I’ve been a longtime enjoy of the kind of moody, often satirical, never quite family-friendly breed of 2.5D platformer currently exhibited by the likes of Inside and Little Nightmares, but stretching as far back as something like Abe‘s Odyssey. The kind of game that’s good for a one-and-done weekend playthrough and asks for very little while still displaying something of an edge. That’s what I’d hoped for from Darwin’s Paradox!, a Konami-published debut from ZDT Studio that mostly keeps the pace and packs in some charm, but doesn’t quite rise to the surface.
And so we meet Darwin, a strikingly-blue octopus just being his best self, kicking it ocean-style along with another, red octopus companion. When the both of them are suddenly beamed up out of the water by a UFO, Darwin’s immediate goals shift from living his wet dream to narrowly escaping being turned into Polpo alla Luciana, rescuing his buddy and getting home. And of course UFOOD, the impossibly-huge seafood supplier run by an army of aliens posing as humans, isn’t going to make it easy.
A 2.5D puzzle platformer with light stealth elements about escaping an alien mega-corporation turning your species into factory-processed food? Now, where have I heard that before? The Abe-led Oddworld games certainly feel like a massive influence here, right down to its cinematic aspirations. Darwin’s Paradox! has some decent visual chops, with some genuinely gorgeous environments and plenty of great-looking animations, from Darwin’s many-limbed movements to the aliens doing their best human impressions.
Being a cephalopod does also give Darwin a unique move set that adds flavour to the adventure, like his ability to walk on walls and ceilings, shoot ink and blend in with the ground. Using all of these effectively is crucial to survival for a savvy but otherwise defenceless creature. So most of what the game asks from you is to sneak past the armies of UFOOD aliens human workers, navigate deadly obstacles and chase sequences, and occasionally fire the synapses up in your big, flopping mantle.
There’s not a lot here we haven’t seen in similar games, but there are enough memorable sequences to make it stick. Darwin’s unique anatomy and cartoon-like relationship to physics will see you slingshot across buildings, goop yourself up with glowing radioactive waste, inflate your head for extra air. At one point you’ll complete a Gladiator-style obstacle course, only to flood the whole thing and have to cross back while using the floating foam pads as cover from searching submarines. You’ll need to suffer a few deaths along the way to solve things by trial and error, sometimes frustratingly up against unclear messaging or rough design, but the level of challenge in the platforming and puzzles ramps up and crescendos nicely as you approach the conclusion after five or so hours.
If Darwin’s Paradox! has a major fault, it’s simply that it’s all a bit unremarkable. There are only so many times we can pluck the fruit of the “adorably anti-capitalist, huggably hyperviolent puzzle platformer” tree and expect it to taste as sweet. The brisk runtime is a merciful thing, closing the journey off before it outstays its welcome, though in all that time the game sort of forgets to do or say anything narratively. But all of that is hardly crime enough to warrant skipping out on an afternoon of helping a friendly, blue octopus escape seafood-pushing aliens and hungry seagulls.
Reviewed on PS5 Pro | Review copy supplied by publisher
Great
- Lovely presentation with some great animation work
- A few really fun gameplay sequences
- Some solid visual gags
- The perfect length for this sort of thing
Not great
- Some pretty dull, extended stretches
- A fair few lapses in player direction
- Nothing interesting is done with the premise