Dark and Darker Competitor Dungeonborne Attracts Thousands on Steam Ahead of Early Access

Earlier this year, Dark and Darker finally had its early access launch on Steam and immediately rocketed to the top end of the charts. The PvPvE dungeon crawler still has some issues to iron out, but developer Ironmance has been making moves to improve the gameplay , while also prepping for the mobile launch . However, Dark and Darker soon won't be the only game in town because Dungeonborne is set to joy the fray relatively soon. The upcoming from developer Mithril Interactive kicked off its final playtest on July 3rd, and it's already drawing more than 10,000 players. That's a great sign for Dungeonborne 's early access launch.

Remember, Dungeonborne isn't even out yet and the playtest hit nearly 15,000 players when it launched. That number has trickled down to just over 7,000 at the time of this writing, but it is a holiday in the United States, so those players might have fireworks to watch and hot dogs to eat. Either way, this is an impressive start for what looks to be Dark and Darker's biggest competition thus far. If Mithril Interactive can build on the hype at launch, we might have another massive early access hit on our hands in 2024.

Like Dark and Darker, Dungeonborne is a PvPvE dungeon crawler. The hardcore combat mixes swords and magic, giving players several ways to take on their enemies. You'll choose from one of eight different classes, including a Druid and Death Knight, giving you several options for attack. Dungeonborne will launch with over 80 item affixes on its weapons, making it important to hunt down elusive gear to create your perfect build. Plus, players can jump into the competitive Arena mode and take on other players without the risk of losing their gear. That makes hopping into PvP a much easier ask. Mithril Interactive also plans to introduce new gear every season, giving you a reason to get back into the thick of things and fight through the dungeons.

As of this writing, we don't have a firm release date for Dungeonborne . The game just started its final playtest, which should run for at least a week. If the team takes a few weeks to iron out any issues, we might be looking at a late July or early August launch. Either way, we'll likely hear more about Mithril Interactive's plans over the next few weeks.