Dark and Darker’s return to mainstream platforms has also been followed by a return to form. The game is back to its old self, with players dying left and right from frequent mob spawns – a phenomenon that players believe is causing the deaths of PvP encounters.

“It’s not a miracle,” wrote one Dark and Darker player in a Reddit thread yesterday, June 11, commenting on the lack of PvP combat. They shared a screenshot of the killfeed from a match where almost the entire lobby died to regular mobs. “Let new players cook,” they added. The game launched as a free-to-play early access title on Steam, which allowed for an influx of thousands of new dungeon crawlers who likely weren’t expecting such a difficulty spike. Players commenting on the thread are apparently happy about this phenomenon, claiming that the game is returning to its roots.

“Nature is healing,” wrote one cheerful player. Another said it was “refreshing” to see players struggling to brave the game’s myriad mobs, even at higher Gear Score levels. “I’m not outclassed in every fight. I can be the mid-player I was meant to be,” they added. The lack of PvP in most matches certainly helped many newcomers get more comfortable with the game and familiarize themselves with its systems before taking on those who know what they’re doing. It’s also a dungeon crawling game, and players getting decimated by dungeon mobs is somewhat fitting for the genre.

Even the most skilled players aren’t spared by the endless swarms of skeletons and mummies. “I died to goblins in my spawn room in High Roller yesterday. 1000 hours,” said one veteran player. While High Roller is drastically harder than Normal mode, their example serves as a reminder to anyone jumping into Dark and Darker of one thing: You will die, and that’s a fact of life.