Darwin's Demons Reviews

It's Space Invaders with Evolution. It's also the start of something bigger at U of I, me thinks. Honest developers. Can even give it the, "It's educational" spin. ;) Worth considering if you see it on sale. Good buy, if you're feeling generious towards education sector (University of Idaho, in this case).

If the small handful of remaining bugs were fixed.. this game would be amazing. It adapts to each player over the course of several rounds to specifically try and **** YOUR PERSONAL PERFORMANCE into the ground. I love it... The game has potential. It does. For what it is.. it's pretty amazing... The game is all about evolution and recent contact from the devs on 5/2/2018 says they are trying to see this project through. I eagerly await the release of their next effort, Project Hastur. Think Darwin's Demons... as tower defense. <3

I've pretty much only started with this, but so far it lives up to what I hoped it would be. Basically, it's Space Invaders, but with a lot more player options, and more importantly, aliens that adapt to your ship and strategy. I unlocked a ship whose strategy relies on blocking enemy fire with its own fire... and before 10 waves were out, wound up going up against a population of lightning-eyes aliens whose projectiles all favored moving in a right curve. Thus neatly avoiding the projectiles that were supposed to block them. Other rounds I've done so far have ended with other really interesting setups that clearly show adaptation to the ship used, and incidentally to a strange playing quirk of mine... my hearing is bad in one ear, so I tend to "ignore" one half of the screen in playing a game - if I'm not paying attention, it's the one on the same side of the bad ear, if I am paying attention, I usually overcompensate and so don't pay enough attention to the other side. Pretty much every game I've played so far, the aliens will "huddle" on the side that I'm failing to watch properly. This actually hasn't done a lot to help them so far, because I don't actually fail to watch that side, I just will show imbalanced favoring - but I bet it would make a difference in later rounds, when I get better. These are just a couple examples of the interesting behaviors I've seen develop. This is a fascinating use of adaptive AI, and I look forward to playing with it in the experiment mode more, which I've only just started with. Also, the lore is a nice bonus - the game didn't NEED any lore, strictly speaking (I mean, it's a Space Invaders thing), but having it there adds some extra interest, I think. I'd say that this is a good game to get if you: A: Are interested in adaptive AI techniques B: Like Space Invaders type games, and would like one that gets pretty darn difficult C: Enjoy the ability to play with a game's systems for yourself

An excellent space shooter with one outstanding and innovative feature - a self-learning AI that will make your life very difficult! This game becomes harder and harder as you progress and learns from your mistakes, then exploits them. This is essentially a gamified Neural Network that creates a close to unbeatable AI. Try to survive for longer than a few generations on the hard mode and you'll feel like a champion! Check out a full review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAg_r4OjBRo Definitely highly recommended

Woah! Space Invaders meets genetic algorithms! Some pretty fun ideas. Go into this knowing it was created by college students trying to prove a thesis, and you will be much happier. That said, there is quite a bit to like in this game. Lots of unlockable ships and upgrades. Think of it as a campaign, where you try to keep pace with the alien upgrades with your own ship upgrades, except the aliens are watching to see where your play-style is the weakest. This looks like it was a big university effort, so you get a lot of polish here for the price. Fun and compelling. (Just be sure that you are ready for a space invaders style gameplay.) Works on ubuntu linux 16.04 through 20.04 with radeon mesa drivers. Unity engine. I could not get a gamepad to work. I could not get multiplayer to work. Nice graphics, but slow load times.

I know a few people on the development team for this game, and was excited to try it out for myself. I have always been a fan of the space invaders/galaga style bullet hell games, and the twist that this game adds is exciting and different every time. The enemies can get very difficult if you don't know how to handle them, and are quick to exploit any weakness if your playstyle. Overall, very fun and remember, evolution will always win.

An excellent game that takes a refreshing spin on a rather old concept! The amount of "genetic" detail within the behavior of the individuals is rather uncanny! Slay the majority of the populations that congregate in the center of the screen? More enemies tend to prefer the left and right sides... Get your rump kicked in by those blue suckers with semi-homing projectiles? Guess who's gonna be more populous next round... A game definitely worth the price of a dejected Stat Trak CSGO Skin, or, a lovely cup of gourmet coffee at your reigonal overpriced coffee dispensary.

There are many games that are only a 'good idea', and have very little atual gameplay. This game is completely different. The genetic algorithm creates a game that is specifically hard for you, and no matter how much you try to game the system, it will eventially beat you. But that doesn't stop the game being fun, firing guided missiles and lasers at space-invader like enemies. I'm sure I will get many hours of fun out of it. If you are thinking of buying, just go for it. It costs £4.

This student project from the University of Idaho brings a new bent to the classic and beloved Space Invaders. Gameplay, is of course, basic, but the real beauty of this game is the algorithm behind the scenes. Every ten generations or so, the aliens would evolve enough to really start giving you a challenge. The further you go, the more of a bullet hell it becomes. No matter how much you try and manipulate the aliens gene pool, they will eventually match you, and then better you. You will lose, but how long will it take? Crisp graphics, great art style, addictive, simple and complicated all at once, has better procedural content generation than No Man's Sky. And this is a student project. Eat that, Hello Games.

[h1] It's space invaders with a unique (and interesting) twist. [/h1] Darwin's Demons brings something new to space invaders. The whole premise is to apply the evolutionary theory of "survival of the fittest" to the aforementioned invaders. The invaders that have the best survival stats influence the next generation of invaders. This manifests itself in the most annoying way possible. [b] The invaders quickly learn your greatest weaknesses, [/b] and soon you are facing entire waves of enemies that know the best way to defeat you. [b] You have to adapt and evolve at the same time they do. [/b] My first run lasted 2 waves. In the first wave, I let too many reach the bottom of the screen and in my panic to stop them, I let them land a few hits on me. In the second wave, I died to lots of enemies trying to rush to the bottom. [b] In my next run through, I had to learn to adapt to my own weaknesses. [/b] I spent my time targetting enemies that were the closest to the bottom. This served me quite well. Around wave 5 I took a stray hit form an invader that could shoot diagonally with a high degree of accuracy, and more of those popped up. Around wave 7, I accidentally let a few reach the bottom, and the dreaded zerg rushing invaders came back for more. Darwin's Demons is incredibly simple in it's presentation, yet this simplicity belies an interesting game with complex mechanics at the core. The UI is simple and minimalistic, and serves it's purpose. At the end of each wave, you can take a look at the invaders' evolution statistics - you can see which patterns are emerging and preemptively change your strategy to counter the least desired traits. You can also spend some time upgrading your ship and defenses using currency you earn from completing waves. Give yourself more lives, upgrade your ship, secondary weapon, and planetary defenses. Speaking of which, the game offers a variety of different ships, secondary weapons, planetary defenses, and other perks. Each ship handles differently and has a unique weapon, secondary weapons offer a variety of unique effects, and planetary defenses help you... not lose. You can unlock ships, secondary weapons, and planetary defenses using currency you earn after completing matches. Another thing, which I will try as soon as I find some friends, is the local multiplayer. The game supports 4 players on the same screen. You only ever use 4 buttons, so you could conceivably play with 4 people using a single keyboard. [h1] Closing Remarks [/h1] Darwin's Demons is something special. It's not going to redefine gaming, but it is well polished and great for what it is. For only $5, it's hard to go wrong with it. Highly recommended.