Hello Chokurs!  

Well, the game has been in development for a year now and it has been quite the journey for this humble studio of one.  As was previously stated on the store page, it was the plan to make the game available in Early Access come August, but as you can see the date has now been pushed to November (28th).  

The reason for this comes simply from the fact that I have recently had to take on a side contract to bring in development (and survival) money, so my time is now split between the two projects.  I did everything I could, from selling the car to anything not bolted to the house, to cover expenses in a way that would allow me to focus 100% of my time on the game and it got me this far-- which is great but obviously not great enough to deliver on the originally promised release date.

It pains me to my core that the first promise the studio made to you was broken, so I hope to make it up by launching with the biggest discount rate permitted by the store, which is 40%.  My first thought was to gift the game to those that have wishlisted plus the first 500 that wishlist after that, however that doesn't seem possible (using some external channel could work but would be prone to abuse by bad actors).  I'll also follow up this announcement with a post detailing the current state of the game, the roadmap, etc, and from this point on will keep you updated on the progress being made.

Being able to work on Chokur only on nights/weekends is obviously less than ideal but we're definitely close to the finish line!  I'm also very thankful for the opportunity my cousin gave me, where I'll be modernizing an application written 30 years ago in C, because without that income everything would come to a halt.  So hang in there, because the chess derivative of your dreams will be in your hands soon and once it's available I'll be counting on your feedback to make it the best it can be!

Thanks!

buzzingbee @ BuzzBee Games

In the DARKEST DAYS, Trust No One!

Hello Survivors,

This is the DARKEST DAYS.

The patch notes for the latest updated version on Wednesday, 8/6 are here!

※ All screenshots and images were taken in a test environment and may differ from the live server version.

- PC: 0.21.3

- Mobile: 0.21.4

※ This is a data-only patch and does not require a separate new build.

\[New Equipment] CS-23, Pilot Armor

- A new weapon and armor set added.

- The CS-23 is a shotgun made from anti-aircraft barrels, designed for extremely close-range combat.

- The CS-23 will come in 4 variations ranging from N~ SSR grades. - The Pilot-themed armor set will include 4 SSR-grade gear pieces.

- These new items can be obtained through in-game drops or Pickup Lucky Boxes.

\[CS-23, Pilot Armor Rate UP! Pickup Lucky Box]

- To celebrate the release of the new gear, the “CS-23, Pilot Armor Probability UP! Pickup Lucky Box” will be available.

- This limited-time only Lucky Box will be available until September 17 (Wed) 23:59 UTC.

- You will have an increased chance to obtain the CS-23, Pilot Armor through this box.

- The new Lucky Box can be found by going to Shop > Lucky Box > Pickup Lucky Box

\[New Packages] Pilot-Themed Package 1 & 2

- Two new limited-time packages will be available in celebration of the Pilot Armor release.

- These packages will be available for a limited-time only until September 17 (Wed) 23:59 UTC.

- You can find them by going to Shop > Packages > Limited-Time Packages

- The early-game difficulty has been adjusted to help new Survivors get off to a smoother start.

- A new beginner-exclusive buff called "Survival Instinct" will be added for characters up to level 10.

　ㄴ This buff will increase character defense by 15%.

- The types and grades of firearms rewarded in early story quests “Survival” and “Exploration” have been improved.

- The difficulty of the quests “The Merchant’s Heart” and “Waiting for the Day We Meet Again” has been lowered.

- Tommy, Hunting Armor have been added to Advanced, Event, and Normal Lucky Boxes.

- Removed weekly purchase limit for the Resident Level-up Packs I, II, and III found by going to Shop > Packages > Normal Package.

- Time-based purchase limits for certain items in Shop > General Goods > Training Tools have been removed.

　ㄴ ER x10, ER x100, Resident Normal Combat Manual x10, Resident Normal Combat Manual x50, Anilium Crystal x2, Proof of Survival, Proof of Research, Proof of Effort, Proof of Combat, Proof of Growth

Please refer to these latest updates when playing the game.

Thank you.

DARKEST DAYS Team

We're super excited to be part of the first edition of the Debut Festival, which aims to promote studios working on their first video game.

SOPA will be featured alongside other great debut titles. Don't hesitate to join us and get a taste of what's coming!

The event is organized by GameDev.ist and kicks off on August 7th. We look forward to seeing you there tomorrow!

Con mucho cariño,

- Team StudioBando

We have just shipped an updated Steam Deck Client to the Preview/Beta channel.

General

• Improved robustness of collection storage

• Card burns now give 5 gold for first burn per turn then 4,3,2,1
  
• Firewood burns still give 2 hammers and 1 science
  
• Palace gives 1 more hammer
  
• Mine adds 1 additional hammer to yield
  
• Fishing Hut now also adds 1 gold to yield
  
• Huts are more likely to give science
  
• Hut spawn rates increased
  
• Removed Embark hammer cost
  
• Scout gather hammer cost removed

• Imperial Guard now starts with General promotion instead of Vanguard
  
• Imperial Guard cost reduced to 9 hammers
  
• General Promotion now buffs nearby units immediately when applied and at start of each turn
  
• Mamluk gold cost increased to 6
  
• Removed shuffle gold cost reduction from China

• Fixed an issue where camera would sometimes not automatically pan to attacks on your units
  
• Fixed an issue where map generation could fail in multiplayer games with large player counts
  
• Fixed a rare issue where the game would stop responding when quitting

Small bug fix update

🔴Fire Mace (Epic): 10 burn --> 8 burn.

🔴Regular Bow (Common): 35% crit --> 30% crit.

🟢Modern Archery (Rare): 17s cooldown --> 16s cooldown.

🟢Cursed Shield (Cursed): 15 shield --> 20 shield.

🟢Shardfang (Legendary): 55 gold --> 50 gold.

🔴Flamy War Axe (Legendary): 10 burn --> 8 burn.

🟢Jade (Common): 4.5s cooldown --> 4.3s cooldown.

🟢Flare (Common): 4.5s cooldown --> 4.3s cooldown.

• Mythic Rod and Trigem's visual indicators now work properly.

• Fixed a typo on Twilight's Edge.

//Bocary

🎉 Big news Explorers!

Desktop Explorer has been officially selected for the SXSW Sydney Games Showcase! 🕹️🌏

We'll be showcasing our game this October 15–18, 2025, alongside some of the most creative voices in games.

WE ARE GOING TO THE LAND DOWN UNDER!

Here's more info on the event.

(We got a pretty cool shout out alongside many other very creative games)

And here's the full lineup of games being showcased in Sidney

See you there!

Thanks to your reports, we've found and fixed the "Out of Order" achievement failing to trigger. Simple mistake, easy to update. 3.1.4 is live now! Let us know if you spot any other issues.

- Kane