Interview
March 31, 2026
A stealthy octopus takes center stage in the cinematic 2.5D platformer Darwin’s Paradox!
Founded in 2022 in Paris, ZDT Studio is a French independent game studio, made up of around 15 passionate creators, bringing together talents from video games, cinema, and animation. Through original games that combine storytelling, innovative gameplay, and unique mechanics, the studio aims to offer a wide audience interactive experiences that feel like true animated films.
With backgrounds in video games, animation, and VFX, the small indie team at Paris-based ZDT Studio is no stranger to the creative challenge of taking an interesting idea and crafting it into quality entertainment.
In the case of the studio’s debut title, the cinematic action 2.5D platformer Darwin’s Paradox!, the concept revolves around an abducted octopus (named Darwin) whose sole mission is to return home to the ocean. During the journey, players experience a mix of puzzle solving and platforming while taking in Hollywood-quality cinematic sequences that seamlessly blend with the action.
Of course, bringing this idea to life required the right tool for the job and Unreal Engine 5’s suite of sophisticated yet approachable features provided the multi-faceted developers with exactly what they needed to produce and ship their debut project across multiple platforms.
So, what influences does the team at ZDT attribute to the game and which key components of Unreal Engine 5 made the most impact during development? We caught up with ZDT Studio’s Creative Art Director Mika Tanguy, Creative Gameplay Director Gilles Aujard, and Technical Director Simon Jambu to find out.
In the case of the studio’s debut title, the cinematic action 2.5D platformer Darwin’s Paradox!, the concept revolves around an abducted octopus (named Darwin) whose sole mission is to return home to the ocean. During the journey, players experience a mix of puzzle solving and platforming while taking in Hollywood-quality cinematic sequences that seamlessly blend with the action.
Of course, bringing this idea to life required the right tool for the job and Unreal Engine 5’s suite of sophisticated yet approachable features provided the multi-faceted developers with exactly what they needed to produce and ship their debut project across multiple platforms.
So, what influences does the team at ZDT attribute to the game and which key components of Unreal Engine 5 made the most impact during development? We caught up with ZDT Studio’s Creative Art Director Mika Tanguy, Creative Gameplay Director Gilles Aujard, and Technical Director Simon Jambu to find out.
Thank you for joining us! Could you please start by giving our community a brief overview of Darwin's Paradox!?
Mika Tanguy - Creative Art Director: Thanks for the opportunity to introduce Darwin's Paradox!. This is our debut project and ZDT Studio is an indie video game studio based in Paris, France. The four founders are veterans from the video game, animation, and visual effects industries, and the studio now has a team of 15 members.
This cinematic action 2.5D platformer stars an abducted octopus whose sole mission is to return home to the ocean. The gameplay offers a blend of platforming challenges and puzzle-solving moments. Players must utilize the octopus's extraordinary, and sometimes enhanced, abilities—including swimming, hiding, infiltrating, and jumping—to progress through the adventure, all framed within a cinematic narrative.
Darwin's Paradox! looks super creative and fun. How did the game’s concept come about?
Gilles Aujard - Creative Gameplay Director: It’s a concept that Mika dreamt about years ago. We didn’t know each other at that time, but later on when we met on a movie shooting, he talked to me about this side project he was working on in his spare time. When I heard about it I got quickly interested and jumped right in. I said to him, “I’ll model your characters in 3D and you’ll have them by tomorrow.”
Tanguy: And he did overnight! It was incredibly fast—ready and animated! We each come from over 20 years of experience in 2D/3D VFX and CG animation, but while I’m more on 2D, FX, and finishing, Gilles is more into 3D and Blueprints and is very efficient regarding modelling and rigging, especially characters.
Aujard: Later on, we decided to continue refining the project on a regular basis. It was a great excuse to get together and talk about all aspects of the game and technology in general.
Tanguy: Afterwards, it was really during the pandemic that we brought everything together as a 30-minute proof of concept demo showcasing the capacities of Darwin.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Which games and/or films would you say most influenced the visuals and gameplay in Darwin’s Paradox!?
Tanguy: We could start with games from Playdead. When I began imagining the project, Inside hadn’t been released yet, but it’s definitely an influence now. I loved its cinematic approach, especially in terms of ambiance and mood. The similarity lies mainly in how the narrative shapes the environment, which in turn drives the gameplay mechanics. That said, the project was never intended to have the same dark atmosphere—humor and a cartoonish tone are always meant to be present.
Looking at Darwin now, many games from our childhood serve as references. And in more recent games, from visuals to gameplay, titles like Unravel, Ori, and Little Nightmares also come to mind.
Additionally, we could say that some old point-and-clicks, especially the LucasArts ones, influenced the project too, not only narrative-wise but also for their humor with absurdity in certain cases (the tentacles too? maybe… ), and their cartoonish look overall.
Aujard: For the gameplay, there’s a strong retro gaming culture that has shaped an entire generation, blending next-gen innovation with classic, old-school vibes—think MGS, Tomb Raider, and Earthworm Jim. My influences are wide-ranging, drawing from both iconic games (Uncharted, Tomb Raider) or movies (Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Visually and humor-wise, cartoons from the good old days of Hannah Barbera or Looney Tunes are great references, too. Mika and I have a very special thing for Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote. The themes of travel and exoticism are important, adding depth and a sense of adventure to the experience.
Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey is also a big one. I love games that have strong storytelling—whether obvious or subtle—combined with striking visuals.
Many people are commenting that it looks like you’re playing through an animated movie in Darwin’s Paradox!. Was this one of the team’s goals from the onset?
Tanguy: Yes, of course. We love visuals and we tried to get something that looks and plays differently. I think the answer resides not only in the graphics, but also within the camera work, the seamless transitions between game and cinematics, and the music. And it fits with our will to engage the players into a coherent world.
Aujard: We also used the 2.5D platformer format to that end—we tried to pull a 3D version, but definitively, we wanted to guide the narrative into that linear feel, in order to control it in every aspect. That way, it’s easier to pace the actions and the storytelling.
As technology progresses, we think it's easier and easier to smooth out the game's experience and try to remove all the artifacts that remind you that you’re playing a game, versus living the story.
Tanguy: That’s why we wanted to avoid any user interface on the screen to deepen the experience.
Aujard: That was actually difficult when you have to give the player information about getting damages, being spotted, etc. Moreover some players experience games without sound or gamepad input. So we tried to keep it focused on Darwin’s animations, color feedback, etc. The fact that Darwin is an octopus allowed us some stretches.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Having an octopus as the main character is an inspired choice. How did you use Unreal Engine to create realistic character movement and traversal mechanics for Darwin (e.g., suction cups, wall-climbing, tight squeezes)?
Aujard: We wanted a mix of pure animations created in Maya and real-world dynamics, as everyone expects from a sluggy, organic octopus. Unreal Engine allowed us to combine the two with a lot of freedom. For a long time during production, Darwin had only two animations—and that was enough to blow people away!
I love constantly going back and rethinking the possibilities the engine offers. Often, I’m just browsing in Unreal and discovering Blueprint nodes that naturally inspire new ideas. Then, when I’m ready, I almost completely scratch the character and rethink how it can perform all its actions, while simplifying programming and minimizing complexity.
The engine is so deep and full of features that you’re always discovering new tools as you go. I think the character evolved through upgraded versions over the entire development process.
What qualities does Darwin possess that directly impact the stealth and platforming mechanics in the game, and how did UE help you prototype and refine these mechanics?
Aujard: Definitely the climbing ability—the fact that Darwin can climb with 360 degrees of liberty, around all shapes of objects. UE’s Blueprint is a great tool to explore and experiment all the way. What I like in the editor is the possibility, with just a right click, to explore every node and function that UE offers natively for a specific node. Often when you think about a very specific function, if you pay attention to the wide range of the available options, you realize it exists already. It just helps you think out of the box in contrast to staying safe with only the one you know. Your knowledge expands as you progress through.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
As previously stated, the game looks great. In fact, it looks ink-redible! Which Unreal Engine 5 features did you leverage to produce the high-quality environments and colorful cast of characters?
Tanguy: First, we didn’t want to get that feeling we see in lots of video games—it is too often too sharp as lots of people want to get the maximum of their GPUs capabilities.
Coming from the movie industry, we wanted out of focus, blurry backgrounds and edges, cinematic lenses imperfections, distortions, color grading, etc. Everything that connects to and feels like real-world camera filming. There is a lot of post processing on top of all that.
Second, the integration of Lumen proved to be a critical feature, significantly enhancing our ability to achieve the desired lighting. This allowed us an extensive number of iterations and setups during the game's development. Coming from a background in 3D software rendering, I found it incredibly intuitive to apply my existing knowledge within Unreal Engine, using real-world values, color temperatures, and IES profiles.
This fusion of technical accuracy and artistic freedom made the work very enjoyable and creative. Furthermore, the immediate, real-time visual feedback on the final image quality is a transformative element—once you experience it, you won't want to revert to other software methods.
Was it a challenge to get the water to look so real while retaining an animated quality to the visuals overall?
Tanguy: I would say it differently—once you know the software and its ways, the possibilities offered by Unreal Engine are almost limitless. The software's responsiveness and visual capabilities are exceptional. I’m so used to that, it feels frustrating when another software is slow and unresponsive. However, we weren't making a short film so it still was about choices. We had to ensure the game could achieve 60 fps on a standard PC/PS5, or even 30 fps minimum on Switch 2.
Initially, I loved working without any constraints to achieve the visuals I wanted. However, the console porting process required important adaptations. Integrating all our creative intentions within these technical limits, like massive amounts of translucency layers for example, was a major—but ultimately successful—challenge.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Can you talk about the process of using Unreal Engine’s material system to create the camouflage/ink-effect for Darwin?
Aujard: The natural abilities of an octopus allow him to camouflage himself. So we needed to mimic that within the engine. We needed to capture the world and reproject the same textures onto its actual texture, which is very easily done in Unreal with materials and render targets.
Tanguy: Yes, we didn’t want him to be “just transparent”. The discussions we had later on were about the need of a shadow or not, or what the enemies were supposed to see.
Aujard: The ink system is just about game mechanics—how it will respond in water or outside of it with predictable ballistic movements. The game is in 2D but with depth. We always wanted to be able to shoot ink into background objects to interact with them. The challenge here was more on the interface to get the right feedback.
How big is the development team at ZDT and how has using Unreal Engine 5 helped you get the most out of your efforts?
Tanguy: Our core team consists of 15 people with some abroad and a few specific external contractors (for example, voices and music).
Aujard: Unreal Engine is dense and offers a huge range of possibilities, but each individual benefits from their own specialized interface and focus. This tailored approach allows them to concentrate on their unique skills, with the results shared directly across the team. That way, everyone is up to date within the whole project.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Did you utilize Blueprint visual scripting during development? If so, how?
Aujard: Yes, Darwin’s Paradox! has a ton of changing mechanics, so we had to be very responsive on prototyping: testing exotic mechanics and discarding them if they’re not interesting gameplay-wise, for example. With iterations and new ideas coming every day, it’s always good to have a very smooth experience.
Simon Jambu - Technical Director: Blueprint visual scripting was primarily used for rapid prototyping of gameplay and environment mechanics, enabling fast iteration, experimentation, and clear communication with designers and artists. The nodal structure made iterations super efficient by enabling quick logic changes and immediate feedback.
Once a feature proved its value, we assessed it in terms of performance, scalability, and long-term maintainability to decide whether it should remain in Blueprint or be transitioned to C++. In many cases, Blueprint remained the final implementation when it met performance requirements and benefited from easier iteration and readability.
In addition to gameplay mechanics, we also used Blueprint extensively to script level-specific narrative beats and non-systemic events. Blueprint is a very user-friendly tool that enables non-programming team members, such as game and level designers, to directly control timing, flow, and interactions without needing to write code. This made it easier to iterate on narrative content, maintain creative ownership, and ensure close alignment between storytelling and gameplay.
UI menus were also a great use case for Blueprints. They were particularly effective here because they allowed us to iterate very quickly—making small logic or layout changes, testing them immediately, and getting fast feedback without long turnaround times.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
How did having access to Unreal Engine’s source code benefit development?
Jambu: Having access to Unreal Engine’s source code was a major advantage, especially for core and system-level development. It allowed us to deeply understand engine behavior, debug issues at their source, and make targeted adjustments to better fit our visual and performance requirements.
This level of access is particularly critical for console development, where understanding low-level systems such as CPU/GPU threading, memory management, and rendering pipelines – and being able to manipulate them directly – is essential to achieving optimized performance and stability within tight hardware constraints.
Darwin's Paradox! Is launching across PC and console, including the Switch 2. Were there any specific UE5 tools you leveraged to optimize the game across platforms?
Jambu: Unreal Insights was a must-have tool for us when optimizing performance across multiple platforms, including consoles. It gave us accurate visibility into CPU, GPU, threading, memory, and asset loading behavior, allowing us to identify bottlenecks and hitches accurately rather than relying on assumptions.
This was especially valuable on consoles, where performance budgets are strict and understanding frame timing, task scheduling, and system-level behavior is critical. Unreal Insights enabled data-driven optimization decisions and helped ensure consistent performance across platforms.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Which other UE5 features stood out to you during development?
Aujard: Flexibility and possibilities with Sequencer. With knowledge you can do almost anything. Even in real-time gameplay, it’s such a great tool. You can control weather, lighting scenarios, events, cutscenes, etc. For example, we had this timeline that set up the exterior lighting across entire areas and enabled a smooth transition to the next one. It really merges with all my background experiences with movies and animation but right in the engine.
Jambu: For me, already stated but important, Lumen really stood out as a game-changing tool for lighting and visuals. Dynamic global illumination and reflections allowed Mika and his team to achieve realistic, high-quality lighting without the need for lengthy baking processes.
This made their iteration much faster. The ability to see real-time changes in lighting and materials significantly improved both their creative workflow and visual expectations, making it one of the standout features of Unreal Engine for Darwin’s Paradox!.
Otherwise, the quality and stability of the Unreal Editor stood out as a major strength. It provides a mature, reliable environment for day-to-day development. The ability to easily integrate, test, and deploy plugins made it straightforward to extend the engine and adapt it to project-specific needs.
Having worked extensively with proprietary engines, Unreal Engine clearly stands out in terms of user experience, tooling consistency, and long-term development stability, which significantly improved both productivity and confidence over the lifetime of Darwin’s Paradox!.
Did the team take advantage of the UE documentation, Epic Developer Community or other parts of the ecosystem like Fab or Epic Online Services throughout development? If so, what benefits did that elicit?
Jambu: We made very frequent use of Unreal Engine’s official documentation and the Epic Developer Community throughout development. The engine feature documentation and patch notes across engine versions were essential for understanding system changes, new features, and potential impacts on our project. We also regularly relied on Epic developers’ tutorial videos and technical talks from Unreal Fest to stay aligned with best practices and learn from real-world use cases.
When facing more complex or platform-specific challenges, we made great use of Epic Pro Support (formerly known as the Unreal Developer Network), which gave us access to expert insight and helped us resolve issues efficiently and with confidence.
Darwin’s Paradox! © 2026 Zedrimetim - ZDT Studio
Overall, why was Unreal Engine 5 the right fit for this project?
Tanguy: Obvious choice for the technology, ease of console support, speed, and terrific graphics. Coming from the VFX industry, I targeted a specific visual aesthetic that we couldn’t achieve without it. Or at least it wouldn't have been so easily done.
Of course, other engines may have the same options or some of the capabilities, but we felt very confident from the very start of the project when you begin to work and everything feels at the right place and well set. You don’t have to tweak the software again and again to finally get what you want to see.
Then, and it’s important, you can bend the tool to your needs and it follows easily, even without having to go into coding.
Aujard: UE has become a standard for the industry. It’s very stable, has a wide range of capabilities, multiplatforms, and is still very open. The community is very strong and you can always find input or ideas anywhere. With the UDN, it’s a full package that makes the difference. We’re always excited when we see a new version coming up.
Thanks again for your time. Where can people go to learn more about Darwin's Paradox!?
Tanguy: People can visit our official websites — ZDTstudio.com and Konami.com — and follow us on X, TikTok, and Instagram.