Although innovative, Darwin Project failed to attract a sustainable audience before and is essentially dead on all platforms.
PvP Multiplayer.
Darwin Project, by all accounts, shouldn’t have died; with an 84 user score on Metacritic and 81% positive reviews on Steam, it is one of the most highly reviewed free-2-play titles of the last decade and, by all accounts, should have thrived.
Unfortunately, launching as a buy-2-play game hurt the title’s momentum. By the time it did go free-2-play, many potential players were fully engaged with other titles such as Fortnite or Paladins, and Darwin Project was no longer on their radar.
Darwin Project allows one player in each match to assume control of the omnipresent show director, who cannot be harmed by the other players but can punish or reward any player.
In addition to player interactions, the show director can also close off zones and even call in nuclear strikes, making the show director possibly the most powerful player role in any asymmetrical multiplayer title.
While most show directors were good sports and did whatever they could to ensure a fun, fair and balanced fight, others took it upon themselves to bully and harass players to the point of frustration, something I wish the developers had kept a firmer leash on while they still had the resources to do so.
Darwin Project was originally announced to be sunsetting towards the end of 2020; however, the small remaining community convinced the developers to give it a reprieve, and while activity remains low, and all but two servers have been closed, Darwin Project is still available to play in late 2023, even if matchmaking is near impossible for much of the world for most of the day.
Even when matches can be found, the experience is rarely a good one; I managed to find a lobby last time I played and was thrilled to be playing a game I love again, only to be double-teamed in solo mode by two players who were openly teaming, sharing resources and generally being obnoxious.
I knew reporting the players would do little good, as there appears to be no one from Scavengers Studio assigned to Darwin Project during its twilight years, meaning reports of cheating and toxicity and unlikely to be addressed promptly (if they are addressed at all).
Darwin Project is a battle royale video game developed and published by Scavengers Studio, it was released on 14 January 2020 and it is Free-2-Play.
Darwin Project is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Darwin Project is no longer in active development, and the developers have moved on to other projects.
As of April 2024, around 800 people play Darwin Project on a fairly regular basis.
Darwin Project is essentially dead, and finding full lobbies in a reasonable amount of time is difficult in well-populated regions, and next to impossible in less populated regions.
Darwin Project offers the following matchmaking options:
The Darwin Project in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Darwin Project is rated PEGI 12+ and contains:
While the gameplay is fun, rampant cheaters and exorbitantly long matchmaking times make Darwin Project an entirely unenjoyable affair.
