CREATIVITY AND COMBAT COLLIDE IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC 2.5D WORLD: REPLACED’S OUTLAWED RUN INTO THE ROGUELIKE RAZE

‘Replaced’ is a beacon of a classic, looking both forward and back in a time when nostalgia and innovation are merged in our minds This 2.5D sci-fi action platformer developed by Ukraine’s Sad Cat Studios blends the magic of pixel art with the cinematic impacts of free-flow action combat. In the 20-minute demo I tried during the Summer Game Fest Play Days event, a detailed backstory creates a world where the past and future collide in a dystopian landscape of corruption and greed.

ENGAGE IN THE CHARGE: COMBAT MECHANICS AND STRATEGY

And it’s in Replaced’s combat that you can most tangibly see its focus. Playing as the hacker R.E.A.C.H. – a sentient AI trapped inside a human body – you use a sword to counter the hordes of enemies that pursue you; you dodge, sidestep and parry. Combat is meticulous but visceral, as your character blocks and hits with a sword that can be swung lightly or heavily. Dinosaurs pound on your human appearing protagonist, while blood is splattered on the walls of a bombed city.

TAKE CHARGE: EXPLORING THE DYSTOPIAN AUTHORITY

It moved beyond combat, too, because Replaced reveals much of its cultural decline by showing what the world is like outside of combat, when you explore the city’s underbelly. The rich people who run the city, who live at the end of the subway’s tunnels, clearly outlined the class differences, explaining the theme of revolution and survival.

A CHARGED ATMOSPHERE: SETTING AND AESTHETICS

There is an undeniable aesthetic charge to Replaced. Its 2.5D pixel art – the centrality of its hues, the abundance of its detail, the vigorous animation of even the most incidental hand-drawn aesthetics – renders an alternate 1980’s in which what’s depicted is as beautiful as it is haunting. Equally meticulous in its scripting, the cinematic platformer sequencing of the game’s four episodes – a potent mix of Wally Beatty’s fleeting moments, from the painstaking backdrops of the game’s verdant anthropocene to the grimy bowels of the subterranean quarters – imbues all of its visual – and aural – communications with atmosphere and meaning. Here, too, the story and the gameplay are in service of one another, with every moment of the game an experience in and of itself.

MASTERY OF THE CHARGE: OVERCOMING ENEMIES AND BOSSES

Fighting in Replaced is an exercise in style. Timer placement and target targeting must be mastered. The armoured opposition and the giant boss fight are tests of skill, encouragements to adapt. If the charge mechanic rewards pace as much as patience, there is a clear way in which the game merges action and strategy into one pleasing, challenging and tactical combat experience.

A CHARGED NARRATIVE: IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING

Besides setting up a resonant story-level charge and feigning a veneer of realism, the gameplay scenes provide emotive exchanges and subtly suggestive environmental detailers, which make it worth your while to poke around every nook of its dystopian environment.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHARGE IN REPLACED

With ‘Replaced’ now at rest, it’s evident that the idea of charge – whether that be the charge of arms, the charge of the atmosphere, or the narrative push – is crucial. A purely functional mechanism, it’s nonetheless a fitting tribute to the elegance and craftmanship of the game, which is about much more than its gritty veneer: power, resistance and survival. Replaced is pretty unlike anything else at this time: a combination of tactical action, world-building and storytelling, wrapped in an incredibly beautiful dystopian veneer. Atmospheric charge mechanics, a gripping narrative, and gorgeous visuals make it an important and impactful addition to the genre. But as I’m developing it, as it comes closer to launch, the excitement builds and builds. Are players going to be ready for this mission, to help R.E.A.C.H. and, really, all of Replaced come into being and what this world should be? It’s a journey that’s exciting to watch, both now and down the road.