What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access? “The Dark Room is a wickedly unique product: a game based on a stage show that started as a YouTube series heavily influenced by old school text adventure games. We've done our best to capture the essence of the stage show in the game, with world class motion and facial animation capture that even few AAA studios can match.



But being something unique and different means that there's often a lot of unanswered questions or assumptions that we make about what's going to make the best possible experience for players. By taking the game to Early Access, we can fund further development and implement all the input from players and fans to truly make this the next best thing to seeing The Dark Room live.” Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access? “Depending on how quickly we can turn around development, we could potentially have the entirety of the Dark Room complete pretty fast! But as with all things in Game Development, sometimes things go wrong and we cannot account for what we don't know. We are hoping however to finish the game within 3 months, with major updates and releases of new rooms along the way.” How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version? “In future, we plan on releasing Room 2, Room 3, and then the Darkest Room - the ultimate challenge of your skills as a Darren. But in addition to being able to complete the story, there are plans for such neat features as Twitch integration for streamers, and a "Party Mode" to play with your friends at home.” What is the current state of the Early Access version? “Currently the entirety of Room 1 is playable from start to finish, with full facial motion capture and voice overs!” Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access? “While we're in Early Access, the game will be discounted to reward all those players that adopted early and supported us on the way to our full release.” How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process? “We plan on sharing with the community every step of the way through development, and will be providing updates such as snippets of animation or dialogue that they can be expecting to see in future content passes. Players will be able to interact with the developers by way of the Steam Forums, where their feedback on timing and content will reach the team and be used to iterate on what the game will eventually become.



The Guardian himself may also make an appearance to interact with players!



Bugs will be our first priority to fix when we receive feedback, but we are all open to ideas for new mechanics to put into the game over time. We intend on building a community of players who can help us make this the best game it can possibly be.”