Darwinia Walkthrough: Garden Level

Welcome To Darwinia!

Darwinia begins with a simple level called Garden, which is a sort of tutorial.

As you enter the game the good doctor will give you a quick thank you and then tell you to get your bearings. There isn’t much going on yet. Create a squad and an engineer following the on-screen tutorial instructions and then plow forward with your squad. The upgrades you received from the intro don’t apply, by the way - so your squad is three people and you have no grenades.

After plowing through several clusters of virus you’ll find a a bit of research. Use an engineer to research it. Congratulations! You have your grenades back.

You’ll now see a sort of satellite uplink ahead. Use an engineer to reprogram it and then select the satellite dish. You’ll be told that you can aim a dish at any dish facing you in order to transport units from one island to the next. Aim at the dish directly across the sea and press A. A beam of light will form if you were successful. Now select your squad and move it to the satellite dish. They will be transported to the next island. Do the same for your engineer and allow the engineer to reprogram the the control tower on the new island. There is a large batch of virus on this island - kill it with extreme prejudice.

Once you’ve killed the the virus you’ll see some Darwinians ahead. When you reach them the doctor will tell you to take the control tower ahead in order to open the portal. There are more viruses ahead. Clear it out so your engineers can capture the point. Once you’re done with this first simple level and you can exit the location.

Entering Containment

The doctor will explained to you that Containment is a sort of Hub. He has been able to protect it, but only because of something called a “double shield” and only because the Trunk Ports have all been closed. Now that you’re around it is time to go on the offense - and that means opening the Trunk Ports.

Your point of view actually starts at the Trunk Port, but there is another control tower to the left which is already under your control. Make your squad there to save yourself the journey and then clear our the virus nearby. Stay to your left as you move forward. You’ll come across a centipede along as the way. He’s tough, so be careful.

Once you reach the base of the large mount to your left turn left and head towards the radar dish. Build an engineer to reprogram the control tower and gain access to the dish. Select the dish and aim at the one across the sea, Press A to establish the connection. Select your squad and move them to the radar dish to teleport them across, then select your engineer and move it to the control tower on the new island.

There are two centipeds on this island. Kill them both and then move to the control tower on the other side. You’ll run into some research while you’re on your way. Use an engineer to access it and you’ll gain access to the Officer program. The doctor will ask that you use an officer to move the Darwinians underneath the tree in the middle of the shield area.

Containment: Moving Forward

Use the radar by the control tower you just captured to teleport to the next island. There is a bunch of virus in the valley here as well as a red floating bug-like creature. You need to clear a path through to the incubator on the far side of the island. There is a new enemy hear called a Spore Pod. The Spore Pod will lay eggs that turn into new viruses. It can’t he hurt by lasers, so the only way to kill it is to wait until it drops to the ground to lay an egg and then hit it with a grenade. Once you’ve kill it and reached the incubator use your engineers to reprogram it and then head to the next control point. This point controls a Trunk Port to the Generator.

Containment: Making Darwinians

Once you’ve enabled the Trunk Port the doctor will unveil a new goal - create 50 Darwinians and guide them under the tree in the center of the level. You have an incubator now, so clean up the souls from the viruses you killed and use them to create Darwinians. You need to guide those Darwinians back to the tree. Take control of the radar dish on this island and aim it at the radar dish to the right on the mainland. It will not be easy to see, but you should hear a blip when your reticle is over it. Once this has been done, promote and Officer and set the radar dish as the destination. This will tell the Darwinians to use that dish to teleport over to the mainland. You’ll need to promote a few more officers to guide them safely back to under the tree the doc wants them to be under. Be sure to check that there are no viruses along the way. This will probably give you the 50 Darwinians that the doctor requested.

If it didn’t, however, that’s fine, because there is another incubator on the mainland which we passed up. Take all of your units and direct them back to the mainland and to the incubator. Take the incubator over and then move forward to the Trunk Portal ahead. Take that over as well. Keep moving and destroy the group of viruses, along with the Centipede, which is guarding the second radar station on the mainland. Once the viruses are destroyed move in an engineer to capture the control tower and radar and also to collect the souls for conversion into Darwinians at the new incubator. Once the radar dish is under your control aim it at the island across the sea. Teleport your squad to the new island. You’ll also want to bring over an engineer to take the control tower.

Containment: Conquer the Mountain

There is a very large mountain covering the center of this island. Use the squad to kill the centipedes and then move around the back of the mountain. You’ll find a group of viruses in an enclave here. Wipe them out and continue along the edge of the island.

Cross over the top of the mountain and head towards the incubator in the distance surrounded by a massive group of viruses. Take the viruses out as well as the Spore Pod. Remember, it can only be killed by grenades when it lowers to lay eggs. Once the enemy is killed you can use engineers to take over the incubator and harvest the souls to make more Darwinians. However, you can’t just let the Darwinians stay at the incubator. There is a Triffid nearby, and it will shoot red egg-like projectiles everyone minute or so. If left alone these will explode and turn into a virus. You’ll need to user an officer to direct the Darwinians to the radar dish so they can teleport back to the mainland.

Once the Darwinians are evacuated move a squad and an engineer to the Trunk Portal at the end of the island. Capture the control tower to turn on the Trunk Portal. That’s it! You’re done with this level.