End User Licence Agreement and Privacy Notice

Last updated: 8 September 2026

This End User Licence Agreement ("EULA") governs your access to and use of the playtest version of Island of Embers (the "Playtest" or "Game"), developed and published by EvilStar Studios S.R.L.

Please read this EULA and the Privacy Notice below before participating in the Playtest.

By downloading, installing, accessing or playing the Playtest, you agree to this EULA. If you do not agree to these terms, you should not participate in the Playtest.




Island of Embers is developed and published by:

EvilStar Studios S.R.L.

Email: contact@evilstarstudios.com

In this EULA, "EvilStar Studios", "we", "us" and "our" refer to EvilStar Studios S.R.L.

This EULA applies only to the Island of Embers Playtest and does not necessarily apply to any future demo, Early Access version, commercial release or other version of Island of Embers. Those versions may be subject to separate or updated terms.

Your use of Steam is also subject to the terms applicable to your Steam account and the Steam platform.



We grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable and revocable licence to install and use the Playtest for your own personal and non-commercial purposes.

The Game, including its software, source code, graphics, artwork, user interface, audio, music, text, game mechanics, characters, designs and other content, is owned by EvilStar Studios or its licensors and is protected by applicable intellectual property laws.

This EULA gives you permission to use the Playtest. It does not transfer ownership of the Game or any intellectual property rights to you.



The Playtest is a pre-release version of Island of Embers and is provided primarily for testing, evaluation and feedback.

You acknowledge that the Playtest may:

• contain bugs, errors, unfinished content or other technical issues;
  
• crash or fail to operate correctly;
  
• have features added, modified or removed;
  
• undergo balancing or gameplay changes;
  
• receive frequent or mandatory updates;
  
• have saved games, settings or progress reset or made incompatible with future versions; and
  
• become unavailable at any time.

We may modify, suspend or discontinue the Playtest at any time.

Participation in the Playtest does not give you any right to receive a future version of Island of Embers or any particular feature or content in the final Game.



You may use the Playtest only for lawful purposes and in accordance with this EULA.

Unless permitted by applicable law, you may not:

• copy, sell, rent, lease, sublicense or redistribute the Game;
  
• commercially exploit the Game or any part of it;
  
• reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Game;
  
• attempt to obtain or reconstruct the Game's source code;
  
• circumvent or interfere with security or technical measures used by the Game;
  
• intentionally interfere with systems or services used by EvilStar Studios; or
  
• use the Game in a way that infringes the rights of EvilStar Studios or any third party.

Nothing in this section restricts rights that cannot legally be restricted under applicable law.



As a participant in the Playtest, you may choose to provide us with feedback, suggestions, bug reports or other comments about Island of Embers.

You agree that EvilStar Studios may freely use such feedback for purposes including developing, modifying, improving, marketing and distributing Island of Embers or other products.

You are not entitled to payment, compensation or attribution for our use of feedback you voluntarily provide.



The purpose of this Playtest is to evaluate how Island of Embers performs and how players interact with the Game.

For this reason, the Playtest automatically collects certain gameplay and technical information while you play.

Telemetry collection is mandatory during the Playtest and cannot currently be disabled.

The information collected, the reasons for collecting it and how it is handled are explained in the Privacy Notice below.

By participating in the Playtest, you acknowledge that this telemetry processing takes place as described in the Privacy Notice.

Your acknowledgement that telemetry is collected does not mean that you are providing consent under data protection law. We rely on the legal basis described in the Privacy Notice, and your acknowledgement does not waive or restrict any of your data-protection rights.



We may update the Playtest automatically or require you to install an updated version before continuing to participate.

Updates may change gameplay mechanics, features, content, system requirements or compatibility with previously created save files.

We may also update this EULA or the Privacy Notice where necessary, including to reflect changes to the Playtest, our data-processing practices or applicable law.

Where appropriate, material changes will be communicated through the Game, Steam or another reasonable method.



You may stop participating in the Playtest at any time by uninstalling the Game.

We may suspend or terminate your access to the Playtest if:

• the Playtest ends;
  
• we discontinue or suspend the Playtest;
  
• you materially breach this EULA; or
  
• we are required to do so for legal, security or technical reasons.

Termination of your access does not automatically require immediate deletion of information already collected during the Playtest. Such information will instead be handled according to the retention rules described in the Privacy Notice.



The Playtest is unfinished pre-release software and is provided for testing purposes.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the Playtest is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without guarantees that it will always be available, error-free or compatible with your hardware or software.

You should not rely on Playtest save data or progress being permanently available.

Nothing in this EULA excludes or limits liability where doing so would be prohibited by applicable law, including any mandatory consumer rights available to you.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, EvilStar Studios will not be responsible for indirect or consequential losses arising from your participation in the Playtest.



This EULA is governed by the laws of Romania.

If you are a consumer residing in another country, this choice of law does not deprive you of any mandatory consumer protections provided by the laws of your country of residence.

Nothing in this EULA prevents you from bringing a claim before a court or other competent authority where applicable law gives you that right.



If any provision of this EULA is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect.

Our failure to enforce any provision of this EULA does not constitute a waiver of that provision.

This EULA does not create rights for any third party except where required by law.

For questions regarding this EULA, contact:

contact@evilstarstudios.com




For purposes of applicable data protection law, including Regulation (EU) 2016/679 ("GDPR"), the data controller for information collected directly by the Island of Embers Playtest is:

EvilStar Studios S.R.L.

Email: contact@evilstarstudios.com

We determine what gameplay telemetry is collected by the Playtest and how that information is used.



When you participate in the Island of Embers Playtest, we automatically collect information relating to your installation, your device and your activity within the Game.

2.1 Installation Identifier

We generate a random identifier for your installation/player.

This identifier allows us to associate gameplay events from the same installation without requiring your name, Steam ID, Steam username or other direct account identifier.

Because the identifier allows multiple events to be associated with the same installation, we treat this information as pseudonymous personal data.


2.2 Gameplay and Progress Information

We collect information about your activity and progress within the Game, including:

• Game version;
  
• objectives completed;
  
• buildings constructed;
  
• buildings destroyed;
  
• resource-related statistics;
  
• population-related statistics; and
  
• game-speed-related statistics.

This allows us to understand how players interact with the Game and how its systems behave during normal gameplay.


2.3 Device and Technical Information

We collect certain information about the computer and configuration used to run the Game, including:

• operating system;
  
• CPU;
  
• GPU;
  
• amount of RAM;
  
• screen resolution;
  
• graphics settings; and
  
• Game version.

We use this information primarily to understand hardware configurations used by players and identify compatibility, performance and balancing issues.


2.4 Information We Do Not Intentionally Collect Through Gameplay Telemetry

The gameplay telemetry described above is not designed to collect:

• your name;
  
• your email address;
  
• your postal address;
  
• your Steam ID; or
  
• your Steam username.

If you contact us directly, for example by email or by submitting feedback, we will naturally receive and process the information you choose to provide as part of that communication.



We use Playtest telemetry to:

• understand how players interact with Island of Embers;
  
• understand player progression;
  
• evaluate objectives and gameplay systems;
  
• identify balancing issues;
  
• analyse resource and population systems;
  
• understand how players use different game speeds;
  
• identify technical or compatibility issues;
  
• improve performance and stability;
  
• identify bugs and unexpected behaviour; and
  
• improve the design and development of Island of Embers.

We do not use Playtest telemetry for targeted advertising and we do not sell Playtest telemetry to third parties.



Our primary legal basis for processing the gameplay and technical telemetry described above is our legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Our legitimate interests are conducting the Island of Embers Playtest, understanding how the Game is used, identifying technical and gameplay problems, balancing the Game and improving Island of Embers before release.

The Playtest has specifically been made available for testing and evaluation, and collecting gameplay information is an important part of that process.

We do not rely on your consent as the legal basis for the gameplay and technical telemetry described above.

Where we process information because you contact us or exercise your data-protection rights, we may process that information as necessary to respond to your request, pursue our legitimate interests or comply with our legal obligations, depending on the circumstances.



Gameplay and technical telemetry collection is a requirement for participation in the current Island of Embers Playtest.

There is currently no setting that disables this collection while continuing to participate in the Playtest.

If you do not want this telemetry to be collected, you should not participate in the Playtest or should stop playing and uninstall the Playtest.

This does not affect your rights under applicable data protection law, including your right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.



Playtest telemetry is transmitted to infrastructure operated by EvilStar Studios.

The telemetry service is self-hosted by EvilStar Studios and located in Romania.

Access to the telemetry is restricted to EvilStar Studios.

We do not provide Playtest telemetry to third-party analytics or advertising companies.

We do not intentionally transfer the Playtest telemetry described in this Privacy Notice outside the European Economic Area.

We may disclose information where required to do so by applicable law, a court order or another legally binding request from a competent public authority.



Playtest telemetry associated with an installation/player identifier is retained for a maximum of 12 months from the date it is collected.

After this period, the information will be deleted or irreversibly anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with an individual installation or player.

We may retain aggregated or irreversibly anonymised statistical information for longer where it no longer constitutes personal data.



We use reasonable technical and organisational measures intended to protect Playtest telemetry against unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of electronic transmission or storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure.



Depending on applicable law and the circumstances of the processing, you may have the right to:

• request access to personal data we hold about you;
  
• request correction of inaccurate personal data;
  
• request deletion of your personal data;
  
• request restriction of processing;
  
• object to processing based on our legitimate interests;
  
• request portability of personal data where the legal requirements for portability apply; and
  
• lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to exceptions provided by applicable law.

Because our gameplay telemetry does not contain your name, Steam account or other direct identifier, we may need your randomly generated installation/player identifier in order to locate telemetry relating to you.

To exercise any of these rights, contact:

contact@evilstarstudios.com

We may request information reasonably necessary to identify the relevant telemetry and verify a request.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

In Romania, the competent authority is the National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing (ANSPDCP).

If you live elsewhere in the European Economic Area, you may also be entitled to contact the supervisory authority responsible for data protection in your country.



We do not use the Playtest telemetry described in this Privacy Notice to make automated decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects.



We may update this Privacy Notice if the Playtest changes, if we change the information we collect or how we use it, or if changes are required by applicable law.

The latest version will include an updated revision date.

If a change materially affects how we process Playtest telemetry, we will take reasonable steps to inform Playtest participants.



If you have questions about this Privacy Notice, how we process Playtest telemetry or your data-protection rights, contact:

EvilStar Studios S.R.L.

contact@evilstarstudios.com