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The Darwin’s Paradox demo has plenty of nods to the Metal Gear series. There are silly Codec calls, some graffiti mentioning Snake, a shadow of Metal Gear Solid 4’s Raging Raven (a likely callback to the Vulcan Raven silhouette in Metal Gear Solid 2), a couple actual Metal Gears, and, of course, a tactical cardboard box. It’s a decent amount to pack in a half-hour demo and lives up to the silly State of Play trailer that preceded the demo’s launch.
Darwin’s Paradox‘s Demo Holds Almost All of the Metal Gear References
But none of these playful references are in the final game, something noted in the disclaimer in the above trailer. These parts are instead just “normal” sections with no pokes or jabs at Metal Gear. All of the demo’s levels are in said game, too, so it’s not like these were special demo-exclusive stages. The guards in the full game will sometimes make the classic Metal Gear alert noise if they catch sight of the little blue octopus and there is a Snake skin, but that’s about it.
Darwin’s Paradox doesn’t absolutely need these references, and it’s valid if developer ZDT Studio wanted to keep its own game separate from those tie-ins. However, the Metal Gear stuff undeniably makes Darwin’s Paradox more appealing. Konami clearly knew it would catch more eyes with Metal Gear references; that’s why it had that demo trailer locked and loaded for PlayStation’s State of Play directly after the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 reveal where it would catch more eyeballs. Even the Metal Gear crossover reveal was drafting off Metal Gear’s momentum.
The game itself also doesn’t have much to offer players otherwise. The lively animations and vivid art are appealing, but its bland gameplay leaves a lot to be desired and makes the five-hour experience feel a lot longer than it actually is.
Darwin’s Paradox and Metal Gear Have Some Silly Synergy Worth Exploring
Ideally, Darwin’s Paradox would have a separate bonus part of the game styled around Metal Gear. This would allow ZDT to go harder with its references without messing with the “sanctity” of the original game’s vision and also create something that was designed from the ground up for the Kojima Productions franchise. Imagine Darwin sneaking through Shadow Moses, flopping around the Big Shell, or creeping around the deck of Outer Haven. Or the game could have played around with Snake’s OctoCamo in Metal Gear Solid 4 and tied in Darwin somehow, possibly by telling a cheeky “what if” tale binding the two together. When combined with the stealthy qualities of both franchises and the two octopus-related characters in Metal Gear (Decoy Octopus and Laughing Octopus), there is a surprising amount silly synergy here.
Konami has had crossover DLC with relatively recent (or ongoing) games like Dead by Daylight, Dead Cells, Vampire Survivors, Fortnite, Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly, and Rainbow Six Siege, so it’s clear the publisher sees this method as a way to boost awareness for its own titles. This is why it’s strange that Konami didn’t do the same for its own small game when the process would likely be a lot smoother. This initiative has played well into Konami’s rebirth since many of these crossovers have been pretty great and complemented the new entries in these series.
