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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Before Darkness Falls™
Maverick Souls Studio · Published by Maverick Souls Studio
Content notice: Before Darkness Falls is set in a harsh sci-fi industrial world and contains mature themes related to survival, violence, death, psychological pressure, and moral compromise. Players lead survivors through hostile environments where scarcity, danger, and difficult decisions are central to the experience. Content may include combat, blood, depictions of death, disturbing environmental storytelling, and tense situations involving loss, desperation, and human conflict. The game does not contain explicit sexual content.
Last updated 28 Sept 2026
A tactical survival strategy game where you manage a collapsing colony, make impossible decisions, and face the consequences as every choice shapes what survives the night.
RPG, Strategy · More free games
About this game
Before Darkness Falls is a dark tactical survival game set beneath the surface of Scrag, a dying industrial colony slowly collapsing under the weight of age, isolation, and an unexplained catastrophe known only as the Darkness. Lead expeditions into abandoned sectors, salvage what remains, and keep your people alive long enough to see another day.
Command squads of survivors through hostile underground infrastructure filled with unstable environments, forgotten facilities, and increasingly dangerous encounters. Every expedition is a risk. Medical supplies, radiation protection, and extraction routes can determine whether your team returns alive… or disappears somewhere beneath the colony forever.
Scrag is not a clean sci-fi utopia. It is 150 years of corroded machinery, improvised repairs, sealed sectors, toxic air, and collapsing transit networks. Entire districts continue operating long after being abandoned, while others vanished from the network decades ago. Somewhere in the dark, something continues to spread.
Manage your Compound, equip specialized squads, and adapt to an evolving colony-wide crisis. Infrastructure failures, emergency alerts, and shifting sector conditions force constant strategic decisions. Some missions may save lives. Others may simply delay the inevitable.
The truth behind the Infection may exist somewhere deep within Scrag, buried beneath generations of decay and silence. But your survivors are not heroes searching for answers. They are scavengers, workers, guards, and exhausted colonists trying to survive inside a world that is already falling apart.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 150 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible
- Additional Notes: SSD recommended. Estimated requirements for development-stage build; subject to change before release.
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10/11 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i7-9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 / AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
- DirectX: Version 12
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 150 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible
- Additional Notes: SSD recommended. Recommended for 1080p gameplay at higher settings. Requirements may change as optimization continues.
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
How Co-op Works in Before Darkness Falls
One of the questions we receive most often is: “How does co-op actually work?”It’s a fair question, because Before Darkness Falls isn’t designed like a traditional RTT/RTS or co-op survival game. Rather than controlling one shared army, each player leads their own community while working together to keep a single base alive.One Compound. Multiple Leaders.The full game will support up to 4-player online co-op. The entire team shares one base known as the Compound.Every player is responsible for their own operators and civilians, but everyone contributes to the survival of the same base.Outside of mission and defense phase each player will:Equip and develop their operators.Organize their civilian workforce.Resolve conflicts and events affecting their own people.Prepare their squads for the next expedition/mission.Although each Leader is responsible for their own people, the Compound belongs to everyone.Players can assign their workers to the same junkyards, combining their workforce to improve resource gathering, defense structure repair, production, and other essential tasks.Cooperation is encouraged, but never forced.Growing TogetherAt the beginning of the game, each player usually commands only 2-3 operators (this number depends on the number of players) and a handful of civilians - so-called non-combat personnel.As more survivors are rescued during expeditions, the Compound’s population grows, giving each player access to additional civilians.Civilians can also be trained into fully-fledged operators. Experienced operators may serve as instructors, and players are free to assign their veterans to train another Leader’s civilians. Newly trained operators inherit a small portion of their instructor’s skills, making experienced veterans valuable not only on the battlefield, but also as mentors for the next generation. However training takes time and busy instructors cannot participate in mission and defense, so delegating the best skilled operator to train recruits w...Read full article on Community Announcements (maverick.souls.studio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Before Darkness Falls™ Pre-Alpha Demo Playtest Is Now Live!
Before Darkness Falls™ Playtest Is Now Live!The Before Darkness Falls™ Steam Playtest is now live and will remain available until July 26 at 23:59 CEST.First of all, thank you for taking the time to play our pre-alpha demo. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and will help shape the future of Before Darkness Falls™.What to Expect from Pre-Alpha Playtest #2This demo showcases the game’s current core gameplay loop:A brand-new opening mission featuring environmental hazards, yes, Scrag wants to kill you too, and dynamic enemy spawns. This is currently our most polished level.Defense PhaseCompound Phase, including basic controls and access to the World MapSecond MissionOnce you complete the second mission, you have reached the end of the current demo.Please note that all locations on the World Map currently lead to the same mission scenario. At this stage of development, we have focused on building and polishing the core gameplay systems rather than expanding the number of available levels.You will also notice that gameplay within the Compound is currently limited. Due to time constraints, object management has not yet been implemented. For now, the Compound primarily serves as a hub where you can prepare your squad and choose your next destination on the World Map. Recording and StreamingYou are welcome to upload gameplay footage or stream the demo.We would greatly appreciate it if you included “Pre-Alpha Demo” in the title of your video or stream. This helps viewers understand that many features, visuals, and mechanics are still works in progress.Most importantly, have fun—and do not hesitate to share your thoughts. Every piece of feedback helps us make Before Darkness Falls™ a better game. Invite Up to 3 FriendsEvery admitted tester can invite up to three Steam friends directly to the Playtest.To invite someone:Open Before Darkness Falls Playtest in your Steam Library.Find the “3 invites remaining” button on the game’s Library page.Click it and select the friends yo...Read full article on Community Announcements (maverick.souls.studio)AnnouncementsOfficial
Before Darkness Falls™ Playtest Weekend – July 24–26
The Before Darkness Falls™ Playtest is coming! The Playtest will be available from:July 24 at 00:00 CEST until July 26 at 23:59 CEST How to joinVisit the Before Darkness Falls™ Steam page:https://store.steampowered.com/app/4528070/Before_Darkness_Falls/Click Request Access in the Playtest section.Once access has been granted, open Steam and find Before Darkness Falls Playtest in your Library.Install the Playtest and begin playing!You may also invite up to three friends to participate. The three invites give your friends direct access through Steam without requiring them to submit a request and wait for us to approve another group of testers.You can, of course, tell additional friends about the playtest, and they may request access normally, but the three official invitations are the places you can personally guarantee.Share your feedback & get creditedAfter playing, please complete our feedback form:https://forms.gle/a1mn7f8iSdvCuP2s6Your feedback will help us identify bugs, improve the gameplay experience, and prepare the game for future players.Testers who complete the feedback form may also be credited in the game’s credits. To be included, simply provide the requested credit information in the form. Playtesting certificatesPlayers who complete the Playtest may request a playtesting certificate by contacting us at:maverick.souls.studio@gmail.com Need help?If the Playtest does not appear in your Steam Library, restart Steam and make sure you are using the same account that requested access.For further assistance, join our Discord:https://discord.gg/KTqDHghnVW Thank you for helping us improve Before Darkness Falls™! 💚Read full article on Community Announcements (maverick.souls.studio)
