Shadow Walkers — Refund Policy

Last updated: 12 April 2026 Effective date: 12 April 2026 Publisher: Dwarven Stronghold Limited (company no. 11228461) Merchant of Record: Paddle.com Market Limited

This policy is in addition to, and does not replace, your statutory rights as a consumer. In the United Kingdom, those rights come from the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. In the European Union, they come from the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU as implemented by your country.

1. Summary

Refunds are issued to the original payment method via Paddle. Processing typically takes 5–10 business days to appear on your statement.

2. Your right to cancel (UK and EU consumers)

If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom or the European Union, you normally have a 14-day right to cancel a contract for digital content and receive a full refund, without giving a reason.

However, under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (reg. 37(1)) and the equivalent EU rules, this right is lost if you expressly request that we start delivering the digital content before the end of the 14-day period and you acknowledge that the right is lost once delivery begins.

How we handle this

• At checkout, the Paddle payment form shows a clearly labelled tick-box: "I want to start playing Shadow Walkers now. I understand that by starting play within the 14-day cancellation period, I lose my statutory right to cancel once I begin playing."
• If you tick the box — your download and server access unlock immediately, and your statutory 14-day cancellation right ends as soon as gameplay begins. Our voluntary refund policy (Section 3) still applies to give you a second chance to change your mind.
• If you do not tick the box — we hold delivery for 14 days. During that period you can cancel without giving a reason and receive a full refund. After 14 days, delivery begins automatically.

This approach is designed to be consumer-friendly: even if you waive the statutory right to start playing, our voluntary refund policy still lets you get your money back on the same 14-day window as long as playtime is under two hours.

3. Our voluntary refund policy

In addition to your statutory rights, Dwarven Stronghold Limited offers the following voluntary refund terms:

3.1 Base game

You are entitled to a full refund of the Shadow Walkers base game if you request it within 14 days of purchase and your recorded playtime is less than 2 hours.

"Playtime" means the total time your character has been logged into the game world, as recorded by our servers. Time spent on the title screen, character creation and cosmetics menus does not count toward playtime.

If you are over 2 hours but have a genuine reason for the refund (for example, severe technical issues we could not resolve, significant accessibility barriers, or a significant divergence between the product and its public description), please contact [email protected] — we will review the case on its individual merits and will err toward customer-friendly outcomes.

3.2 Supporter Pass (monthly)

If you purchase a monthly Archiwista Supporter Pass by mistake, contact us within 14 days of the charge. If you have not used any Supporter-only benefit (Archiwum Przyszłości, extra character slot, monument engraving, etc.), we will refund the charge in full.

If you have already used Supporter benefits, we will cancel future renewals immediately so you are not charged again, and you will keep access until the end of the current billing period. In most cases we do not offer a cash refund of the current month in that situation, but contact us — we consider genuine edge cases.

3.3 Supporter Pass (annual)

An annual Supporter Pass purchased by mistake is fully refundable within 14 days if unused.

If any Supporter benefit has already been used, we offer a pro-rated refund for the unused portion, minus a small administrative adjustment where this would otherwise create obvious abuse (for example, someone using every monthly benefit in succession). The pro-rating formula is:

refund = (price_paid) × ((months_remaining_at_refund_request) / 12)

where months_remaining_at_refund_request is rounded down to a whole number of full calendar months remaining from the request date.

3.4 Expansions and DLC

The same rule as the base game: full refund within 14 days if playtime inside the expansion content is under 2 hours. Owning the base game is a pre-condition for purchasing an expansion, so refunding the expansion does not affect your base game licence.

3.5 Monetization Pledge refund — 12 months

If we ever violate the Shadow Walkers Monetization Pledge set out in the Pricing & Monetization document (pricing.md §4), any customer who purchased the base game, a Supporter Pass or an expansion within the 12 months preceding the violation may request a full refund with no further conditions, regardless of playtime or the normal 14-day window. The request must be sent to [email protected] within 60 days of us acknowledging the violation.

4. When we cannot refund

We cannot offer a refund in the following situations:

• The purchase is older than 14 days and you have more than 2 hours of playtime (for base game or expansions), and none of the exceptions in Section 3 apply.
• The account in question has been permanently suspended or terminated for a material breach of the Terms of Service (Section 7, Acceptable use). We do not refund purchases made on an account that has been banned for cheating, exploitation, harassment or other serious misconduct.
• The refund is requested by someone other than the original paying customer and we cannot verify ownership of the account and the original payment method.
• The purchase was made through a third-party storefront or bundle. In that case, you must request the refund from the storefront that sold it to you, in accordance with their own refund policy.

Nothing in this section affects your statutory rights.

5. How to request a refund

1. Write to [email protected] from the email address registered on the account. Include: - The Paddle transaction ID (on your invoice) or the last four digits of the card used, and the date of purchase. - A short reason for the refund (optional but helpful; not required).
2. We aim to reply within 3 business days and to process approved refunds immediately. Refunds are handled by Paddle and typically appear on your statement within 5–10 business days.
3. If we decline your refund and you believe the decision is wrong, ask us to escalate it to a second reviewer. We will reply within a further 5 business days.

6. Chargebacks

Please contact us before opening a chargeback with your bank. Chargebacks are expensive and time-consuming for both sides, and almost every issue can be resolved faster by email.

If a chargeback is opened without contacting us first and we believe the purchase was legitimate, we may temporarily suspend access to the associated account pending resolution. We will not take permanent action on an account solely because a chargeback is in progress.

7. Gifts and bundles

• Gifted copies may be refunded by the original purchaser on the same terms as self-purchased copies, as long as the recipient has not redeemed the gift or, where redeemed, has under 2 hours of playtime.
• Bundles (e.g. base game plus an expansion) are refunded as a whole under the same playtime rule applied to the bundle.

8. Changes to this policy

We may update this Refund Policy to clarify language, reflect changes in consumer law, or add new products. Any change that reduces your refund rights will be announced at least 30 days in advance and will not apply retroactively to purchases made before the change takes effect.

9. Contact

• Refund requests: [email protected]
• General support: [email protected]
• Legal notices: [email protected]

Dwarven Stronghold Limited, 42-44 Bishopsgate, London, England, EC2N 4AH, United Kingdom. Company number 11228461.