At the most recent PlayStation State of Play, Konami took to the stage to showcase many incredible new (and returning) titles for longtime fans to get excited for. A Metal Gear collection, a new Castlevania, and even another Silent Hill game took the internet by storm. But one game that no one really saw coming is a silly little squid game set in the Metal Gear universe called Darwin’s Paradox.
This is a very straightforward side-scroller game that leans on absurdism. When it was first revealed, I was admittedly not too drawn in. But when I downloaded it and started playing, I regretted not doing it sooner. Here’s why.
Simply Put, Darwin’s Paradox is Hilariously Good
Darwin’s Paradox just gets straight to the point. The game opens with you causing havoc in some factory, exiting said factory, and getting into a very Looney Tunes-esque fight with some bird outside of it. The tone is very clear, “minimal story, maximum funny”. Going from area to area, it’s very consistently silly due to multiple factors. The first being is that Darwin is a squid. This makes running along pipes, shuffling under boxes, or somehow activating camouflage in front of some wobbly waddling human even more absurd.
That’s not to say that Darwin’s Paradox doesn’t try to still make some effort for storytelling or fleshing out the setting. Considering this is in the Metal Gear universe, you will occasionally get calls from your command to unlock powers at the funniest of times. As well as seeing Metal Gears or other little references littered throughout the levels.
The best part, and maybe it’s just the child in me, but being killed by either being stomped on by a human, running into an electrical fence, or getting run over by a car is made infinitely funnier by the small little squeak Darwin makes as he becomes goo with his eyes rolling away. I had so much just dying in the short 30-minute demo that is available. But also really enjoyed some of the puzzles and just how well the game runs.
Performance and Somewhat Annoying Puzzles
The puzzles in the game can be a little weird. You either have to hide in barrels from the aforementioned birds or use camouflage in certain spots to not get killed by a human. But one particularly bad puzzle section revolved around barrels you have to carry in front of cameras. One part in particular required putting a barrel into a tube, which sounds simple enough. But did not give me any hint that I had to go inside a hole to activate a lever to progress. It is just not well communicated.
Playing on the base PlayStation 5, I had zero problems playing the game. It starts you in quality mode instead of performance, however, which is just one button click. But for a sidescroller with time-sensitive puzzles, timing is very important, and starting the player off at thirty frames-per-second instead of sixty won’t cut it. Outside of all of this, Darwin’s Paradox has no major put-offs.
Final Thoughts on the Demo for Darwin’s Paradox
Darwin’s Paradox lifted my spirits up immensely when I played the demo. It is just very silly and enjoyable. Any small gripes I had can be overlooked due to how much fun I was having. The demo was a little too short, but I can imagine the full game is not very long. Seeing as it is launching on April 2nd, I am very excited to just have a nice reprieve for once. You should definitely keep this game on your radar. Especially considering it is only just $24.99 (which will be no doubt a steal).
