Digital Sun, the studio behind Moonlighter, has delayed the public Steam playtest of its next game, ReVamp, over fears that AI tools could be used to clone the game before it launches. The first ReVamp playtest still starts on October 29, but only on the studio’s Discord, with access handed out in waves. A public playtest is now planned for “around January”, and the March 25, 2027 release date is unchanged.
Digital Sun announced the change on X and Bluesky just after 13:00 UTC on Monday, October 19, alongside a longer post on ReVamp’s Steam page. It’s the second studio in three days to scale back a public build over AI-clone fears, and it landed on the opening day of Steam Next Fest.
ReVamp's first playtest moves to Discord on Oct 29; the public Steam test is now planned for around January. Image: Digital Sun
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Why Digital Sun changed the ReVamp playtest
In the Steam post, the studio said it had been “concerned by recent news of games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published before the original is even out.” It went on: “With launch still months away, sharing a build with tens of thousands of players felt like too big a risk for ReVamp.”
Digital Sun had opened sign-ups for the playtest on October 8, when it announced the release date at the Triple-i Showcase. That plan used the Steam store page to build the pool of testers. The studio apologised to everyone who requested access on Steam and asked players who still want in this year to join its Discord and pick up the Playtesting role. It also asked platforms to act: “We’d also love to see platforms keep strengthening protections for original work, so studios of every size can keep sharing their games early. For indie games, that’s how we get seen and find the fans who keep us going.”
ReVamp playtest at a glance
- Game: ReVamp, a “Tower Defensevania” where you play Dracula defending your castle from invaders (PC, Steam)
- Developer and publisher: Digital Sun (Moonlighter, Moonlighter 2: The Endless Vault, Cataclismo)
- Playtest: starts October 29 on Discord only, access in waves
- Public playtest: “around January”, according to the studio
- Release date: March 25, 2027 (not affected)
The game had passed 200,000 Steam wishlists by late September, according to the studio, which calls it “Castlevania in reverse”: you are Dracula, defending the castle instead of storming it. For the classic formula, see our Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse release guide.
Second studio in days to pull a public build
On Friday, October 16, Japanese developer Alliance Arts cancelled the public demo of its Russian-roulette drinking game Drunken Goddess Reflux, which was due on October 19. In its statement on X, the studio said it was concerned “that the demo’s content could be used to quickly imitate or replicate the game’s presentation and gameplay with AI or other tools, and that such works could be released before our launch.” It is running closed sessions for approved applicants through its Discord instead. We covered that decision on our October 17 live page.
Alliance Arts cancelled the Oct 19 public demo of Drunken Goddess Reflux over the same fears. Image: Alliance Arts
Both studios are reacting to a run of fast copycats on Steam. Kotaku reported in September that at least eight similarly named clones of Studio Bitdot’s viral, upcoming Needle in a Haystack Simulator showed up on Steam within days of its reveal. On October 18, Kotaku counted at least fourteen. In the same report, one clone’s developer, NoGlyph, said another clone released on October 16 contained 13 of its classes and some of its error messages “word for word”. Kotaku also cited a GameSpark report that a Roblox creator rebuilt the upcoming indie game Escape the Walls from a single video within 24 hours.
What it means for Steam Next Fest
Steam Next Fest runs until October 26. Eurogamer, citing Valve’s press page, puts the demo count at 8,202, more than double last year’s event. Free demos and open playtests are how small studios collect wishlists before launch. If more developers decide a public build is too risky, players will get fewer chances to try indie games early, and the studios will get less early feedback.
Digital Sun didn’t name a specific game or clone behind its decision, and neither Game Developer nor Eurogamer reported a response from Valve.
What’s next
ReVamp’s Discord playtest begins October 29, with more waves to follow and a public Steam playtest targeted for around January ahead of the March 25, 2027 launch. Drunken Goddess Reflux still has no release date. We’ll watch whether other Next Fest developers follow and whether Valve responds to the calls for stronger protections. You can follow it on our daily gaming news live page.
Sources: Digital Sun on Steam, Digital Sun on X, Alliance Arts on X, Game Developer, Eurogamer, Kotaku.
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Featured image: Digital Sun
