The Darwin Project is another entry in the battle royale genre of video games. If you don't know, a battle royale is a type of last player standing death match. Different games have added crafting and scavenging equipment to improve your chances of winning. With multiple successful battle royale games already on the market (in various states of "release"), like Player Unknown's Battle Grounds, Fortnite, and H1Z1 you may think Scavengers Studios is late to proverbial battle. That still might prove to be true but the Darwin Project is setting itself apart from the rest.
Entertainment is Key
The primary focus of the Darwin Project is to provide a fun experience throughout the entire match for players and spectators. That's right they are already planning for twitch streamers, spectators, and ways for players to interact with both. Stick with me and you'll see what I mean. The battle itself is smaller than many other BR games. It takes place between 10 players on a snowy map. Each player has the same weapons, an ax and a bow. They then harvest and scavenge for resources to upgrade their equipment. Within minutes it is easy to see how the Darwin Project starts to break away from the main offerings in this genre. The game pits the players against the environment. The snow covered map where the action takes place is dangerously cold. If players do not create fires for warmth, they will freeze to death. The problem with these fires is that they are very visible to the other players. Players can track each down by following these signals, and many fights happen around them. This leads to the next mechanic that Scavengers studios uses to bring a breath of fresh air to battles royale: tracking. One play can track another by following their footsteps, and physical left behind where they gather resources, or craft items. This leads players together for more frequent fights and games of cat and mouse. The main thing that differentiates the Darwin Project from other battle royale games, though is the inclusion of an extra player as a director.
Maniacal Laughter
The director is another player in the game that is not competing directly with the other players. The director is trying to spice things up to make sure that the game does not get stale. One of the main problems that Scavengers has identified with the battle royale is the vast amount of time where really nothing of interest is happening. Players are trying to build better and better kits while mostly hiding from each other. Camping is a very effective strategy in these types of games. To counter this, the director is given abilities to mess with the players and the battlefield. They can give different boosts to players, place powerful tech around the map, trigger manhunts on specific players, or even nuke an entire zone. With these abilities each match is drastically different. When I played this weekend I had directors communicating with me, rewarding me for entertaining performances, messing with me and the other players, and generally causing hilarious mayhem all across the map.
Steps in the Right Direction
I really think Scavengers Studios has hit on something special by developing the Darwin Project with an eye towards spectating and twitch gaming personalities. They know that a lot of streamers will want to compete and their audience will be entertained by all of the possibilities within a single match. They also have provided an opportunity for other streamers to make an impact by being interesting and engaging directors. They can even have their stream audience members vote on crowd favorites, and other actions that they can take in the game. The Darwin Project is positioned to really change how games are developed as a whole, not just the battle royale genre.
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