''Paradigm'' is a

graphic adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

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developed by Jacob Janerka. The game has an Eastern European 1970s and 1980s post-apocalyptic look.

Plot

The game follows Paradigm, a genetically grown person that was horribly mutated in the process, who was dumped in a

post-Soviet The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

town to grow up on his own. Paradigm then adventures through his past of DUPA Genetics only to find out he is a mutated prodigy child and that he must defeat Olof, a talking sloth who is the head of DUPA Genetics.

Development

The game was

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through

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

which ended on October 7, 2014, having raised $36,557 AUD by 1,387 backers, 250% over its initial funding goal of $14,000 AUD. To help crowd-fund the project, the game's designer Jacob Janerka quit his job.

Release

Together with the Kickstarter, an alpha demo of the game was available to download and play. The game was originally slated for release in mid-2015. On August 4, 2016, the game was chosen as one of six winners to be showcased at the PAX Aus Indie Showcase 2016. In March, 2017, a trailer was released on the developer's YouTube channel with a release date reveal of April, 5th, 2017 for Steam and

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Reception

Reviews for the game were generally positive, with the game currently holding an average score of 85 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

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'' gave the game a 9 out of 10, praising its offbeat sense of humour, engaging story, distinctive world and diverse characters. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave the game an 8.0 out of 10, praising its voice acting and comedy and saying that it "offers a fresh and memorable entry" for the genre. ''Press Start'' gave the game a 9 out of 10, praising its humor, well thought out puzzles, the game's world and for avoiding the tropes of the genre. ''Paradigm'' was one of the winners of the "Australian Game of The Year" award at the 2017

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References

External links

{{Portal, Video games, Australia
Official site
2017 video games Crowdfunded video games Kickstarter-funded video games MacOS games Indie games Point-and-click adventure games Video games developed in Australia Video games set in Eastern Europe Windows games