The independent developers behind please repair the road, a colorful puzzle game in which you try to rearrange tiles to repair and reconnect broken roads, is coming to PC soon. Ahead of the release, developer Ariel Jurkowski announced that Please Fix the Road will be available on Steam, GOG… and torrent sites.
It wasn’t a mistake, Jurkowski deliberately created a “pirated” version of their own game that would go live on the popular torrent site next to the official store.
While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a version of this strategy, Jurkowski doesn’t actually try to make a shitty version of the game for pirates, or even make them guiltily buy it.Instead, as a developer explain on twitter
To add a little spice, or to make that version stand out, Jurkowski added a “pirate theme song” at the start of the game and made some changes to the intro to fit the theme. Pirates will also notice a different options menu icon that replaces the standard gear with a pirate face.
The only other major difference is that this version of the game will not receive any future updates. As for why Ariel Jurkowski is going through so much trouble, the developer admitted that the game “would be pirated anyway,” although he didn’t “blame anyone for it.”
“That’s it. I hope at least some people will appreciate the gesture and maybe I’ll get some PR points for it,” he said. Add to.
While this might be a good gesture that won’t punish the pirates, it might not be very successful. GOG sells a DRM-free version, so this may end up gaining traction on torrent sites anyway. In fact, savvy pirates often look for GOG versions of games to download because it reduces the risk of getting cracked copies that may contain malware.
Please Fix the Road features a diorama-style structure with a pleasing aesthetic. Jurkowski said you should expect it to be a “casual” puzzle game. It arrives sometime in June, and you can wishlist it on Steam today.
