Within a game, within almost any form of media, there's an intangible, almost indescribable element we can only call "sauce." It doesn't matter the budget, nor the concept, nor the gameplay, if it has some semblance of sauce, it's going to draw the eye. It's an X factor that makes your eyes pop even as they grow weary watching the 51st announcement in a two-hour show. Safe to say, Darwin's Paradox! has plenty of sauce.
ZDT Studio's adventure platformer about an octopus trying to find his way back to the ocean after being kidnapped to be made into soup is just the right combination of zany, charming, and heartfelt. Its premise as well as its cheeky and quite joyful outlook feels like it doesn't come around too often. At least, not without jumping far over the cliff of quirkiness to the point it becomes eye-rolling. Darwin's Paradox! walks that balance with ease. Or should I say slithers? Should I? How to octopuses actually move?
According to this game, they move incredibly well. Darwin leaps, crawls, and swims with great manoeuvrability. In the dark depths of the ocean to the frantic escape from an exploding factory, the controls are responsive and smooth, but they also adapt to the needs of a level. Darwin doesn't move as fast as he does in water as he does on dry land, as you'd expect, but he does have tools at his disposal to keep you feeling just as much the superhero octopus you were born to be, like sticking to any surface, for example. There's also camouflage and shooting ink, as well as a few other level specific mechanics I won't spoil, but all do a brilliant job at keeping a smile on your face and you engaged in different aspects of Darwin's gameplay.
This really is Darwin's game. You couldn't throw Spyro or Crash Bandicoot into this world, as even though Darwin's Paradox! immediately restores the nostalgia of old-school platformers once you pick it up, the entire creative core of the game revolves around this octopus. It's a little obvious, perhaps, considering the title, but Darwin serves as more than just a cute mascot. ZDT Studio has centred the game's mechanics around what an octopus can do and elevated those abilities by a hundred, creating for logical, progressive gameplay throughout the brief but effective narrative that makes the whole experience click over and over. The communication between developer and player is like a conversation with an old friend; you're never left wondering what to do or where to go for more than a few seconds throughout the puzzle and stealth aspects of the game. Its level design is super engaging, bolstered by background visuals that create the sense you're playing through a modern DreamWorks classic.
Darwin's Paradox! is a game that handles its fundamentals really, really well. It doesn't try and overload you with mechanic after mechanic, making you drop the thing you just learned for the shiny new ability that perfectly suits the challenges of the level ahead. Everything you can do in Darwin's Paradox! is useful for the entirety of the game, leading to plenty of moments where you combine ink-shooting, camouflage, and environmental tricks to avoid getting zapped. Darwin's Paradox! is a simple game, not one designed to keep you biting your lip and bobbing your knee as you try desperately not to throw your controller through the window. It's not going to be a challenge, at least not for significant portions of time, but it doesn't feel trivial either. It's easy in a way that never grows boring, clearly designed to lean towards a younger audience. If I was in my formative years and picked up Darwin's Paradox!, I'd surely be hailing it as an underrated classic many years down the line.
I found Darwin's Paradox! less audibly pleasing than it was visually, but the game's music and sound proved a lovely accompaniment to this adventure. Swishing from one end of the screen to the other, crawling up walls and listening to the sickly sweet sound effects of Darwin's suckers popping against metal. These aren't things you think about for days or weeks after the credits roll, but they drag you deeper into the game. I'm not sure I was feeling like an octopus while playing, but the overall sound helps keep the whimsy and sauce of Darwin's Paradox! alive.
In creating Darwin's Paradox! it's clear ZDT Studio wanted to leave the players wanting more, rather than having them rolling their eyes as the quality of the level design began to dwindle. However, I fear there's been a slight overcorrection on that front, as Darwin's Paradox! ends rather abruptly. As we find our way at the crescendo of the story, we're teased one more chapter perhaps, or an extra level, and then the credits roll. Now, this leaves space for a DLC or sequel down the road, but it also makes me wonder if we really did explore everything this debut had for Darwin. When you throw in some sections which really just have you drag the octopus from one end of the screen to the other, as well as some light backtracking, you can probably see that while Darwin's Paradox! remains incredibly fun, it's not quite perfect.
Darwin's Paradox! may be here for a good time, not a long time, but what a good time it is. Bringing classic platformers up to more modern standards, it proves a short, sweet, mechanically sound experience that I'll gladly take more of if ZDT Studio wants to bring this plucky octopus back to our screens.
