We first reported on Darkhaven, a new action RPG from the developers of the original Diablo games, earlier this month. Since then, the game’s crowdfunding campaign has gotten underway, and it has already amassed $95,000. Furthermore, a new Steam demo has dropped to give interested gamers a glimpse of what to expect and encourage them to back the project early. The demo offers several hours of open-ended ARPG gameplay inside a persistent sandbox world. Players can progress the Witch class to level 8, experimenting across three skill trees focused on mobility, positioning, and resource management.

Designed for solo play, cooperative adventures, and high-stakes PvP-enabled realms, Darkhaven is set in a procedurally generated, fully dynamic, and persistent world. Terrain and structures are deformable and buildable, allowing players to dig through earth, tunnel through dungeon walls, drain lakes to uncover buried ruins, redirect lava flows to reshape battlefields, or rebuild shattered fortresses.

“For us, this is about proving potential. The strange, ambitious, sometimes chaotic ideas that we believe can push the ARPG genre forward”, said Erich Schaefer, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer. “There’s dust on the edges, but there’s also real experimentation, and a strong look at our bold new ideas taking shape. Our goal with this demo is to show two things at once. First, that we’re staying true to the addictive core of classic Diablo-style gameplay – progression, itemization, and build synergies. Second, we want to  deliberately break from the pack in how worlds evolve, how replayability works, and how much agency players have over the land itself.”

“This demo is a sincere love-letter to our fans, past and future,” said Philip Shenk, co-founder and CEO. “An invitation to see what Darkhaven could become, and to help bring it to life through our Kickstarter campaign.”