Contrary to the indicative name, the world of Darwinia is not a natural phenomenon. It was created as a digital theme world - a Jurassic Park for polygons by the mysterious Dr. Sepulveda (who himself bears an uncanny likeness to renowned ZX Spectrum inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, tying into the retro presentation of the game). Housed in a massive network of surplus Protologic 68000 machines from the '80s, Darwinia is a world where the single-poly Darwinians, with their simple, but growing AI, can grow and evolve. And where the world can visit to see them gambolling in their natural, fractal habitat. Except, when the player arrives, something has gone horribly wrong. Darwinia has been infected by a virus, and Dr. Sepulveda is panicking, watching decades of research being corrupted and consumed. Since the player is the only other person there at the time, Sepulveda decides that the player can help him. The player is given access to the combat programs, simple tools that were meant as mini-games, mostly involving guns and blowing things up, but now the only attack against the virus. It soon becomes clear this is not enough, and that triggers the third aspect of the gameplay - evolution.

Darwinia fails to fall into any game genre, as it mixes elements from strategy, action, puzzle, hacker, and God games alike. Its retro styling coupled with colourful 3D design is unlike most games on the market, and its simple, intuitive gameplay is mysteriously profound. The player has the ability to run several programs through the Task Manager (a reference to the Windows Task Manager). The Squad program will give the player a close up action and stealth game, aiming and firing both primary and secondary weapons. The Engineer program can then reprogram buildings and collect Souls from the destroyed Virus to create Darwinians. The Officer program allows you to indirectly order the masses of Darwinians to run, occupy, and even attack, reminiscent of Lemmings. Strategy is required whether you use commando raids or control large battles. Research allows the player to develop bigger and better weapons, as the enemy viruses also get bigger and better. All this to complete Mission Objectives at a Location, as the player and the Darwinians wipe out the Virus in a Great War.

Homepage

Category: Strategy/Real-time Strategy

License: Commercial

Hardware Requirement: 600Mhz Processor • 128MB RAM • 10MB HDD • GFX

Singleplayer: Yes
Multiplayer: No
Demo: Yes

Installation Guide: Ubuntu 64-bit guide • Ubuntu 32-bit Guide
Ubuntu Package: None