In Introversion's second sci-fi computer-themed game, you once again find yourself as a hacker. Unlike Uplink, however, Darwinia focuses on the world inside the computer rather than our own.

Cruising around the net, you stumble into a mysterious computer network called Darwinia, the brainchild of the barely sane genius Dr. Sepulveda. Darwinia is what amounts to a Jurassic Park for programs; small sprites called Darwinians evolve and adapt to their digital environment as its maintainers watch. But despite the fact that you're not supposed to be in the system, Dr. Sepulveda has no choice but to enlist your help. A deadly virus has taken over the system, and in order to save not only billions of dollars of research but also the simulated lives of the Darwinians, you will need to take command of the computer.

Played inside a fractal-generated world inspired by retro arcade games as well as films like Tron, Darwinia requires you to take strategic command of various program-generated units to protect the Darwinians as well as engage in fast and furious action combating the virus with soldiers.

[edit description]

Alternate Titles

"达尔文" -- Chinese title (simplified)
"Дарвиния" -- Russian spelling
"Future War" -- Working title
"Darwinia: A digital dreamscape" -- Tag-lined title
"Daerwen" -- Chinese title

[add alternate title]

Part of the Following Groups

Merchant	Title	Platform	Price
	Darwinia	Windows	$0.01
	Darwinia
	Darwinia		$9.99
Please select your country: Not an American user?

User Reviews

There are no reviews for this game.

[review game]

The Press Says

AppleLinks.Com	Macintosh	Apr 21, 2005		100
1UP	Windows	Sep 26, 2005	9 out of 10	90
allaboutgames.co.uk	Windows	Mar 04, 2005	9 out of 10	90
Game Tunnel	Windows	Jun 17, 2005	9 out of 10	90
Armchair Empire, The	Windows	Aug 19, 2005	8.8 out of 10	88
Hooked Gamers	Windows	Feb 12, 2006	8 out of 10	80
Inside Mac Games (IMG)	Macintosh	Mar 31, 2005	8 out of 10	80
PC Action	Windows	Jan 24, 2006	76 out of 100	76
GameStar (Germany)	Windows	May, 2005	70 out of 100	70
PC Powerplay	Windows	May, 2005	53 out of 100	53

[see more rankings | add ranking]

Forums

There are currently no topics for this game.

[new thread]

Trivia

Inspiration

Similarly to how Introversion's previous game, Uplink, had several references and inspirations from hacker movies of the 80s and early 90s, Darwinia's art direction is also drawn from film, specifically Tron.

Loaders

The game has different unique loaders every time it is started, with references to The Matrix, Cannon Fodder and the ancient Spectrum platform. The fodder loader for example, shows the message "This game is not in any way endorsed by SENSIBLE SOFTWARE". Sensible Software, the developer of the Cannon Fodder games, had the message "This game is not in any way endorsed by the ROYAL BRITISH LEGION" when starting the game.

Release

There was a last minute problem before the Steam release. The Valve guys ran into Darwinia's "Cracked by DMA Crew" bootloader and actually thought some hackers had compromised the build they were releasing, while it just was an inside joke. Ultimately, the release went as planned.

Unused virus model

A giant tripod virus model was created but never used in the main game. It is available in the map editor, however, which is unlocked upon the campaign's completion.