Wow, it’s only taken 22 years for someone to make a sequel to Ant Attack, or is it Populous, or Sacrifice? Darwinia borrows while managing to remain fresh and original, in addition to being fun, face-paced and highly addictive. However it does feature the most useless innovation ever to grace video gaming - the gesture system (Black & White, Arx Fatalis) and it’s ultimately lacking in variety. If it were a budget title I’d rate it a 9.… Expand

The big attraction of the game is that it's simple; the premise is simple, the gameplay is simple, the controls are simple.

This game was not only fun to play, but the overall experience made me feel involved in the world of Darwinia! A hands-down must-own.

Very different, and fun. The graphics style makes it better.

Exccellent RTS with a real 'fun' challenge - but why no multiplayer?

Darwinia is by far one of the most artistically impressive and imaginative games to released this decade. While graphically the game cannot compete with big budget games, instead it utilises a refreshingly stylish retro feel and innovative gameplay to compensate. Be warned though this game is not for those who like flash graphics and gimmicks but unusually for modern gaming has an engaging storyline and is most importantly fun.… Expand

This is more like it, an original game now that is something you don’t see anymore. Darwinia is a clever mix of old style gaming that includes elements from classics like Cannon fodder, Lemmings, centipede. The style of graphics is also very original giving the user some very stylistic vistas while still keeping a very retro look. People who remember the good old days of the Spectrum Commodore Atari and Amiga and remember when games where all new and experimental will fall in love with this title. It’s not the hardest of games but it did make me feel all nostalgic all over. This game deserves an 8.5/10 but I’m sure after a few weeks of playing you may feel a little bored of the repetitive style gameplay , but hey if you grew up with the likes of Pacman and space invaders then you will remember the repetitive nature of good old fashion gaming. So this game get a good 8/10… Expand

I can't believe how much poetry there is in this unique game!

Great, very addictive. Too damn short though. As I old timer I love the C64 style graphics and music. Gimme more!

Awsome game filled with adventure and strategy.

It's always great to see developers doing something new. Darwinia plays like nothing I've ever tried before, and while the mechanics got somewhat repetitive by the end, I found myself glued to it from start to finish. Plus, it was dirt cheap on Steam. Mainstream developers, take note.

Awesome game for the retro-oriented crowd. Also a great community has sprung up around the game, and some of the mods are very well done, even better than the original storyline itself.

While I really like some of the design touches, the gameplay is - quite frankly - broken. It's a tedious task to eliminate those virus infestations in endless dataspaces and the pathfinding is just frustrating. It's like Introversion didn't care if their game was actually fun to play. The premise and setting might be fantastic but gameplay has to work.

Simply astounding. Definitely not lacking in creativity. Pleasing to the eyes, as you're not over-stimulated by the environment. This game requires you to think, and it's a TON of fun!

Great game, great atmosphere. I'd like to see more content, that would make this game an absolute ten in my book.

This game rules.Period.

First game I have played where I actually cared what happened to the little guys. What I really loved was the unique storylilne and concept. The only issue I had was that some of the user interface was clunky and when the action got critical the game would freeze whilst trying to execute a command. All round though I can't wait for the next installment.

One of the most refreshing and original games to come out in a long time. A perfect blend of action and real time strategy, not to mention it runs on linux out of the box. A brilliant job by the people who brought us Uplink.

Really great game, it takes the fundamentals of rts and makes them shine!

Simple and wonderfully enjoyable. The slick retro graphics and nice soundtrack really took it above and beyond. I just wish that the game were longer or that they make an expansion/sequal.

Really cool game you should try the demo. What have you got to lose?

This is the first game in over a year where I felt the coders had does something completly diffrent. Dispite what others say, I think the graphics were perfect. Not because they were good or bad, but because they captured the feel of the game perfectly.

I love this game, but it may not be for all people. I highly suggest atleast watching the trailer and even downloading the demo. Great game, be nice if there was some multiplayer, but its all good. Worth the $20!

One of the best, addictive and oringal games I have played. I had to keep playing to find out how the game would end. This made me actually care about the charactors insead of just rushing in I wanted to keep them alive.

creative fun and kept me entertained far longer then games i bought for 50 dollars all though if the people who created this game could make a psp verse that would be sick i think its would translate well.

Short but sweet. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes tedious but what games escape that?

Both the storyline and music make this one of the best games I've ever played. This game is proof that you don't need super graphics to make a super game.

Darwinia is a phenomonal game! The visual presentation is apealing, and most unique. The gameplay is fun and easy to learn, but can at times be rather cumbersome. Unit control is not always accurate, and A.I. is at times a bit lacking. Despite these minor drawbacks, the game itself is a hoot, and a blast to play. Its difficult not to chuckle when amassing a single, rippling body of Darwinians, and unleashing them on the enemy. The action is fast and furious, which is an ironic contrast to the the game's visual and technical style. While being very simplistic and oriented toward a wider arrray of age groups, the gameplay is extremely challenging. While the graphics present no impressive sophistication, combat and unit-to-unit interaction are very dynamic. Another factor is the magnitude and "beauty" of the worlds. It draws much from classic science fiction films, namely Tron. In short, Darwinia is a truely unique, attractive strategy game that will appeal to a wide audience. It's fun and very challenging, but still has its minor technical flaws.… Expand

Excellent throwback to simple graphics with challenging and mesmerizing game play. Highly recommended for hours of dreamy escape into cyberspace.

An awful lot of fun. The sound effects even remind me of classics from long ago and far away (we're talking over 20 years now) and it's an entertaining little virtual world it renders that works on any platform. You'll enjoy it.

A clean and simple little game makes it great.

A seriously intense game, yet soulful and uplifting with a great soundtrack to boot. For those who may have played Populous on Atari 520/1040ST you'll be extremely nostalgic when you first dive in, however you'll also find battle action that rival great, modern FPS games.

Excellent game! Original, unique, beautiful, and easy to play.

Unique but not worth buying.

Introversion is becoming one of my favorite studios. This game was wonderful - great gameplay, incredibly creative. The things other people are complaining about, such as the pathfinding and the menus, I believe were intentionally unpolished to some extent, to go along with the setting of the game. I'd explain more, but I don't want to spoil it. I definitely recommend this.

Very difficult, painstaking, atmospheric and charming game. Excellent as a visual composes(tron) and musical. Want to continue the development of content and theme of this series.

An awesome game, not only is the setting beautiful and the story wonderful, but it also proves that you don't need high quality graphics to make a good game.

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.

Going back into the time machine for this one, Darwinia is one of those games I purchased during a Steam sale, and finally got around to playing it. It’s a bit of a review cliche to say X is more of an experience than a game, but Darwinia is an experience. The core game play is a mixture of real time strategy and godgame, ala Populous – but the strength of Darwinia lies in its presentation: The vector graphics, the computer cracked game loading screens, and the story of a Dr. creating an alternate digital universe. The mechanics themselves are solid if unspectacular, though some general terrible pathing and a couple frustrations in the tutorial process means there will be some learning curve. It took me roughly 10 hours to beat the campaign, and you unlock a level editor and the ability to create your own worlds and levels. The bottom line is I did end up caring about what happened to my little green men, and story kept me interested. Probably more for the nostalgic types, Darwinia is an indie classic, and a fun experience as well as a good game.… Expand

In the first five minutes, you will realize that this game offers close to zero instruction on how to play, and its in-story help mode/tutorial are deplorable examples thereof. Then, about 30 minutes into the game you will realize that the path finding is probably the absolute worst in any game you have ever played. The controls and operational methods are so inadequate and poor that you will wonder if this is the result of a bug (or many bugs), or even if the game has been installed correctly. Proceeding past the second mission without help is impossible. Because Darwinia does not explain itself to the player, you will be forced to search on Google for help and explanations, as this is the only way to make sense out of this presentational disaster. Further, because many aspects of the game are obscured by terrible presentation choices, you will feel as if the game does not allow you to play it. You will not know how to do several things that are required to achieve many of the mission objectives, thanks to the developer's choice in being vague and uninformative. The goals in Darwinia are explained so badly, that once again, I imagine that this portion of the game is also among the worst in any game I have played. The developers clearly did not have any care in designing a game that is intuitive, user friendly, and enjoyable. The feeling is that Darwinia is simply not complete, nor is it fully operable by the user. It is as if there are numerous amounts of game play that were not done to completeness, leaving the player at a loss and in frustration. In addition to the aforementioned problems, you can not save during a mission. The game does all the saving for you, after you complete each mission objective and at other seemingly random moments. This means, that you sometimes have to restart a mission from the very beginning, if something does not go according to plan. This is totally unacceptable. If the rest of the game was better suited, this saving problem would not bother me as much. The responsiveness of your units is atrocious. Ordering the units and Darwinians around is quite problematic, as they simply do not respond as they should, nor are they very useful to your commands. The processes required to order them around are tedious, slow, and unresponsive. They have such a difficult time maneuvering around the map, it's disgruntling. These shortcomings are so major, that enjoying the game as a whole is an arduous chore as you progress through the missions. Slowly, as you learn to endure Darwinia's league of problems, there are minor and sparse hints of quality gaming behind it all. Achieving the mission objectives as you hurdle past the developmental shortcomings and obstacles can give the player feelings of accomplishment and relief, since Darwinia is so inefficient and unfriendly. After all, this takes more work than it is fun. The creativity from the developers is undeniably present. The plot and storyline are original, going along well with the artwork and aesthetic style. Each map is basic, but they do have their stylistic charms. The missions can be repetitive, but at least they make sense in relation to the story. Unfortunately for the developers, creativity does not equal a quality product. There is a serious and widely known bug that will not allow you to deploy new units to the map, and the only way around it is to quit and restart the game. There are also some placement glitches that mysteriously do not allow you to deploy units. Darwinia is all about being an annoyance, a bother, a bore; a game with severe flaws that barely works or provides the player with anything remotely enjoyable. It is an incredibly tedious and inconvenient game. You will be spending your time and money better elsewhere.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Living in a dull decade of "realistic" shooters and generic game design, Darwinia is a refreshing little game that stands out and truly displays video games as an art. The plot involves you helping a computer programmer wipe out a virus which has infected the digital world of Darwinia. Fighting the virus is done by using your 'squads' of heavily armed soldiers and, later on, the natives of the world itself, the Darwinians. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the game is the visuals, which are intentionally made to look almost 1980's era graphics; it sounds dodgy but ultimately it works, and works brilliantly. I wouldn't say it's a sublime game; some of the pathfinding and in-game missions are dull and difficult. I don't mean the puzzle kind of difficult, I mean giving you a task early in the game which seems to assume you've already mastered the controls. I can't complain too much though: the environments are lush (if blocky), the effects are satisfying and the story is interesting. If, like me, you see games as an art, not as a cash cow money-maker, then you should immediately get this game.… Expand