Darwin's Paradox review: "Stealth octopus abilities are charming, though under-used in this simplistic puzzle platformer"

Darwin's Paradox kicks off with our titular hero octopus and his buddy getting beamed up and chucked onto an assembly line to become a delicious new food product. If being on UFOOD's chopping block wasn't bad enough, a comical moving billboard covers up the last two letters to reveal simply 'UFO', thwarting dinner quickly becoming thwarting a secret alien invasion of Earth.

It's a great set-up that oozes the charm of a child-friendly animated movie, and just as humorously it's a bit unclear quite how much the larger threat really even matters to Darwin. A puzzle-platformer, Darwin is locked to a 2.5D plane (a bit like Limbo or Inside). While the alien plans will meet with disaster at Darwin's tentacles – machines destroyed, chemicals exploded, and much more – there's almost the sense that Darwin, smart though he may be, is just accidentally wandering through their bases haphazardly on a mission to rescue his friend, unaware of just how much damage he's about to cause. For a little octopus, he's wonderfully expressive, especially when his eyes bulge in surprise, and I love how much comes through even without dialogue.

Cephalopod shuffle

The humble puzzle-platformer has been an institution ever since the Xbox Live Arcade days – which also means that since the XBLA era, I've played more than my fair sum of similar adventures that blur together a bit. But, I don't think I've ever played one as an octopus. When Darwin's Paradox leans into its tentacle-powered action is when it feels the most unique, though I wish it did so a bit more often.

Underwater, Darwin can cleave through liquid at high speed to avoid danger. On land, he can use his suckers to crawl along basically any surface (barbed wire only occasionally blocks progress), hold a button to camouflage into the environment unseen, or shoot ink to move past security cameras unseen or mess with objects.

Weirdly, despite a tutorial teaching you all of this, Darwin forgets all of these abilities after being abducted, only remembering each move at important story moments. It means each level can focus on creating challenges based around the current skillset, but conversely it means you don't have all that much time with your full suite of abilities – especially considering Darwin's Paradox only took me about 3 hours to complete.

All too often, Darwin's Paradox has me going through the puzzle-platformer motions. No puzzle or jumping sequence is particularly challenging – there's just a lot of moving left to right (or sometimes right to left) while nudging boxes or barrels around without having to think too hard about it. Sure, it's pretty, and the charm was enough to carry me through its short run-time, but considering all of Darwin's unique abilities I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't feel too fresh to play.

I feel most engaged when using Darwin's sticky powers to bounce between walls to survive some devious platforming challenges. There are some great sequences that have our pal surviving through massive ticking gears, or dodging past automated cleavers on conveyor belts. It's never too much, but these deadly sections feel like nice peaks of tension.

Considering Darwin's ink and camouflage are stealth abilities, I'm also a little disappointed at how basic being sneaky really is – though I'm also a little relieved the expectations aren't too high. Mostly, these revolve around blasting out a limitless amount of ink to block off camera vision cones, or holding the camouflage button until robot vision cones or spotlights move over you before progressing. When it comes to robots, you even have a brief window in which to activate camouflage before they properly spot you, their alert reducing as they go back to their patrol route. It's simple stuff that once again ends up feeling like I'm just going through the motions.

For the most part, Darwin's Paradox feels suitably slick to play, but there are some annoyances. Most of the puzzle elements revolve around playing with physics – like moving a box onto a see-sawing block of wood so it supports your weight, for instance. But, sometimes these elements can get stuck on geometry when you attempt to move them, making it seem like you can't drag them to the area you need until you shuffle them back and forth a bit. There's also one abysmal sequence towards the end where you briefly pilot a robot suit, which retains momentum when walking for ages, making crossing moving platforms with it more annoying than difficult.

There's a lot to like about Darwin's Paradox, and it's certainly charming enough where I wish I liked it more. There's a great sense of humor running throughout, and the retro Americana-infused sci-fi take on this secret alien invasion does make me smile, with plenty of background gags highlighting their unsubtle advertorial-driven plans. Darwin's Paradox struggles to bring much new to the puzzle-platformer space, his octopus abilities being used a bit too simplistically, merely blending into play rather than being particularly engaging to use. Darwin's Paradox is perfectly cromulent, and has been a fun little adventure for a few hours – but these suckers don't have a grip on me, and I doubt I'll remember it for long.

Want more like this? Planet of Lana 2 is an excellent one, as playing as my alien cat buddy makes this gorgeous puzzle platformer feel like a co-op adventure even when I'm playing alone