Konami pulled out some of their big guns in the February 12th, 2026 State of Play presentation, teasing releases for their flagship franchises Castlevania and Metal Gear Solid. In what I found to be a rather silly but endearing segue, following their MGS announcement, they showed off a new, cute-looking 2D game that began with an octopus hiding in one of Solid Snake’s famous boxes. Shortly thereafter, we got the announcement of Darwin’s Paradox!, a side-scrolling stealth game where you play as a sneaky cephalopod. The team behind the game’s development, ZDT Studio, has some rather pedigreed people behind it, so I figured I’d give its demo a look-see.
Metal Gear Mollusc
Darwin’s Paradox! is made in Unreal Engine, making it one of a somewhat rare breed of 2D games in UE. The demo features a few different sections; you’ll find above-ground and underwater parts, segments with sneaking around security cams and robot guards alike (the latter of whom borrow the world-famous Metal Gear ! sound upon the player being spotted), some light puzzles, and some platforming. Although Unreal Engine is pretty ubiquitous and recognizable these days, the game keeps a cartoonish quality to it, fitting of a “play as an animal” game, but one I so far find a bit more committed to than I did with some other such games like Stray.
You play as Darwin on an infiltration mission of a food canning factory guarded by robots who will happily squish him like a bug on sight. While above water, the lad has the sort of abilities fitting of octopuses: you can grab certain objects, crawl on walls and ceilings, and you can camouflage while staying in place. Underwater, you have the ability to maneuver and manipulate certain objects, propel yourself, and eventually get the ability to squirt ink to cover yourself (which you can then use above ground once unlocked, albeit it works as a projectile there rather than you spewing out a cloud).
The level design of the demo thus far showcases most of your abilities relatively well while demonstrating the stealth and puzzle-solving mechanics around them. Like many such games, the idea is to elude the view of the guards and security cameras. If you’re caught and attacked, it’s a one-hit kill. I can’t help but feel the game might be a touch generous with the checkpoints so far; it makes the segments of play between autosaves a bit short, though for a demo of an early section of the game, there are enough hazards to get a feel for the game. The puzzles didn’t take a ton of brain power, but they usually didn’t feel exceedingly obvious either. There’s a help button for if you get stuck or die in one place too often, but this is optional and can be disabled, which I appreciate.
There are a few aspects of this game that feel just a bit safe and a bit typical for this type of game; nothing especially wowed me just yet, and there’s not a particular section that raised the bar on the game especially high. But there’s enough of a foundation to its gameplay identity to give me hope they can iterate on the ideas here and come up with some creative sections once we get beyond the basics. The sections underwater and above water felt about equal in fun and quality, and not a ton of games handle switching between the two as well as it did. Although the game is obviously not striving for realism, I appreciate that just about everything in it feels befitting of a game with a playable octopus without leaning completely into the silliness angle you might find in a game like Octodad.
Octopus’s Garden
Aesthetically, Darwin’s Paradox! definitely has that “Unreal Engine platformer” look to it, and while I’m kind of numb to it, there are some standout parts to the look of the game. As a game with stealth as an element, it uses lighting and darkness mostly pretty well , seldom being distracting nor telegraphing what you need to do too hard with the lighting. Most of the demo takes place at night anyway so darkness makes sense. The use of Metal Gear Solid sound effects and motifs (even giving Darwin a referential costume and a codec) is a bit cheeky, though I hope it’s able to find more of its own identity come the full release instead of just being an outright parody all the way through. Probably the coolest visual effect is how Darwin’s camouflage matches whatever object he’s on top of/next to, rather than just turning fully translucent. Beyond that, though fully in 3D, there’s a certain cartoonish charm to the look and vibe of the game.
The sound design is generally pretty decent. The music that’s there is very orchestral in a way that reminds me of a fair number of games from the turn of the century. It’s kind of nostalgic to me as someone who grew up on games like Sly Cooper (another famous game starring an animal with some stealth parts).
Verdict
There’s enough in the demo to Darwin’s Paradox! to have me intrigued. The game is cute, and it feels so far like they stuck to the idea of “playing as an octopus” pretty well in terms of mechanical ideas. The game has shades of feeling a bit too safe rather than adventurous just yet, and relies maybe a bit too much on its references to Konami’s seminal stealth action game, though this demo feels like its aim is more to get one tentacle in the door than offering everything there is to see just yet. I’d like to see more, but it’s a solid foundation. I’m hoping the final game shows that this beginning section is closer to the game’s floor than its ceiling.
DARWIN’S PARADOX! HAS SOME PROMISE
If you are looking for another action-adventure title, check out The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
The demo of Darwin’s Paradox! was played on PlayStation 5.
Been playing games since my papa gave me an NES controller in the early 90’s. I play games of almost all genres, but especially focus role-playing, action, and puzzle-platform games. Also an enjoyer of many niche things ranging from speedrunning to obscure music from all over the world.
