Darwin’s Paradox! (PS5) Review

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Narrative

Summary: Trial and error stealth muddies the otherwise crystal clear waters of this endearing puzzle platformer

4

You are what you eat

If you told me that Darwin’s Paradox was the tie-in for an obscure French animated movie. I would believe you.

Visually, it is one of the most arresting games I have played in a long while. It’s incredible the level of detail and world-building that encases ZDT Studio 2.5D stealth puzzle platformer about an adorable Octopus called Darwin.

After Darwin and his unnamed red octopus friend are plucked from their idyllic tropical home by the sinister Ufoods corporation, almost butchered, and then unceremoniously dumped in a landfill, since he didn’t meet quality standards. Alone, disoriented, and covered in filth, Darwin sets out on the long journey home.

To do this, he must slink, swim, and sneak his way back through Ufood’s various facilities, including factories, offices, and a military base. Where the totally human company creates their delicious, glowing foodstuff, they’re using to enslave humanity.

Oh yeah, did I mention the story is less an aquatic version of Homeward Bound and more Illumination’s The Stuff.

The narrative is told through expertly animated cut scenes, fantastic slapstick-infused set pieces, and hilarious hidden artefacts dotted throughout the game.

The result is a game that feels like you’re playing an interactive animated short movie, in tone at least. It took me about six hours to get through it, and you can probably add an extra hour on top if you want to find all the hidden artifacts.

The top-tier presentation, flawless animation, and daft narrative are a clear highlight of the game.

The sound design is also superb. Darwin squeaks and squelches as he winds his way around the environment, backed by a score by Francis Chavihot that gives off some serious Danny Elfman vibes in the best possible way, while perfectly framing the action, especially the over-the-top chase sequences.

Which is why it’s a shame that the actual meat of the game doesn’t feel as polished as its presentation.

As Darwin explores Ufood, he regains access to a host of abilities, initially introduced in the opening, that he swiftly forgets, including the ability to shoot ink and camouflage himself. He can also stick to almost any surface, jump, and pull levers while he’s on land.

His actual movement is superbly animated, and Darwin’s every step and bound show an enormous amount of character. Mechanically, though, they have a weird sense of weight to them, which leads to his movements not feeling as deliberate as I would have liked.
For the best part, though, this doesn’t spoil the fun as the game continuously throws new gimmicks at you with each new level, and the puzzle platforming elements rarely disappoint.

There’s a section early on where Darwin has to dip himself in glowing goo to scare off packs of rats in a darkened sewer section, another, where he becomes inflated and needs to carefully navigate past red-hot pipes to escape out a factory chimney, and even clumsily pilots a mech at one point.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the numerous stealth sections, which more often than not end up destroying the otherwise fairly tight pacing of the game. These mostly boil down to staying out of guards’ line of sight, or quickly blending into the environment using your camouflage ability and hoping the hulking dum dums don’t step on you. This is fairly easy, and quite enjoyable even in the first stealth section at an army base, as the guards are all carrying flashlights, but as the game progresses, and you’re trying to sneak through factory floors and office blocks in broad daylight, it gets harder to figure out where that line of sight ends.

This is made worse because the stealth sections are very much from the Little Nightmares / Reanimal school of 2D sneaking and chasing. If you get spotted, you get kicked to death very quickly, and trying to scarper back in the shadows is pretty much pointless. This results in a similar sense of trial and error that culminates in the later stages of the game, in which you need to sneak past a class of guards doing daft martial arts. However, the routine changes at certain points, and the game doesn’t make it clear when, so you are all but guaranteed to fail your first few attempts.

Likewise, there is an obnoxious underwater chase scene that has you trying to outfox and outrun an angler fish. Which would be fine if it didn’t demand that you know exactly which route to take through a winding maze of collapsing caverns and tight spaces with the absolute bare minimum of thinking time lest the ugly spud gobble poor Darwin up whole and send you right back to the last checkpoint. Which aren’t as regular as I would have liked.

Final Thoughts

Darwin’s Paradox is an absolutely gorgeous game with the kind of top-tier production values you would associate with an animated movie rather than a 2.5D puzzle platformer.

A charming, whimsical, and often hilarious fish-out-of-water tale of one clumsy Cephalopod inadvertently saving the planet from an insidious alien invasion, which I absolutely adored at times.

Unfortunately, the most important part of the experience, the actual game part, doesn’t always quite measure up to the phenomenal presentation, with certain set pieces and stealth sections that screw up the pacing and occasionally suck the fun out of this otherwise breezy and brilliant platformer.

About the Author

Gareth Newnham

Darwin’s Paradox! (PS5) Review