Scavenger Studios‘ battle royale game The Darwin Project has gone live for free on Xbox One today. It’s currently in Xbox Game Preview with an official launch coming later, and this Xbox One version has brought a few updates with it.
The Darwin Project pits players against each other in a Hunger Games style game show on a post-apocalyptic, new ice-age backdrop. Functionally it resembles a lot of what we’ve seen in battle royale games that have released over the past 12 months, but it’s one of the few to lean fully into the Hunger Games model of the whole spectacle being televised to an audience.
It’s also one of the few battle royale games to employ a bona fide crafting system. Whereas Fortnite has you building structures and placing traps, The Darwin Project gives you the task of constructing weapons, traps, and other survival equipment in order to get the upper hand on your opponents. There’s also a mechanic that allows you to track other players in order to hunt them down and take them out.
In time for the Xbox One release, Scavenger Studios has added language localisations to the game, including French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Japanese, and Korean. Three other languages are coming soon: Brazilian Portuguese, Thai, and Turkish. Until July 12, you can also get the chance to pick up some soccer-themed cosmetics either through fan gifts or by purchasing them with Ramen, The Darwin Project‘s in-game currency, in the item shop.
Since its release on Steam Early Access, The Darwin Project has had over 1.4 million downloads. Since then, they’ve added a lot of content like duo mode and cosmetics – what we’ve come to expect from other battle royale games – and a skill-based matchmaking system that lets you play with other players that match your level. You can take a look at all of that now, on Steam Early Access and on Xbox Game Preview.
