DarkBazaar

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• Announcements·11 Aug 2026Official

  Devlog #20 - A Board, A Queue And A Daruma

  Hey everyone! 60,000 people have played the DarkBazaar demo. Almost 34,000 of you havewishlisted the game. Those numbers seem completely unreal. 60,000 is more people than fit in most stadiums. For a first game, from us, that is completely absurd, and we are enormously grateful. The demo is also going to be in more showcases and festivals before the full gamecomes out, which is a big part of why this update exists. We want the demo to bethe best possible version of itself for everyone who is about to play it for thefirst time. So this one is mostly quality of life and bug fixes. The stuff you have beenasking for, over and over, in the Discord, in the discussions, in the reviews. There is some new content in here too: two new contract types and a couple ofreworked upgrades, but the headline is that a lot of small annoying things aregone now. Let's go through it. QUALITY OF LIFE The Passive BoardWhen you clear a deadline you pick one of three rewards, and some of thoserewards are passives. And then five deadlines later you have absolutely no ideawhich ones you picked.So we built a board. It is one of those cork-and-pushpin office boards, and it shows every passive reward you have chosen this run.This has been one of the most requested things since the demo launched, andhonestly it should have been in there from the start.No more waiting for upgrade popupsSome of you reported waiting minutes for your upgrade triggers to finish playingout. One player reported fifteen minutes. Fifteen. Minutes.That was our fault, we queued every single trigger popup and played them oneafter another, so if a hundred upgrades fired, you sat through a hundred popups.Not ideal.The fix for now is a clamp. There is a maximum number of popups (around six), andpast that we skip ahead and show you the last one in the chain. You still see thefirst few and the final result, which is really all the information you need.Proper solution is coming later. But you will never sit through a hundred cymbals...
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• Announcements·23 Jun 2026Official

  Devlog #19 - 40,000 Players Later

  Hey everyone.Before we talk about the update itself, we want to start with something much more important:Thank you.Steam Next Fest has been an absolutely incredible experience for us.More than 40,000 people have now played the DarkBazaar demo.We've reached a Very Positive rating on Steam, which is the second-highest rating category Steam offers.We've welcomed more than 200 new people into the Discord.We've received thousands of comments, suggestions, bug reports, balance discussions, reviews, videos, streams, and pieces of feedback.In all honesty it's been a little overwhelming.In the best possible way.This is our first demo.The first time we've ever had this many people playing something we've made.So whether you played the demo, left a review, reported a bug or just checked out the page.Thank you.You helped make Steam Next Fest something we'll never forget.DarkBazaar started Next Fest around the #25 spot for active players and stayed inside the Top 50 throughout the entire event.Out of roughly 8,700 demos.We're incredibly proud of that.And incredibly grateful.The First Post-Next-Fest UpdateNow that we've had time to collect feedback and data from tens of thousands of players, we've started making changes.This update is mostly focused on:BalanceQuality of lifeBug fixesIt's not a huge content update.But it does contain some changes that have a pretty significant impact on how the game plays.Bug FixesWe've fixed a handful of issues that were reported during Next Fest.Fixed Upgrade DescriptionsSeveral upgrades had incorrect or outdated descriptions:Lava LampThird WishPablo's AshtrayThese should now correctly explain what they do.Fixed Infinite CymbalsIf you sold the Jolly Chimp while it was clapping, the sound could continue forever.Which was...Not ideal.That has now been fixed.Fixed UI Fade IssueSometimes tabbing out during a fade transition could leave the screen partially black when returning to the game.That should now be resolved.Quality of LifeTwo highly request...
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• Announcements·16 Jun 2026Official

  Devlog #18 – Nerf Patrol + Legendary Rifle

  Hey everyone.First of all:Thank you.Steam Next Fest has been absolutely incredible so far.More than 20,000 people have played the demo already, we've been sitting around 400–500 concurrent players for days, and on the first day of Next Fest DarkBazaar reached the #26 spot on Steam when sorted by active demo players.Out of thousands of demos.That's insane.So thank you to everyone who has played, reviewed, streamed, wishlisted, and shared the game.Now...When we told you to keep breaking the game, you really took that to heart 🤣 So we had to make a new update So... How Much Money Can You Make Now?Before this update, the game would start falling apart at around:9.2 quintillion dollars.Which, admittedly, is a ridiculous amount of money.But some of you got there anyway.So we decided to stop pretending that wasn't going to happen. The new cap is 9 quadrillion dollars. The Game Has An Ending NowThe game now has an actual ending if you manage to reach the new cap.If any of you manage to get there, feel free to share it in the Discord.It's not the official ending of DarkBazaar.It's simply a proper ending for players who completely obliterate the economy and reach the limits of the demo.We felt that was better than the game simply breaking. Numbers Are Easier To ReadSince many of you insist on becoming quadrillionaires, we've also improved how large numbers are displayed.Instead of:1,000,000,000You'll now see:1B1T1QAAnd so on.The UI looks cleaner and it's much easier to understand what is happening once the numbers get absurd. A Nerf PassMany of the most successful builds were scaling a little bit too well.Okay.A lot too well.So we've done a balancing pass focused on some of the biggest offenders. Jackpot ScalingJackpots still provide the same 5x value bonus.However:They now stack linearly instead of exponentially.You can still create very valuable weapons.Just not "destroy-the-economy-before-breakfast" valuable. Carpet Bomb ScentNow has:30% chance to grant a respinInstead of:...
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• Patch Notes·14 Jun 2026Official

  Crate and contract balance patch

  Just published a small balancing patch based on feedback on the latest update. Crates, contracts and debt progression should feel better now.Also we nerfed the Birdie of infinite Imbalance because some of you are breaking the game with it 😄🎰💎 Let us know what you think!
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• Announcements·13 Jun 2026Official

  Devlog #17 – Smugglers Crate And A Troll

  Hey everyone.First of all:Thank you.The response to the demo has been incredible.We've welcomed a lot of new players into the community, we've received a ton of feedback, and we've officially reached a Very Positive rating on Steam.We're incredibly grateful for that.And with Steam Next Fest right around the corner, we've spent the last week listening to all the feedback coming in.This update is almost entirely built around the feedback we've received since the demo launched.A lot of balancing changes.A lot of bug fixes.A few new upgrades.A few new weapons.And one very interesting new crate.Let's dive in. A Big Balance PassOne thing that became very clear after releasing the demo was that some parts of the economy needed adjustment.So we've done a fairly extensive balancing pass.Crate Rarity ReworkOne of the biggest changes is how crate rarities work.Previously:A crate rarity guaranteed at least one weapon of that rarity.Now:Crate rarity creates a strong bias toward that rarity instead.Higher rarity crates:Have significantly higher chances of dropping higher rarity weaponsAre heavily weighted toward their own rarityBut no longer guarantee a specific rarityWe think this makes crate openings feel more exciting while still preserving the importance of higher rarity crates. Crate Prices Now Scale With ProgressionAnother issue was that crate prices eventually stopped mattering.Once players reached the late game, money became abundant and crate prices became largely irrelevant.To address this:Crates now:Start cheaperScale with crate levelAlso scale with your current deadline progressionThis makes crate decisions more meaningful throughout an entire run. Introducing the Smuggler's Courier CaseOriginally, the Smuggler's Courier Case was only meant to be a teaser for future content.Not anymore.We've actually added it to the demo.The Smuggler's Courier Case:Has dramatically increased high-rarity chancesCan drop every weapon type in the gameUses equal weapon type weightingIs ex...
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