Darwinia

« They nailed the user interface and playability. It's addicting. They made it for PC, MAC and Linux. And they are Independent Developers. Sounds like a solid “A” to me. »

« It's a beautiful mix of everything we love in retro gaming and everything we're capable of having with modern technology, truly a match made in virtual heaven! »

« 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. »

« Darwinia is the most refreshing, beautiful, frustrating, compelling and dare I say it original game I've had the pleasure of playing in many a year. »

« Darwinia is a game unlike any other, with a mixture of gameplay elements that have been thrust together forming one glorious gameplay experience that has to be played to be believed. »

« In plain English, don’t ask, "What’s it like?"- Just buy it, play it, and spread the word to anyone you know who’s a gamer about it by any legal means necessary. »

« It's graphics are unconventional and don't play the max polycount/photorealism game, but they're truly beautiful. »

« Darwinia is revolutionary and groundbreaking. »

« Honestly speaking I was enjoying every single moment ofplaying that game. It was so meditative! »

« I first saw this game in 2005, after someone told me there is an RTS with decent looks which only weights 1.5MB. Indeed it was so small, due to absence of textures and usage of "procedurally generated" graphics or something instead, which look stylish and very original. Unfortunately my experience at that time ended right in the first mission because I didn't know how to complete it and the "help" system gave no clues. 10 years later, in 2015 I got this game inside a bundle together with Prison Architect from the same dev (Prison Architect is a very good game btw). So, now, again, I almost got stuck in the 1st mission. Luckily I then guessed that you need to capture some satellite dishes (or something, the graphics are pretty low-polygonal) by placing an engineer next to it. And to go to a different island - since you can't send squads there because they don't walk over water - you need to delete a squad, then create a new one near a satellite dish on a different island. And - engineers walk over water and get to that dish... ok. This time I completed the first mission and got stuck in the second one because I don't know how to transport a flock of darwinians over water. And I ran out of patience because it took me half an hour to guess why red snakes keeps respawning (you need to kill a big red egg-laying spider with grenades or something - normal shots don't seem to hit it? the presentation was very unclear). That basically sums up my experience with the game. Pros: - great unique graphical style - pleasing music - nice intro scenes at the beginning of the game (one of them is a "game of life" simulation well-known to programmers and mathematicians; another says the game was cracked by a hacker which it's not since I got it on Steam..) - intriguing story Cons: - terrible tutorial, nothing is explained -> which alone makes the game unplayable for the vast majority of players and would actually make this game worth 0/10. Yet, judging from other reviews, also ones I read on professional websites, I still think that's it's me who is dumb and there is tons of gameplay which I wasn't patient/clever enough to get to. I'm pretty damn sure I represent the majority though - non-existent pathfinding (basically, units can only walk in straight lines, and if there is something in the way which they can't walk thru - they will keep pushing into that obstacle forever) - awkward camera system, with mouse wheel zooming in/out working in reverse (!), with no way to reconfigure that - unique but awkward unit selection/creation/ordering/combat system - units walk too slow over huge landscapes, no way to speed up the game - no save/reload Overall, this game is more of "look how much we can stuff into 1.5MB" rather than a product for real people. I doubt they even tested this game on anyone outside their office. If you get it in a bundle for $1 or less - fine, it's worth a look for its originality. But most likely you won't be able to play it due to the described issues. »

« Heard a lot of buzz about the game. Not sure what's it all about. So what this game is about is this - you shoot up viruses. Yep. That's pretty much it. Pathfinding (as others have remarked) is terrible - in second level i sent my engineer to go capture some dish, and while he was slowly (sloooooowly) making his way over the mountaintops, i concentrated on another part of the map. Suddenly, he died. What happened? Who knows (it is the second level of the game, and i am still new - right). So, i send another engineer, scroll to another part of the map, and concentrate on wiping off the viruses. Engineer dies again. WHAT!? I send yet another one, and now carefully am watching his slow (i mean slooooow) progress over the terrain - and to my surprise, sooner or later, the little guy walks right through the defensive fence which is supposed to protect my guys from the enemies, but does not fail to zap the dummy Engineer to bits (bits, get it - i made funny!) :) Now about the tedium of the game - it makes you wait, and wait, and wait. And that is one thing that i most certainly will not tolerate in my games - when a GAME WASTES MY TIME on pointless clicking or idling. 5/10 it is, Time-Wasting monster that tries to pass for ingenuity! »

« Otro de los juegos indies míticos y con un apartado visual muy agradecido que ha envejecido bien, tal vez porque ya era viejo cuando salió. Algunas mecánicas siguen teniendo interés, pero como experiencia es recomendable. A la gente que le interese lo retroindie es buena compra de oferta. »

« Cannon Fodder mixed with Tron. Fantastic atmosphere and brilliantly stylized visuals. Recommended for everyone who likes a good blast and an interest in the cyber. »

« Sweet Indie game, very original and inspiring. On the other hand, you will not want to play it for the second time and don't expect it will take you very long to finish it. For me it ended at 12 hours. »

« There is almost no instruction on how to play the game, you have to do that from google. The pathfinding is just about the worst i have ever seen in a game. The graphics are boring, the enemies are seemingly endless and infuriating on the later **** levels, which all seem to blend together in repetition, are boring and offer nothing new. The combat is bland and boring. ANother problem i had with it is that they made the same button to select a unit as the button to move a unit... Strategy 101 mistake. Never buying an Introversion game again. Terrible, just terrible game. »

« [SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.] »