I’ve been replaying Darwinia recently, a game I was shocked to see was released in 2005and which I bought soon after launch. I still love it.
Darwinia’s setting feels like a retro, Tron-like world where the subsystems of the computer software provide a whole ecosystem for the inhabitants (“Darwinians”, obvs) to inhabit. Its gameplay feels like the 3D polygon Cannon Fodder sequel we never got.
The framing device of its story is that you have hacked into the computer of an AI researcher, whose advanced world of evolving sentient beings has just been taken over by a virus. Despite this suspension of disbelief, I always feel like I should do my utmost to get my engineer units out as soon as possible, in order to save the souls of the Darwinians in time before they’re lost forever.