Most of you have probably already heard of Dark Matter; a 2.5D side-scrolling survival horror game, set in a derelict spaceship besieged by a sinister alien presence, and infested with deadly parasites. Dark Matter had a Kickstarter campaign that failed, though Iceberg Interactive was able to somehow pull things off and publish the game. Well… not exactly we say. It turns out that the game is incomplete and does not last as long as it was initially advertised, something that makes us worry about all the upcoming Kickstarted games (whether they failed or not).
This information comes straight from Interwave’s developer, Viper, who claimed that the game was not completed due to the failure of its Kickstarter campaign. But before jumping on the quotes from both Iceberg and Interwave, here is how the story goes.
After reaching the Biolab, killing the Queen and getting the Grenade Launcher, players enter the Toxic Materials area. Instead of a new map, though, players are greeted with a text message that sends them back to the main menu.
By the sound of it, Dark Matter feels unfinished, something that Interwave’s Viper acknowledged:
“No, the full story is indeed not complete yet because originally we wanted a longer game (12-16 hours) but couldnt finish it completely due to time and money (and Kickstarter failing). So, we choose to go with a 6-8 hour game instead to bring something out to the world and show everyone the world of Dark Matter. We are going to change the “to be continued” text to something else, to make sure this will be the end of the game as is in a clear msg to everyone.”
After a backlash, Viper reiterated his thoughts about their game by claiming that the game that is being sold is complete, though it’s not what Interwave wanted to create:
“What I meant is, with a successful Kickstarter we could have made a longer game, expanded the story. But then it would likely have been more expensive too. The current Dark Matter on Steam is a complete game in itself though.”
[ICE]_Beastman – Iceberg’s employee most probably – also claimed that the game has an ending, though the end message will change to something like “You Beat Da Game”.
And there you have – Dark Matter is incomplete, yet is being considered as a finished product. It’s also obvious that Dark Matter was meant to be something more than what PC gamers are currently getting.
What stroke us, however, was the fact that the game was not released in an episodic form (you know, in order to fund its next episode that could conclude its storyline) or via Steam’s early access program. Instead, Iceberg decided to pack everything Interwave has created and release it as a complete game. And that saddens us (to say the least).
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email