Darwinia was released well over a year ago.  Never heard of it?  We’re not too surprised.  Darwinia was created by Introversion Software, an indie game developer from the UK.  Despite being a self-funded title that was ready to ship, no publisher would touch it.  You see, Darwinia is new and strange.  And game publishers largely fear the new and strange. 

So Introversion sold their little game off of their own website.   And now a year later, thanks to strong critical buzz, the distribution channels have opened.  The hard-to-find boxed copies of the game have given way to online distribution channels like Steam and (soon) Xbox Live Arcade.  And that’s a good thing because every person who considers himself a gamer is obliged to play this game.

Virtual Insanity

So what is Darwinia?  Well, it’s part real-time strategy, part action, with a little bit of Lemmings-style puzzle solving and Sacrifice-style soul stealing thrown in for good measure.  Upon entering an experimental virtual world created by a scientific genius, the player discovers that it has been overrun with a nasty virus.  No problem.  Just pull the plug and reboot, right?  It’s not that simple.  This virtual world is inhabited by millions of tiny AI constructs known as Darwinians.  These little guys have been nurtured by their creator for generations, and he’s not about to given them up without a fight.  That’s where you come in.  We’re not going to get too specific about how Darwinia plays because part of the fun is in figuring it all out by yourself.

Welcome to the World

The beginning of the game strongly gives the impression of being dropped right in the middle of the unfamiliar.  The landscape and inhabitants of Darwinia are so very unlike any other game you’ve likely played.  The retro-computer visuals are clearly influenced by Tron.  The entire game is made up of what appears to be flat-shaded, and sometimes heavily pixilated polygons.

On the first level, the scientist gives you vague clues on how to rid the land of the virus. And it takes a while to figure out just what you’re supposed to be doing.  Fortunately, navigating around the world is very easy, and once you learn how to summon units to do your bidding, the game starts to fall into place.  Over the course of the next few levels, how you create and use each of you units become apparent.  And therein lies the beauty of Darwinia.

Willing Suspension of Disbelief

As refreshingly stunning as the visuals are, it’s the super-tight gameplay mechanics that take center stage.  Because the games doesn’t rely on hackneyed settings (WWII, High-Fantasy, etc.), the developer was free to create a small number of interesting units (both friendly and unfriendly) that have very specific purposes without have to worry about the player buying into the fiction or not.

Survival of the Fittest

The most interesting characters in the game are the Darwinians themselves.  Small, green, and vaguely humanoid in appearance, the Darwinians appears vaguely like children; aimlessly wandering about, oblivious to the dangers of the world, yet full of so much potential.  They are simultaneously helpless and in need of your protection, and your most potent offense.

And so each level becomes a unique struggle to defeat the virus, save the Darwinians, and gain access to new places.  And this is where the game’s internal fiction serves as a fine motivation for the player.  Despite being creatively wacky, the world of Darwinia actually makes a certain kind of sense.  As the story behind Darwinia is slowly revealed, you’ll find yourself drawn in, believing in the quest the lies ahead, and genuinely upset if you accidentally send hundreds of Darwinians to their deaths.

The Voyage of the Cyber Beagle

Darwinia is a game that shows to value of limitation over excess.  This is a title developed by a handful of people with almost no budget.  The visuals are simple yet strikingly effective. The core gameplay is manageable, yet effectively complex.  A game like this isn’t produced by huge teams with tons of money.  Those kinds of games (god bless ‘em) are pure craft. Darwinia is art.

Article by: Greg Bemis
Video Produced by: Ross Beeley