Privacy Policy
In short. To play online you sign in with your Epic Games account. Our server stores, linked to an account identifier derived from your Epic product user ID: your progress (refuge project, milestones and chosen suit), your items and their history, your field outings and the devices you deploy, your membership of and contributions to cells (groups), snapshots of the world state and, separately, the old locker and the in-game traces you leave (marks, tapes, dropped items) signed with your display name. Except for traces (7–30 days) and the old locker (12 months without use), we keep it while your account is active, until it is automatically deleted due to inactivity (accounts inactive for 24 months are purged) or until you ask for deletion. You can download a copy of your data or erase your account directly in-game from SETTINGS > ACCOUNT, or request it from us by email at any time. Your Epic friends list is read by the game on your PC and is not sent to our server. Your live position is shared with the server while you play and is not stored. We do not record voice chat, we do not use cookies or advertising, and we never sell data.
1. Who is responsible
The data controller for the game's online services and this website is UNDEFINED STUDIO SL (NIF B56907785 · Avenida Agricultor 19, bajo · 12600 La Vall d'Uixó (Castellón), España). Contact for anything related to privacy: [email protected].
This policy covers the PC game DESYNC PROTOCOL (the "Game"), its online services (the "Service") and this website. Your Epic Games account itself is governed by Epic Games' Privacy Policy.
2. What we store, why, and for how long
| Data | What and why | Kept for |
|---|---|---|
| Epic and account identifiers | When you sign in with Epic, the Game receives your Epic product user ID and your display name through Epic Online Services. They identify you to the online features and show your name to the players you meet. When you open an expedition or use your progress, the Game sends your Epic sign-in token to our server to verify that the request comes from a real account; the token is checked and discarded. From your ID the server computes an account identifier of its own (a SHA-256 fingerprint that includes the Game's deployment ID): it is not your Epic ID and cannot be reversed, but it identifies your account stably, so it is personal data and we treat it as such. | The token is not stored. Your Epic ID is stored only as part of the key of the old locker (below); the derived identifier for as long as your progress exists (below). |
| Your progress | The progress of your personal refuge: the communications project (which parts were recovered, installed and certified), the milestones reached, the cosmetic suit you choose, and a record of the operations you performed (receipts), needed so that a retry after a bad connection neither duplicates nor loses anything. | While your account is active, until you ask for deletion, or until automatically erased after 24 months (730 days) of consecutive inactivity. |
| Your items and their history | The items you own in the game: for each one we store its unique identifier, type, rarity, condition, where it is (locker, field outing, notch, a cell's store, a deployed device) and its provenance, plus the history of gifts, loans and hand-overs, so they cannot be duplicated. This includes the receipts of each operation on them. | While your account is active or until you ask for deletion (erased with the account after 24 months of inactivity). |
| Field outings and notches | When you go out to explore, the server stores your participation (world, squad, the equipment you carry and the mode) and, if your character collapses, a notch with the position where your lost equipment stays. It also stores the temporary permits (2 minutes) you issue so that a host admits you as a guest in their session. The Game never uploads your inventory: the server decides what you own. | While your account is active or until you ask for deletion (erased with the account after 24 months of inactivity). A notch is kept until it is collected or your next collapse replaces it. |
| Deployed devices | The field devices you leave in the maze: type, position, state, charges and remaining time, in the world they are in. They persist between sessions. | Until you retire or recover them (the device record is kept afterwards), while your account is active or until you ask for deletion (erased with the account after 24 months of inactivity). |
| Cells (groups) | If you create or join a cell: its name, its members (identified by their derived account identifier, not by name), roles, invitations, visit grants, the items in the shared store and in projects, your contributions to them, your withdrawals from the store and the cell's action history. The members of the cell can see all of that; an authorised visitor sees the cell and its members, but not its store or history. The server does not store your display name in cells. | While the cell exists and your account is active, or until you ask for deletion (handled with the account after 24 months of inactivity). An archived cell keeps its assets. |
| World state | Snapshots of the state of the maze zones of your personal world or your cell's world (exposure, remaining times, number of events per zone). They contain neither your position nor other players'. | While your account (or the cell) is active or until you ask for deletion (erased with the account after 24 months of inactivity). |
| Your old locker | The in-game items you leave in your locker at a guild outpost, so you find them in your next session. Stored with your Epic product user ID. | Until you empty it, or 12 months after you last used it, or until you ask us to delete it. |
| In-game traces | Marks you spray, tapes you leave and the items you drop when your character is pulled out of the maze. Each trace contains its position in the game world, the game's own content (a symbol and colour, a list of items, or the game messages shown on your visor recorded on the tape, which can include the display names of players you met — never text you type), the in-game date, and your display name, so other players of your guild can find it later. | Marks and tapes: 30 days. Dropped items: 7 days, or until another player picks them up. Earlier on request. |
| Live position | While you play online, the expedition's host sends the approximate in-game positions of its players to our server about every two seconds, to show nearby players of other expeditions as "echoes" and to merge expeditions that meet. Players in safe areas are not reported. | Not stored: kept in memory only while the host is connected, and dropped within about 10 seconds after. |
| Start-up check | When the Game starts, the boot screen queries our server to check that it is available and compatible with your version. The response contains only the service name, version numbers and the time; the Game sends no data about you in that query (your IP address is processed by Cloudflare, as under "Technical data"). | Not stored in our database. |
| Expedition IDs | Each expedition gets a random ID. It is stored with the traces left during it and in a counter that limits how many traces one expedition can leave (abuse prevention). It does not identify you. | With each trace (above); counters 30 days after the expedition's last activity. |
| Guild progress | The shared Anomalidex (how many photos, recordings and samples each guild has gathered) and its contract board. Aggregate totals, not linked to any player. | While the Service runs. |
| Technical data | Your IP address and basic request information (time, address requested, approximate region) are processed by our hosting provider, Cloudflare, to deliver the Service and protect it against abuse. The addresses requested may contain the identifier of your locker or of your account. | Short-lived service logs (a few days). |
Data retention and inactivity purge
Data linked to your account (progress, items, outings, devices, cells and world state) is kept while your account remains active. If an account logs no activity for 24 consecutive months (730 days), the server automatically deletes it through a daily scheduled purge. The old locker expires after 12 months without use and traces expire within 7–30 days, as detailed in the table above.
Backups
We make no backups of our own of this data. Our provider (Cloudflare) keeps an internal change log of its storage that allows recovery up to 30 days back; we have no access to it and do not use it. So after we delete your data, technical remnants may stay in that log for up to 30 days before disappearing on their own.
What we do not do
- We do not record or store voice chat. Proximity voice is provided by Epic Online Services and transmitted through Epic's voice servers between the players of your expedition. You can mute your microphone at any time with [M].
- We do not collect your real name, email address, payment data or precise location.
- We do not send your Epic friends list to our server. To show you friends and invitations, the Game reads the friends list of your Epic account on your own PC; that list does not leave your computer towards us (Epic, which manages it, is governed by its own policy).
- We do not use advertising, tracking, analytics SDKs or cookies, in the Game or on this website.
- We do not sell or rent personal data, and we do not use it for profiling or automated decisions.
Optional conversations with survivors (NPCs)
This optional feature is for adults aged 18 or older. After accepting this policy, the default hands-free mode listens when you approach a survivor: simply speak nearby, without pressing a key. The conversation key mutes or resumes listening; push-to-talk mode is also available. The Game captures voice snippets of up to 12 seconds and sends them, up to four recent exchanges, and limited game facts (such as battery charge and the character's stock) through our server to Google's paid Gemini API to transcribe and answer. When online character speech is needed, Google also processes the generated line for speech synthesis. We do not send Google your sign-in token, Epic identifier or account identifier.
We do not store these recordings, transcripts or replies on our server or add them to shared in-game tapes. Recent dialogue stays in your PC's memory until you change character or world, or close the Game. Pseudonymous usage counters expire at the end of the UTC day and are deleted automatically. Google does not use paid API inputs or outputs to train models or improve its products, but may retain them for a limited period for security, abuse prevention and legal obligations under its API terms. The conversation key shown in the visor stops listening; closing the Game ends activation. This feature is separate from Epic's voice chat between players.
Data stored on your own PC
The Game keeps settings (such as your preferred guild) and a local copy of your guild's progress on your computer. It stays on your device; we have no access to it, and uninstalling the Game removes it.
3. Who else sees your data
- Other players see your display name, your character, your in-game traces and hear your voice when you are in the same expedition.
- The members of your cells see your role, your derived account identifier, your contributions, your withdrawals from the shared store and the cell's action history (not your real name or your Epic ID).
- Epic Games provides sign-in, matchmaking sessions, voice chat, the relay that connects players and your online status shown to your Epic friends (Epic Privacy Policy). Multiplayer sessions are hosted by players: in peer-to-peer play the connection is relayed by Epic where possible, but when you join a game by direct IP/LAN address, the host can see your IP address.
- Cloudflare, Inc. hosts our server and stores the data described above on our behalf, as a processor (Cloudflare Privacy Policy).
- Google processes optional NPC conversations using paid Gemini under its terms and data processing agreement. When used, the Netlify connection bridge forwards requests to the server without storing their content. These providers may process data outside the European Economic Area under their processing agreements; we do not promise EU-only processing.
Epic Games and Cloudflare may process data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States. Such transfers are covered by the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses and/or the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.
4. Legal bases (GDPR)
Processing optional NPC conversations is based on your consent (Article 6(1)(a)). You can stop using them and turn listening off at any time without affecting the rest of the Game. In the default hands-free mode, proximity listening becomes available again when you open the Game.
- Performance of a contract (art. 6(1)(b)): providing the online features you choose to use — sign-in, expeditions, progress, items, cells, lockers, traces, encounters with other players.
- Legitimate interest (art. 6(1)(f)): keeping the Service secure and preventing abuse (sign-in verification, limits, technical logs).
5. Your rights and deleting your data
You can ask us for access to, correction, deletion or a copy (portability) of your personal data, and object to or restrict its processing.
In-game self-service
The Game provides direct self-service tools under SETTINGS > ACCOUNT (available in the main lobby and in the pause menu during a session):
- Account identifier: you can view and copy your pseudonymised account identifier (derived from your Epic ID) to the clipboard.
- Download my data (access and copy): immediately exports a JSON file with the data linked to your account to your computer (saved in the
Saved/Privacy/folder). - Delete my account (erasure): requests explicit on-screen confirmation and immediately and irreversibly erases your account and the data linked to it from the server. The legacy locker and the traces signed with your display name are included when Epic provides that name at sign-in; if they are missing, you can request them by email.
- Daily limits: to protect the Service against abuse and server overload, self-service requests are subject to daily limits per account (resetting at 00:00 UTC): a maximum of 6 downloads and 4 deletions per UTC day.
Requests by email
If you cannot access the Game or prefer to submit a request by email, write to [email protected] with your Epic display name. Since we do not store your email or real name, to locate your progress we need the account identifier shown in-game or derived from your Epic ID, and we will verify account ownership before disclosing or deleting anything.
Deletion process and shared assets
- Deletion: We delete your progress, items, outings, notches, devices, receipts and world state, your old locker and every trace signed with your display name (and remove your name from other players' tapes). Shared things are handled so as not to harm others: your cell membership is removed and the cell continues for its other members (if you were its only person, it is deleted with its assets); items you gifted or handed to another player, and items you donated to a cell, become theirs; your contributions to projects are kept as a count without your identifier; and other people's items that were in your custody go back to their owner. In other accounts' history and receipts your identifier is replaced by an irreversible marker.
- Inactivity: As stated in the retention section, accounts with no activity for 24 months (730 days) are purged automatically using this same process.
- Timing: When requested in-game, deletion is immediate in our systems. If requested by email, we answer within one month. Cloudflare's internal technical copies may keep remnants for up to 30 days and its request logs for a few days.
You can also stop using the online features at any time, and remove the Game's access to your Epic account in your Epic account settings (Apps and Accounts). If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to your data protection authority (in Spain, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos).
6. Children
The Game is a horror game and is not directed at children. If you are under the age of digital consent in your country (14 in Spain, up to 16 elsewhere in the EU), do not use the online features without the consent of a parent or guardian. Epic accounts for younger players are subject to Epic's own parental controls.
7. Security
Traffic between the Game and our server is encrypted (HTTPS/WSS). Requests are authenticated with signed tokens, and the stored data is only reachable through the Service's own access checks.
8. Changes
If we change what we collect or how we use it, we will update this page and its date, and announce significant changes in the Game or on this website before they apply.
9. Contact
UNDEFINED STUDIO SL · [email protected]