Darwin's Demons
Darwin’s Demons is an arcade style space shooter in which you battle a population of evolving aliens. The alien’s morphology, fire type, and behaviors are all encoded by a digital genome. The aliens that are best able to shoot or evade you reproduce to make the next generation.
Developer
Publisher
Release
February 13, 2017
9 years and 172 days ago
Steam Reviews
Very Positive51 reviews90.2%
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Game contextLatest: IGF Team
| ContextThe evidence factors used to assess whether this game belongs on IndieGame.Fan. | Status | Notes Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes |
|---|---|---|
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer. | ||
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher. | A separate outside publisher is documented for this title. | |
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game. | A material outside publishing relationship creates mixed creative-control evidence. | |
Updated: Jul 14, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released. | The title released with a material outside publishing relationship. |
Media
6 itemsAbout the Game
EVOLUTION ALWAYS WINS
Defend the galaxy against an encroaching horde of evolving enemies! In this arcade style space shooter, only the fittest enemies reproduce to create the next generation, causing the population to adapt to your play style. How long will you be able to survive against the Protean Swarm?
Darwin’s Demons models biological evolution using enemies with digital genomes. Enemies acquire fitness by being the most aggressive, accurate, and longest lived, and only the most fit enemies reproduce to pass their genomes on to the next generation. The result? The creatures you found hardest to kill have all the babies, making each generation more challenging than the last!
In ARCADE MODE, take command of 22 different ships, 18 defensive systems, and 11 secondary weapons to battle the Protean Swarm.
In LOCAL MULTIPLAYER MODE, up to four players can fight the swarm side by side.
In EXPERIMENT MODE, get your nerd on and take control of the evolutionary model. Change parameters such as mutation rate, population size, and the fitness function, to test your own evolutionary hypotheses.
Be warned: No matter your play style, your enemies WILL adapt to your selection of ship, weapons, and defenses.
Climb the leaderboards as high as you can, but in the end....
EVOLUTION ALWAYS WINS
Defend the galaxy against an encroaching horde of evolving enemies! In this arcade style space shooter, only the fittest enemies reproduce to create the next generation, causing the population to adapt to your play style. How long will you be able to survive against the Protean Swarm?
Darwin’s Demons models biological evolution using enemies with digital genomes. Enemies acquire fitness by being the most aggressive, accurate, and longest lived, and only the most fit enemies reproduce to pass their genomes on to the next generation. The result? The creatures you found hardest to kill have all the babies, making each generation more challenging than the last!
In ARCADE MODE, take command of 22 different ships, 18 defensive systems, and 11 secondary weapons to battle the Protean Swarm.
In LOCAL MULTIPLAYER MODE, up to four players can fight the swarm side by side.
In EXPERIMENT MODE, get your nerd on and take control of the evolutionary model. Change parameters such as mutation rate, population size, and the fitness function, to test your own evolutionary hypotheses.
Be warned: No matter your play style, your enemies WILL adapt to your selection of ship, weapons, and defenses.
Climb the leaderboards as high as you can, but in the end....
EVOLUTION ALWAYS WINS
