Dark and Darker – How to play Playtest #5

After it was unclear for some time if and how Dark and Darker will continue, the first reports appeared this afternoon that the planned Playtest #5 will take place after all.

Then the developers came back on the official Discord and actually announced the start of the playtest.

However, the test will take place via an external client, which you will have to download again with every patch.
You can find out how to do that below!

How to play Playtest #5

Due to the current situation, the playtest will not take place via Steam, but you will have to download the game externally via a torrent client.

All patches for this playtest will also have to be downloaded this way.

Decrypt download links

The developers only give out their download links in encrypted form, which you always have to decrypt first via a decoding page.

• Visit the website https://www.base64decode.org/
• Under “Source Character Set” you select “AUTO-DETECT“.
• Get the code (see below)
• Paste the code into the upper field on the page
• Click on “< DECODE >“
• You will then get a torrent link to continue with in the next step.

Download & Installation

Next, you need a torrent program. The developers themselves recommend qBittorrent, which you can download for free at https://www.qbittorrent.org/.

Our instructions are based on this program, but there should be little difference between alternative programs.

• Download and install the qBittorrent
• Start the program.
• Decode the torrent link from the code below, it should start with “magnet:?xt=urn“.
• Code:

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDpkYmVmNWRlYTc4OTk5MmZjMTc0ZjI0NWUxYzRkZjRhMWVmMzRkMWYxJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMEluc3RhbGxlciZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW5iaXR0b3JyZW50LmNvbSUzQTgwJTJGYW5ub3VuY2UmdHI9dWRwJTNBJTJGJTJGdHJhY2tlci5vcGVudHJhY2tyLm9yZyUzQTEzMzclMkZhbm5vdW5jZQ==

• Open qBittorent and clicks on “File” and then on “Add Torrent Link“.
• The link should already be displayed, if not insert the link and click “Download“.
• The download time can take a few minutes even with a good internet connection
• Once the download is complete open the Dark and Darker A5 installer.
• Select an installation path and let the installer do its work.

• After that, download the following patches / hotfixes
• Hotfix 1 (still needs to be decoded):

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDplMGRmOGE0YzQ1YjBkNGFlYTkyZTZmZTY2MzcxNjdhMGQ2OTFmZDEyJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMFBhdGNoJnRyPXVkcCUzQSUyRiUyRnRyYWNrZXIub3BlbmJpdHRvcnJlbnQuY29tJTNBODAlMkZhbm5vdW5jZSZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW50cmFja3Iub3JnJTNBMTMzNyUyRmFubm91bmNl

• Hotfix 2 (still needs to be decoded):

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDo3YmE0YTJmZWNiYjUzYjQ3NDQ1NWEzOTNmYjkxOGRhNzY3NTliMzIzJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMFBhdGNoJTIwJTIzMiZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW5iaXR0b3JyZW50LmNvbSUzQTgwJTJGYW5ub3VuY2UmdHI9dWRwJTNBJTJGJTJGdHJhY2tlci5vcGVudHJhY2tyLm9yZyUzQTEzMzclMkZhbm5vdW5jZQ==

• Then install these installers in order, making sure to use the same path where you installed the base.

Register account & play

• When you start the game, you will be greeted by a login screen.
• At the first login you have to set your account name and password, you will always use this data for the login!
• After that you will see a recovery key in a window. Save it, you need it to restore your account if necessary.
• Then you are in the main menu and can create your character.

However, be prepared for server problems, bugs and other difficulties. But once you’ve made it into the game, you can expect a significant improvement compared to the last test!

Latest download link

As described above, you must always download the latest patch manually. We always try to provide you with the latest version with a timestamp.

The links below still need to be decoded (see instructions).

• Dark & Darker Playtest #5 (Base) – from 04/14/2023 at 05:01pm (CET)

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDpkYmVmNWRlYTc4OTk5MmZjMTc0ZjI0NWUxYzRkZjRhMWVmMzRkMWYxJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMEluc3RhbGxlciZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW5iaXR0b3JyZW50LmNvbSUzQTgwJTJGYW5ub3VuY2UmdHI9dWRwJTNBJTJGJTJGdHJhY2tlci5vcGVudHJhY2tyLm9yZyUzQTEzMzclMkZhbm5vdW5jZQ==

• Dark & Darker Playtest #5, Hotfix #1 (Patch)  – from 04/15/2023 at 10:22 pm (CET)

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDplMGRmOGE0YzQ1YjBkNGFlYTkyZTZmZTY2MzcxNjdhMGQ2OTFmZDEyJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMFBhdGNoJnRyPXVkcCUzQSUyRiUyRnRyYWNrZXIub3BlbmJpdHRvcnJlbnQuY29tJTNBODAlMkZhbm5vdW5jZSZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW50cmFja3Iub3JnJTNBMTMzNyUyRmFubm91bmNl

• Dark & Darker Playtest #5, Hotfix #2 (Patch)  – from 04/17/2023 at 08:41 pm (CET)

  • bWFnbmV0Oj94dD11cm46YnRpaDo3YmE0YTJmZWNiYjUzYjQ3NDQ1NWEzOTNmYjkxOGRhNzY3NTliMzIzJmRuPURhcmslMjBhbmQlMjBEYXJrZXIlMjBBNSUyMFBhdGNoJTIwJTIzMiZ0cj11ZHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ0cmFja2VyLm9wZW5iaXR0b3JyZW50LmNvbSUzQTgwJTJGYW5ub3VuY2UmdHI9dWRwJTNBJTJGJTJGdHJhY2tlci5vcGVudHJhY2tyLm9yZyUzQTEzMzclMkZhbm5vdW5jZQ==

Otherwise, you can also keep an eye on the official Dark and Darker discord and check out the Community Announcement channel there.