Darwin’s Paradox is a puzzle platformer where you are tasked with saving your friend, but along the way a lot goes wrong during your lengthy journey filled with fun and strange puzzle and platforming sections.
In Darwin’s Paradox you play as a squid. While exploring the ocean with your squid friend (who teaches you the mechanics), you both get kidnapped by a company that wants to turn you into canned squid soup. You manage to escape and must now find a way to free your friend. During this adventure you learn a lot about this crazy world. At first I thought it was just humans who really liked octopus food, but it turns out all the workers are robots. Then it gets even crazier when you discover they work for alien creatures. The game slowly reveals more about the world through its background and environmental storytelling, which I thought was a really interesting way to do it. A lot of the time stuff just happens and you roll with it, especially later when things get really wild.
The gameplay is much more varied than it first appears. Every level usually focuses heavily on one new mechanic and then mostly moves on, while still using the core movement and platforming. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because some mechanics were a bit annoying (like pushing a cart with strange enemy vision cones). Most levels were absolutely amazing, except for the very beginning, which dragged on a little too much and a weird mind-switch section near the end after you rescue your friend. Overall though, the game stayed very enjoyable for most of its playtime.
One thing I didn’t like is how some sections dragged on just a bit too long, especially early in the game. Many parts could have been slightly shorter or explained a little better, which caused some frustration. There was one underwater section with enemy submarine-type enemies that used a pulse. You had to hide in the nature on the floor, but these enemies were extremely sensitive. If you stayed too long they would alert the others, leading to a lot of retries and annoyance.
I absolutely loved the visual style of the game. I wasn’t sure about it at the start, but the moment I got out of the water and the scenery changed, everything clicked and it became a very pleasant experience. I really hope Konami makes more small, creative experiences like this, because Darwin’s Paradox was a totally unexpected and welcome surprise from them.
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