Konami and developer ZDT have revealed Darwin’s Paradox, a side-scrolling platformer adventure with an abducted octopus as its star. The game has been confirmed for PS5, coming out in 2025.
The game looks like it draw influences from other platformer adventures of the last decade, such as Playdead’s Inside and Limbo, or Tarsier’s Little Nightmares, but gives it a more humorous, lighter tone thanks to much more colourful grahpics, a 1950s sci-fi style and animation in keeping with modern movies.
Writing on the PS Blog, the team explain:
Our protagonist Darwin has all the evolutionary features of an octopus including the ability to climb almost any surface, camouflage himself, and also the skill to shoot ink to evade his enemies. Haptic feedback on the DualSense controller’s triggers will give you the satisfying feeling of firing off multiple shots of black ink to hit hard-to-reach levers and buttons, or to blind security camera feeds to plan your escape. When swimming in underwater scenarios, the ink shot disperses into the water, creating a perfect back smokescreen to help you get past searchlights without being spotted – just like octopi do in the real world when they feel threatened by a predator in the wild.
Keeping a close eye on your environment is key if you want to survive. As a typical octopus is known to do, Darwin can also morph his skin to match the spot he’s in – essentially creating camouflage to hide and avoid detection.
Darwin’s movements across the world are meticulously tracked with controller vibrations, giving you a sense of connection to our curious cephalopod everywhere he climbs. When you get hit, you feel it. In a world as dangerous as the one Darwin dares to explore, there will be short-circuit shocks, crushing machines of twisted metal, and roaming packs of rabid rats looking to make Darwin a tasty meal.
Certainly one to keep an eye on, if you ask me!
