Darwin’s Paradox: A Commonplace Octopus Platformer

A New Indie Adventure with a Cartoon Octopus

In the tradition of indie classics such as Limbo and Inside, a new action adventure game has emerged, featuring a cartoon octopus caught in an alien invasion. This title, Darwin’s Paradox, promises an engaging experience but ultimately falls short of expectations.

The State of Video Games

It’s not often that we come across video games that are truly awful. Most of them don’t have anything noteworthy to justify a review. However, there are occasional exceptions, like the notoriously bad Code Violet and the confusing MindsEye. These games are usually just poorly made and lack any real substance. Sony is currently working on clearing out the PlayStation Store of such subpar content.

The majority of video games fall somewhere in the middle—neither exceptionally good nor entirely bad. This makes it challenging to determine which games are worth exploring, especially given the sheer number of new indie games released every week, even during quieter periods of the year.

Introducing Darwin’s Paradox

We’re not familiar with French developer ZDT Studio, as this appears to be their debut game. However, the graphics for Darwin’s Paradox looked promising, and the publisher is Konami. Plus, octopuses are undeniably cool, so we decided to give it a try. In the end, we wish we hadn’t, not because it’s terrible, but because it’s so deeply average.

Graphics and Gameplay

Maybe “average” isn’t entirely fair. The graphics are really good for an indie game, and on paper, your octopus powers are all very neat. You can camouflage yourself, shoot out ink to cover your escape, and walk along any surface, including the ceiling, like a spider (which we’re pretty sure octopuses can’t do, but whatever).

The Name and the Story

Darwin’s Paradox is, rather randomly, named after Charles Darwin’s discovery that tropical seas don’t seem to contain enough nutrients to sustain coral reefs, despite the fact they’re teeming with life. That has nothing to do with the game, other than the octopus you control is called Darwin, whose friend is captured by secret aliens running a food processing company and planning to invade Earth.

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