2 uses of Arcane missiles, Invisibility, and Fireball, because all your spells regenerate at the same time when you meditate. You are very vulnerable when meditating.
  • When enemies are interacting with doors, shoot a fire spell at them.
  • Use door holes to poke at enemies.
  • Use invisibility to get out of sticky situations and re-position. You can use haste ability before hand to move faster in invisibility.
  • 1 use of Zap can one shot most flying creatures.
  • Your spells can do extra headshot damage
  • Your fireball can do AOE damage and can also hit yourself with it.

Cleric

• Pros
  • Cleric is the only class with the ability to heal others.
  • Very beginner friendly, allowing you to take risks.
  • Deals extra damage to Undead, which is most enemies at the earlier stage.
  • Can wear a great variety of armors, including some heavy plate armors which enables less durable nimble builds or slower tanky builds. Also has the ability to wear a shield.
  • You have very strong AOE damage ability that can clear rooms very quickly.
  • Cleric is a very strong support character and a frontliner.
  • Only class with the ability to resurrect.
• Cons
  • Slow attack and interaction speed.
  • You cannot regenerate spells like a Wizard, resting at a campfire is required for this.
• Tips
  • You can be a very good support character when playing with a team.
  • Be careful when using buffs and heals since you can target enemies.
  • Only one of your healing spells can target yourself.

Controls

Note: When trading with another player left click moves stacks to the trade window which is different than the normal Inventory Controls. I have not figured out how to move partial stacks while trading. If you know how edit this please.

Weapon Move sets

Each weapon has its own move set and range. Practice and memorize them to your advantage.

The arming sword has a 3-motion attack sequence. Holding down the primary attack button will go through the attack sequentially until it is interrupted. If the enemy is wielding an arming sword, knowing this sequence can help you evade their attack.

Utility

Every character has two sets of toolbelts that can be accessed with "3" and "4" key. These tool belts hold up to 3 different items each. Utility items such as potions with different rarity will occupy different slots. For more information on these items check Consumables and Utility.

Party

A party can consist of up to 3 characters. You can choose the same characters as your teammates. Only the leader can queue up for a game when other players are ready.