After over a year of legal battles and absence, Dark and Darker has finally made its way back to the biggest PC platform, Steam. The game’s return was long-awaited, but not so warmly received, as players are now review-bombing it for its “misleading” free-to-play model.

Dark and Darker was brought back to Steam on June 7, after the developers announced the re-release during this year's Summer Game Fest. It launched as a free-to-play, early-access title, giving players the chance to play through the game a few times before jumping into the real thing. However, many players have found this way of "demoing" the game to be misleading, and have been giving the game a thumbs down on Steam for days now, giving it a "mixed" review on Valve's storefront. It's such a troubling moment that one reviewer claimed the game should have simply released with its usual $30 price tag and everything would have been smooth sailing from there.

Ironmace's "free" version of Dark and Darker includes all maps and quests, but players are limited to only one character at a time and cannot equip Uncommon or better loot during runs. This severely limits the game's gameplay loop, as players will find tons of Uncommon and rarer items during almost every match, rendering most of their gear useless unless they upgrade to "Legendary Status" and unlock the full version of the game.

"The F2P version is essentially a demo," one review read. "Announcing it on the Steam page would avoid the nasty surprise of a $30 paywall." The game is also not refundable on Steam, another review claimed, because the full version is unlocked via in-game currency, rather than a direct purchase from the Steam store. Currently, Dark and Darker has a paltry 48 percent positive reviews on the platform.