Darwin’s Paradox Review – Tentacles, Trouble, and Trial-and-Error – WGB

Darwin’s Paradox!, which I will not be continuing to use the exclamation mark for because I’m a lazy git, is the kind of game I’m always happy to see – a little daft, plenty inventive, and built on a fun concept that doesn’t require the GDP of a small nation to produce. In a world of triple-A titles that buckle under their own weight and fun little indie games that look like they were built using sticky tape and pure hope, Darwin’s Paradox sits nicely in the middle.

Poor little octopus Darwin is just hanging out with his pal when a UFO casually cruises past, abducts him, and dumps him into a food processing plant. A quick escape attempt later, and Darwin finds himself in a giant junkyard outside an imposing factory churning out suspicious foodstuffs that the world seems oddly addicted to. All of this because Ufood wants to make a new type of special delicacy: octopus soup. It’s not a good day to be a multi-limbed ocean dweller.

The storytelling that Darwin’s Paradox employs is great fun. As an octopus, you’re simply focused on escaping the ludicrous situation you’ve found yourself in, dealing with whatever problem is directly in front of your tentacles. Meanwhile, in the background, there’s an entire global conspiracy unfolding – one you’re going to accidentally bring crashing down.

As you swim and climb your way to freedom, you’ll encounter bizarre machinery, press several buttons that absolutely should not be pressed, meet all manner of strange creatures, and witness some very evil plans for world domination. You will screw up all of those plans by merely existing.

There’s no dialogue either. Instead, it leans entirely on slapstick comedy and a highly expressive octopus who has no problem communicating just how completely done he is with all of this. I wouldn’t call it laugh-out-loud funny, but it kept a consistent smile on my face, and Darwin himself is an immediately likeable protagonist. There’s a strong Pixar-esque vibe here that the game pulls off really well.

That Pixar energy is at its strongest in the brief but enjoyable fully animated cutscenes, where Darwin’s personality really shines – equal parts confused and a little bit sassy. But it carries through into gameplay as well, thanks to some impressively smooth animation work. The big chase sequences are a particular highlight, with the camera pulling back to let you soak in the chaos as you, for example, ride a collapsing building like it’s just another Tuesday.

As an octopus, Darwin is apparently unaware that directions other than left and right exist, which is quite funny in what is clearly a 3D world where many problems could be solved by simply moving slightly forward. Ah well. Octopuses are smart, but apparently not that smart. The point is: this is a side-scroller in disguise. Or a side-swimmer, if you will.

In the water, Darwin is graceful and quick. On land, he can stick to most surfaces, meaning plenty of clambering up walls and crawling along ceilings. He can also camouflage himself to stay hidden, and fire out bursts of ink to obscure cameras or disable electronics.

Using his many unsettling ocean-born talents, Darwin has to overcome a variety of obstacles, mostly involving platforming, simple puzzles, and stealth sections that basically turn the game into Metal Gear Solid Octopus Edition. Which is apt since the game’s demo was literally based on Metal Gear Solid.

Right, the stealth sections. These are both enjoyable and frustrating in roughly equal measure, largely due to what feels like a lack of proper playtesting. At one point, I was spotted simply because I entered a room before the camera had finished catching up. Another time, I got flattened by a guard because I stopped to camouflage myself in the exact spot he decided to walk through. There was nothing I could do, it was pure bad luck. But this wasn’t the first time I was spotted or popped like a balloon via things that were not in my control.

These aren’t game-breaking issues, and the game even makes failure entertaining with some genuinely fun death animations – Darwin often popping like a confetti balloon. But they do contribute to a slightly irritating trial-and-error feel that crops up throughout the experience.

And… is that a Metal Gear Solid sound effect when Darwin gets spotted? Nice little nod, given that Konami is publishing. The rest of the gameplay fares better. Sometimes you’re escaping Steve the Seagull in a cinematic set-piece involving collapsing structures, other times you’re dunking yourself in strange ooze to ward off swarms of aggressive rats. There’s a solid variety of stuff on offer, all of it made more enjoyable thanks to the goofy visuals, especially the Ratchet & Clank-esque NPCs roaming around.

The platforming handles well in these moments. It’s satisfying to crawl along surfaces, even if Darwin can feel a little too sticky in tighter spaces. While the game occasionally flirts with precision platforming without quite having the tight controls to support it, most of the time it’s enjoyable to manoeuvre Darwin through hazards like scorching pipes, giant cogs, and unsuspecting workers below.

That said, the trial-and-error issues do occasionally stumble back into view like a drunk relative at a wedding. Two sequences involving a massive angler fish are the biggest offenders, forcing you to scramble around looking for a safe route with no time to think and no clear path forward. Progress often comes down to dying a few times until you memorise the correct route.

Moments like these led to a small meltdown where I loudly told Darwin and his entire game to fuck right off before switching off the console for the night. The only paradox here is between the game’s cutesy visuals and it’s sudden desire to make me git gud, scrub.

Still, any frustration rarely lingers for long. At around seven hours, Darwin’s Paradox doesn’t overstay its welcome, and individual segments are paced well enough that you’re always moving on before things get too stale.

There is, however, one bizarre design decision that genuinely baffled me. The game opens with a tutorial where your octupus pal teaches you how to use ink and camouflage. But once the tutorial ends, you somehow lose those abilities, only to re-learn them later through flashbacks… to the same squid… teaching you the same skills… at completely different points in time.

What’s that about?

Darwin’s Paradox is easy to like. It’s charming, inventive, and packed with personality, with an expressive little octopus doing a lot of heavy lifting across its seven-hour run.

It just can’t quite get out of its own way. Rough stealth, trial-and-error frustration, and a few odd design choices hold it back from being something truly special.

Still, when it clicks, it’s an absolute joy—and honestly, I’ll take something this weird and creative over another bloated blockbuster any day.