DarkSwitch, a game developed in Kazakhstan over the course of four years, has emerged as one of the most prominent new releases on Steam following its launch, El.kz reports.

The official release of DarkSwitch took place on April 10. Even before its debut, the game garnered significant attention from the Steam audience over 230,000 wishlist additions. Following its launch, the project rapidly climbed to the top of the new release charts and established itself as one of the most notable titles of the week. DarkSwitch is a vertical city-building simulator featuring survival and strategy elements.

The gameplay centers on managing a city situated on a giant tree while contending with a mysterious "mist" that affects the world and its inhabitants.

The project was developed by a Kazakhstani studio founded by entrepreneur Alexey Nazarov, who was featured in the Forbes Kazakhstan "30 Under 30" list in 2020. Before entering the game development industry, Nazarov worked in fintech and was at the forefront of one of the region's first non-banking payment services. After exiting his business, he allocated a significant portion of his funds to new ventures, including the creation of an independent game studio.

The development of DarkSwitch took approximately four years, representing a steady evolution for the team, which grew from a small startup into a full-scale studio involving artists, designers, programmers, and external experts. The total development budget is estimated at approximately $5 million and was reportedly funded without external investment.

The studio also noted that they revised key game design decisions several times and pushed back release dates to ensure the product met the required quality standards.