The Dark Meadow Gets New Content and New Free-to-Play Version, "The Pact"

Phosphor Games' visually-stunning, Unreal Engine-powered game The Dark Meadow has gotten a new free-to-play version, Dark Meadow: The Pact. This is the same game as the full Dark Meadow released last October, but now designed to be free-to-play, with gold and Sun coins available for in-app purchase, that can be spent on equipment, health kits, and bombs. Originally, the full version of the game was going to just transition from its current $5.99 price to free-to-play, but there was user backlash to this move. However, the plan was apparently for those who had purchased the game to get the Premium pack of items, which disables ads, grants 5 health kits, 13 bombs, 15,000 gold, 150 Sun coins, and disables ads for free. Now, the two versions are split, with the Premium pack gifted to those who buy the $5.99 standalone version, though the free version also offers this pack as a $5.99 in-app purchase.

However, a new business model is not all that comes with the game. There are new levels and a new boss to fight, new weapons to use, a map to help explore the world, and new "Fast Travel" warps so players don't have to restart from the beginning of the game. Plus, it's now compatible with the iPad Retina Display. The 1.1 update with these new features and The Pact version are both available now.