Darwin’s Paradox! Review

Darwin's Paradox, Konami, ZDT Studio

With the recent revivals of Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill, publisher Konami has established a strong desire to reintroduce itself to the console gaming space. This is a move that has succeeded as a byproduct of seeking out fresh talent, helping newer teams reach new heights, but this success hasn’t only been reserved for the publisher’s recognizable franchises. Through titles like Deliver at All Costs and Super Crazy Rhythm Castle, Konami has also been quietly publishing an impressive slate of original titles.

Darwin’s Paradox is the latest in the publisher’s efforts to release smaller, original games from new developers. The debut title from Paris-based ZDT Studio, a team consisting of former Arkane Lyon alumni, this cinematic platformer doesn’t break new ground, but it is a confidently made and instantly endearing take on the genre that carries the spirit of beloved animated films.

Story

Darwin’s Paradox begins with the eponymous blue octopus and his friend being kidnapped from their undersea habitat by a food processing corporation known as UFOOD. As Darwin breaks captivity and escapes, it becomes apparent that there’s more to this corporation than simply putting octopus on the menu, which the player slowly uncovers as they attempt to help Darwin and his partner escape.

Being a dialogue-less cinematic platformer, it’s hard to discuss details of Darwin Paradox’s 5-hour long story without giving too much away, especially as the game plays out as a more comedic take on the likes of Inside or Little Nightmares. The bulk of the story is told through the environments the player guides Darwin through or through collectable visual material that can be found, such as posters and documents.

Given its reliance on humour, I’m happy to report that I found myself frequently chuckling alongside the game – especially as things ramp up in its second half. ZDT Studio makes great use of the visual presentation to deliver gags both in and out of gameplay. While the narrative itself begins as a fairly traditional story that felt like it was retreading a lot of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddyssee, Darwin’s Paradox quickly establishes its own brand of cinematic platforming charm.

While the story itself is rather straightforward, I was quite taken aback by the abruptness of the ending. The final moments feel as though they are building to an epic showdown just for a rugpull to throw all of the momentum out for an ultimately unsatisfying conclusion. This admittedly robs the story of a sense of conclusion, leading to an experience that is better off recommended for the journey rather than the destination.

Gameplay

ZDT Studio has played things relatively safe when it comes to Darwin’s Paradox’s game design and mechanics. The game largely lifts elements from other games within its genre to create something that is a satisfying blend of the sum of its parts, but adverse from taking many risks.

Players control Darwin through a fairly linear set of side-scrolling areas, with the main platforming mechanics hinging on his ability to stick to almost all surfaces, as I suppose an octopus does. This blends well with the industrial setting to allow for some creative platforming challenges, adding an extra layer of depth given the player’s ability to attach Darwin to any surface regardless of gravity.

Much of the game consists of stealth sequences, in which Darwin must avoid contact with roaming enemies or undersea monsters. While these begin fairly simply as avoiding searchlights or enemies lines of sights, the player acquires new abilities as Darwin regains his memories throughout the narrative, allowing for more bold and intense scenarios as the journey continues.

While Darwin’s Paradox doesn’t have much new to offer the cinematic platforming genre in terms of mechanics, it is worth highlighting how surprisingly well paced the game is. Puzzles and platforming challenges aren’t particularly complex, but they also never left me feeling as though I was blitzing through the game with no friction. There is a constant momentum that carries through the narrative, which ultimately contributed to why the flat finale left me wanting more in a way that I was not fond of.

Visuals & Technical Performance

It’s worth noting right off the bat that I played the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Darwin’s Paradox. With most third-party releases on Nintendo’s hybrid console, I expect downgrades from the PC and home console versions, however this scenario feels like one of those cases where it feels like more effort could have been made to take advantage of the hardware given its capabilities presented in other titles.

For the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game, it appears as though ZDT Studio has tuned all of the PC settings to minimum and capped the frame-rate to 30 frames-per-second. Compared to the other versions of the game, the downgrades are stark. When docked, the experience is acceptable, with a solid frame-rate though it suffers from a blurry image. The handheld experience is far worse off, with image quality that looks very poor for the screen and near constant loading stutters.

This is frustrating because the game’s visual presentation is a clear highlight, with animations that are full of personality that many have appropriately compared to Pixar films. The strengths of the animation quality are present in the Switch 2 version, but the visual quality is all but lost, making for a version that is hard to recommend, even if it is playable.

Verdict

Darwin’s Paradox is a strong debut from ZDT Studio, cleverly utilizing cinematic platforming genre staples to create a fun, well paced 5-hour adventure. That being said, an abrupt ending unfortunately robs the game of a satisfying conclusion, and it’s clear that the Nintendo Switch 2 version needed more time in the oven to properly utilize the hardware.