Terms of use and pre-alpha license

These Terms are an agreement between you and Ricup Technologies GmbH, Franziskanerstraße 28, 81669 München, Germany ("Ricup", "we", "us"). They apply to the Echoes of Esker website account and each free public pre-alpha build supplied under them.

Company and contact details are in the Legal Notice. Our handling of personal data is explained in the Privacy Notice.

You may create an account and download a build only if you are at least 18 years old, can understand this English-language agreement, and are neither located in nor ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom. The service is otherwise offered worldwide where lawful. You must make the requested age and territorial declarations truthfully.

The game's content is self-rated Ages 12+, but that content rating does not change the adults-only account rule. We do not collect a date of birth or formally verify age or location.

Accounts are personal and use email magic links. Keep access to your email secure, do not share a signed-in session, and tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorized use. You are responsible for activity you knowingly permit through your account.

An account is free. It provides access only to builds we currently choose to list for your access role. It does not promise any future build, final release, purchase opportunity, uptime, support level or continued account service.

Before download, we show the build, platform, channel, archive size, zero price, technical requirements, model dependency, age rating and known pre-alpha limitations. You must repeat the non-UK declaration. If you have not accepted the current Terms, you must also select an unchecked Terms checkbox.

A separate agreement for that build is formed when you select "Accept & download". We send a confirmation and the complete accepted Terms to your account email before issuing a signed download address. That address expires after five minutes. Save the confirmation for your records.

The download page states the exact archive size for each available build. Unless that page says otherwise, the public pre-alpha is designed for:

• Windows 10 or 11 x64, a modern Linux x64 distribution, or macOS 11 or later on Intel or Apple Silicon;
• a processor with at least four CPU threads, 8 GB RAM minimum and 16 GB recommended;
• graphics supporting OpenGL 3.3 or a compatible later feature set;
• free storage for the displayed archive and installed build, plus approximately 1–29 GB for the local AI model you select; and
• an internet connection for account access, build download and initial model download.

Only locally run NPC models are supported. Hardware and driver combinations vary, and satisfying the listed requirements does not guarantee a particular frame rate or that every local model will fit your hardware.

For each build you lawfully download, Ricup grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to install and run that build for private use in the territory described in Section 2. The license is free, applies only to that downloaded build, and continues as described in Sections 13 and 15.

The build is licensed, not sold. Ricup and its licensors keep all rights not expressly granted. Third-party software and AI models remain subject to their own notices and license terms shown with or linked from the build.

You must not:

• copy, distribute, sell, rent, sublicense or make the build or its extracted assets available to another person, except for a backup copy allowed by law;
• modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the build except to the extent this cannot lawfully be restricted, including mandatory interoperability and error-correction rights;
• remove ownership or license notices, impersonate Ricup, or suggest that Ricup endorses you or your content;
• use the website, account, build or AI features to infringe rights, distribute malware, gain unauthorized access, evade technical controls, or break applicable law; or
• use another person's account, share expiring download addresses, or provide false eligibility declarations.

You may publish screenshots and gameplay video, and livestream your own play, including ordinary monetization offered by a creator or streaming platform. This permission is non-exclusive, revocable for a specific misuse, and subject to the rights and platform rules of third parties whose material appears in the build.

Do not distribute game files or extracted assets, present pre-alpha footage as a final product, disclose another person's private information, or imply official sponsorship. Clearly label sponsored content where the law or platform requires it.

Supported NPC dialogue is generated by a model running locally on your device. Generated dialogue can be inaccurate, unexpected, offensive, repetitive or inconsistent and is not human communication or professional advice. Conversations are saved locally as part of game state. You are responsible for the prompts or other content you enter and for how you use generated material.

Models are downloaded directly from Hugging Face and are licensed by their publishers. The game shows or links the applicable model terms and notices. You must follow them, including any use restrictions that apply to the model you select. A model being available in the catalog does not transfer ownership of it to you.

An advanced developer configuration can send prompts and relevant conversation or game context to a player-selected OpenAI-compatible provider. This route is unsupported and never required. Its API credential is stored in plaintext in local settings. If you enable it, you choose and contract with that provider, its terms and privacy rules apply, and you accept the security and disclosure risk. Ricup does not receive the credential, prompt or response through that route.

The public pre-alpha is an unfinished development build supplied to test an early game loop. Its agreed characteristics include incomplete content, placeholder or changing systems, defects, crashes, performance variation, balance changes, missing accessibility or platform polish, and possible loss or incompatibility of local saves between builds. Features and model support may change or be removed.

A downloaded build is primarily local software. We do not promise continuous online availability, a support response time, compatibility with future operating systems, save migration, a particular development schedule, a final release, or access to later builds. These product characteristics do not remove any quality, update or remedy right that applicable consumer law makes mandatory.

Narrow technical crash diagnostics are mandatory in builds that include them. Product analytics and detailed crash attachments are optional and require separate consent; they are not accepted through these Terms. The Privacy Notice describes the data, controls and retention periods.

We may offer patches or replacement builds and may require an update for security, legal compliance or continued online access. We will provide updates that applicable law requires during the relevant supply period. A new build may require acceptance of a new Terms version; your accepted version continues to govern an earlier downloaded build unless a mandatory change must apply.

Authentication, email, downloads, model hosting and any player-selected remote AI rely on third-party services. Their availability and separate terms can affect those functions. We remain responsible where applicable law makes us responsible for our use of a provider, but we do not control a service you independently select or use outside the supported product path.

You may request another signed download while the same build remains listed for your account and platform. We may remove a build or close the account or download service for development, security, legal, licensing or operational reasons. Where practicable, we will give reasonable advance notice of a planned removal.

Discontinuing downloads does not by itself end the license for a copy already lawfully downloaded. You may continue using that local copy under the accepted Terms unless the license is terminated for your material breach, or continued use must stop because it is unlawful, insecure, or violates a binding third-party right.

Echoes of Esker, its code, artwork, audio, text, world, characters, logos and other game materials are protected by intellectual-property laws and belong to Ricup or its licensors. These Terms grant only the limited licenses stated above. Names, marks and materials owned by third parties remain theirs.

You may end the account agreement at any time by requesting account deletion and may end a build license by deleting all copies. We may suspend access or terminate an agreement if you materially breach these Terms and, where the breach can be cured, do not cure it within a reasonable period after notice. We may act immediately where necessary to address illegality, fraud, a serious security risk, or harm to others.

On termination of a build license, stop using and delete that build. Sections that by their nature should continue—including ownership, liability, governing law and accrued rights—survive. Termination does not limit mandatory statutory remedies or claims already accrued.

Mandatory statutory consumer rights, including applicable rights concerning conformity, updates and remedies for digital products, remain unaffected. The pre-alpha characteristics expressly described in Section 10 form part of the agreed product characteristics, but they do not excuse a failure to meet a requirement that cannot lawfully be excluded.

Ricup's liability is unlimited for intent and gross negligence; culpable injury to life, body or health; fraudulently concealed defects; an expressly assumed guarantee; claims under the German Product Liability Act; and any other liability that law does not permit us to limit.

For simple negligence, Ricup is liable only for breach of an essential contractual duty whose performance makes the agreement possible and on which you may ordinarily rely. In that case, liability is limited to loss that was foreseeable and typical when the agreement was formed. This limit does not apply to the unlimited cases above or where mandatory consumer law provides otherwise.

German law applies, excluding its conflict-of-laws rules and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. If you are a consumer habitually resident in another country, this choice does not deprive you of mandatory protections that would apply without it. Statutory rules determine the competent courts.

The version and effective date at the top identify these Terms. We may change them for later builds or account functions to reflect product, provider, security, legal or business changes. A material new version requires active acceptance before the affected new download or function. We do not treat silence as acceptance.

Questions about these Terms may be sent to legal@echoesofesker.com.