Darwinia

1001 Video Games

Darwinia appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

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.

Awards

• 4Players
  • 2005 – Biggest Surprise of the Year
• PC Powerplay (Germany)
  • Issue 02/2006 - Wannabe Retro Game of 2005

Information also contributed by Zack Green.