It's called "Darwin Project" and it challenges 10 participants to survive the cold and fight to the death in a treacherous arena. As preparation for an impending Ice Age, a new project, half science experiment half live-entertainment, is launched.
We also had some issues at the game’s launch like freezes and connectivity issues, which can hopefully be put down to early teething problems.Darwin Project takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic landscape in the Northern Canadian Rockies. Needless to say, I lost, and teaming is frowned up at best in solo queues. Of course, I deployed a drone and starting firing some arrows down only for the three to run off together and spend time hunting me down. I managed to spot the other three camped together around a fire. For example, in one match there were four of us left. While the game only has a solo option, you do see players teaming up sometimes.
It’s early days in the full launch of Darwin Project but the community on PS4 comes across well for the most part. None of the clothing items as far as I could see offered any additional bonuses for character stats. You can customise most things including the looks of your axe, bow, cloak, clothing, and character design. You’ll have to wait to try it out though, as Director mode is only available once you hit level 5 in any one of the classes. Levelling up also grants players fan gifts which are Darwin Project’s version of cosmetic loot boxes. Players have a little bit of time to escape, but if they’re caught in the explosion then it is instant death. Directors are equipped with action cards which use up action points to do things like shut down zones, give a player resources, call in Darwinium drops or, if you’re feeling particularly dastardly, drop a nuke in a zone. An eleventh player in the game can look down on the action, controlling it to a certain extent and giving commentary on events. At this point only one zone is open and its area shrinks rapidly, forcing all survivors into the middle to fight for victory.ĭarwin Project adds another twist with the Director mode. Naturally if you’re in a safe zone, you won’t have to worry, but anyone in a closing zone will have to dash for safety. The longer the match goes on the more zones close until it’s sudden death. Closing the zone makes the map smaller, and the way it does this in pockets is a big differentiator to other games. The arena is split into different zones that can be closed off at any time. Scanning these clues will briefly highlight where that person is in the world, but it doesn’t last long and they could be long gone in a completely different zone. Aside from the smoke in the environment you can use the stumps of trees or discarded crafting materials as clues to where opponents have been. Tracking other players is well implemented. Fires are a blessing and a curse, because while they replenish your cold meter, the smoke acts as a signal to other players who are hunting for you. As you move around your character becomes colder and if you don’t build a fire and warm up you will freeze to death. The wood is used to craft items such as arrows and shields, but is also required to create fires and keep warm. In the arena, there are trees to cut down for wood and caches of Darwinium to craft equipment. Other than that you’re armed with your axe and bow to fight enemies.Ĭrafting is simple enough. Loot boxes contain traps like cages and tripwires that can ensnare opponents, while class bonuses can include a radar to find nearby enemies or a turret to offer an additional offensive tactic. Gameplay is similar to what you may expect in other battle royale games, though you won’t find any additional weapons in the field.