Digital Sun, the Spanish indie studio best known for Moonlighter, has delayed the planned public playtest for its Castlevania-inspired tower-defence game ReVamp, citing concerns about reverse-engineering and cloning in the current landscape.
The studio told followers it will run a smaller, contained playtest on its Discord starting October 29, with a broader public Steam playtest moved to around January.
ReVamp is scheduled to launch on Steam in March 2027.
In a statement to the community, Digital Sun explained that recent reports of unreleased games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published prematurely made releasing a large public build too risky with the game's launch still months away.
The studio thanked players for signing up on Steam, apologized for changing plans, and urged platforms to improve protections for original work.
Paraphrasing the studio's statement: Digital Sun said it was worried by reports that games were being reverse-engineered, copied and released before the originals reached the market, and that putting a substantial public build of ReVamp online so far in advance represented an unacceptable risk.
The team opted for a controlled Discord test to gather feedback while limiting exposure.
The decision follows a broader pattern in the indie scene.
Developers have long faced cloning on mobile and other platforms — an issue highlighted when Donut County creator Ben Esposito encountered clones in 2018.
More recently, studios such as South Korea’s YNOT pulled demos after discovering demos had been cloned using AI tools.
Reporting has called attention to how generative AI and large models — including references to Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 in industry coverage — can lower the barrier for bad-faith actors seeking to replicate or republish in-development work.
Digital Sun’s move drew largely supportive responses from followers, who called the change of plans “understandable” and a “good call” given current trends.
The studio reiterated its appreciation for community support and noted that showing games early remains vital for indie discovery and feedback — a point that frames their request that distribution platforms strengthen safeguards for original creations.
For players interested in trying ReVamp this year, Digital Sun’s Discord playtest begins October 29.
Those who registered for the Steam test were asked to expect the public build in January, ahead of ReVamp’s planned March 2027 Steam release.
The studio told followers it will run a smaller, contained playtest on its Discord starting October 29, with a broader public Steam playtest moved to around January.
ReVamp is scheduled to launch on Steam in March 2027.
In a statement to the community, Digital Sun explained that recent reports of unreleased games being reverse-engineered, cloned and published prematurely made releasing a large public build too risky with the game's launch still months away.
The studio thanked players for signing up on Steam, apologized for changing plans, and urged platforms to improve protections for original work.
Paraphrasing the studio's statement: Digital Sun said it was worried by reports that games were being reverse-engineered, copied and released before the originals reached the market, and that putting a substantial public build of ReVamp online so far in advance represented an unacceptable risk.
The team opted for a controlled Discord test to gather feedback while limiting exposure.
The decision follows a broader pattern in the indie scene.
Developers have long faced cloning on mobile and other platforms — an issue highlighted when Donut County creator Ben Esposito encountered clones in 2018.
More recently, studios such as South Korea’s YNOT pulled demos after discovering demos had been cloned using AI tools.
Reporting has called attention to how generative AI and large models — including references to Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5 in industry coverage — can lower the barrier for bad-faith actors seeking to replicate or republish in-development work.
Digital Sun’s move drew largely supportive responses from followers, who called the change of plans “understandable” and a “good call” given current trends.
The studio reiterated its appreciation for community support and noted that showing games early remains vital for indie discovery and feedback — a point that frames their request that distribution platforms strengthen safeguards for original creations.
For players interested in trying ReVamp this year, Digital Sun’s Discord playtest begins October 29.
Those who registered for the Steam test were asked to expect the public build in January, ahead of ReVamp’s planned March 2027 Steam release.
