Replaced
Developer: Sad Cat Studios
Publisher: Thunderful Games
Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X (Reviewed)
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $19.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Almost everywhere someone looks these days, there is some type of AI integration or companion involved. Whether it happens to be a pre-installed AI assistant on a cell phone, something pre-installed on the computer, or even an Alexa, AI has continued to climb its way into our lives whether we hope for it or not. But what if things didn’t play out the way they did back during World War II, and what if instead of a complete fallout, the devastation led to a new breakthrough in human technological advancement? That is the type of story that Sad Cat Studios offers when it comes to REPLACED. With parts of humanity living what appears to be a care-free life, what happens when this technological advancement starts coming at the cost of everything else?
Story
Set in a dystopian alternate past where, rather than successfully deploy nuclear weapons on Japan, the United States nuked itself by accident, triggering massive fallout throughout most of the country. This resulted in the founding of the Phoenix Corporation to help raise the country from the ashes, and Phoenix City is the hub of where their greatest invention lies, an incredibly advanced AI called R.E.A.C.H. Set in 1984, players take on the role of Doctor Warren Marsh who helped create R.E.A.C.H. in order to save as many people as possible but, during a ’bout of overworking, somehow triggers an explosion that transfers the AI, now known as REACH, into Warren’s body.
In an attempt to seek help from the explosion, REACH tries to speak with first responders only to find them executing survivors and firing upon him, forcing him to flee into the outskirts of the city and end up thrown over the wall, surviving by sheer luck and finding himself fighting through a gang of crazed survivors before being saved by Tempest, one of the leaders of the local city where Disposals have come to try their best to survive together despite being seen as castaways, their organs harvested and their bodies tossed over the wall with little care if they survive or not. With REACH barely able to understand human emotion or even what drives these people, let alone how their situation came about since, at least according to its programming only volunteers can donate their organs. Despite this, REACH has one goal in mind, returning back to the lab where this all started and returning Warren’s body back to him and allowing REACH back into its artificial form.
REPLACED tells an engaging narrative because not only does it tell its own overarching storyline about trying to see the Disposals rise up against the people who made them outcasts in the first place but also tells the story of what it means to be human. This is done through watching REACH’s reactions and interactions with characters as he learns more about the world and the real situation of the people in it, not just what he was programmed to believe. Thankfully a fairly solid collection of side-characters and main characters alongside REACH play off of his unique approach to things, especially since REACH narrates to himself a lot, trying to “compute” the oddities of everything that he has seen compared to what he thought he knew. This is also helped out by a slew of collectables scattered throughout the game as well as background details while exploring. Most of these collectables provide extra backstory about the world itself or details about specific events that have happened and ironically certain historical moments, such as JFK and Nixon, remain true even in this altered history.
What is unfortunate however is the game’s pacing. While the story may start out fast paced and keep players guessing what will happen next, they will then be drawn into incredibly simple missions that offer very little plot progression beyond “building” REACH’s inevitable move into the city. These story sections drag heavily, especially regarding the side-quests which almost entirely involve simply walking from one character to another to complete them, but doing these also provides extra bonuses such as health boosts, energy charging, and more. It is also worth noting that far too many locations that players travel through, despite being gorgeous looking as we will go over later, feel far too padded out. Given REACH’s movement speed, holding right for nearly a minute to trigger the next scene without any other input is far from engaging, despite how interesting the story waiting on the other side might be.
Gameplay
REPLACED is best described as a 2.5D style platformer with the occasional fight mixed in and a puzzle here and there, though these puzzles are incredibly basic and even the combat itself leaves a bit to be desired. Despite Warren Marsh being, as far as players are shown, a scientist that spent all of his time at a desk or hooked up to a neuro-helmet, REACH is able to use his body to pull off some rather impressive moves both inside and outside of combat. REACH can easily jump from platform to platform, occasionally needing to catch and pull himself up or roll over an edge if timed incorrectly but the actual timing is usually quite tight in these platforming sequences. A jump slightly too early can lead to an instant death fall and, oddly enough, REACH cannot jump straight up and will bounce into a wall he should be able to climb up otherwise and need to jump at it from a slight distance.
Some more complex additions to platforming are added a little later on, such as having to use a pickaxe to notch into “damaged” looking concrete that the game has trouble registering correctly, adding various hazards such as steam, electricity, and even fire that will instantly kill REACH, and the aforementioned puzzle element that is basically the only real puzzle through the first three quarters of the game, moving boxes or “air blowing” platforms. Platforms that are blowing air can be used to “double jump” with REACH using his gun to shoot downwards and give himself a bit of extra boost to reach his target. Otherwise general climbing navigation is simply following the yellow painted handles and ledges.
The combat in REPLACED is a bit of a mixed bag as it does have some interesting ideas but doesn’t really evolve a lot along the way despite offering new “tools” as players progress. Whenever players enter a battle arena REACH will draw his baton/gun and partake in melee focused combat with waves of enemies that appear both in the background and plane that the player is on. This strange portrayal of characters makes for a mess of what actual enemies are fighting when, and can be incredibly annoying if players are aiming at an enemy that is in the backlines waiting for their turn. Either way, with the melee system enemies will flash with either red exclamation marks signifying that players will need to dodge the attack or a yellow exclamation mark meaning they can parry it and lay into the enemy instead.
Some enemies will have armor that will need to be ripped away using the pickaxe players obtain shortly into the game before they can be properly damaged. The firearm that players eventually obtain can only be fired once, initially, and is charged by being on the offensive and striking at foes, giving players a one-shot kill usually on most enemies when it is charged and ready to fire. Eventually the combat adds an Overdrive function to the firearm that accumulates over multiple fights and can be used to fire multiple rounds in a row when activated. Another defensive/offensive option eventually unlocked is the ability to reflect incoming enemy fire and hit another enemy with it instead by pressing a certain button the moment an enemy’s aiming line turns red. Unfortunately the timing for this seems rather off since, for as many times as it worked correctly, it also resulted in REACH catching a round to the face. Reflecting enough bullets will also charge a Shockwave ability that can take out numerous foes as well but is unlocked far too late into the game to feel meaningful.
The boss fights are generally fairly interesting as most bosses feature a unique feature that players will need to take on one way or another, be it their attack pattern varying, an extra modified feature that players will need to keep an eye on, or something else unique. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the final two bosses of the game. One simply involves a late introduced hacking mini-game and platforming and the final boss is a massive let down, making the entire final few confrontations feel lackluster compared to earlier encounters. It is also worth noting that stealth and chase sequences in REPLACED are terribly boring. Stealth involves simply avoiding red spotlights, usually through boxes or robots that move slower than the player does, and the chase sequences tend to be so tightly timed that players will need to be literally holding the run button during the loading screen to even have a chance of success, since the enemy will move before the player can and kill them if not.
It is also worth noting that once players complete REPLACED there is sadly no way to replay old chapters through Chapter Select or even a “new game plus” mode of sorts. This means that any collectables or optional objectives that players may have missed involving the game’s lore or side characters can only be found by starting a new run entirely from the beginning. Even attempting to reload a completed save will start players at the final platforming section of the final boss, giving players little replayability unless they want to run through the entire title again.
Audio & Visual
It must be said that Sad Cat Games has done something absolutely wonderful when it comes to REPLACED’s visuals. They have crafted a gorgeously dystopian world in the most unique way possible and nearly every location players explore shines as a result. While a few locations feel a bit repetitive, most are quite outstanding looking as players traverse through the cyberpunk dystopia. There are even a few moments where REACH himself will stop and admire the worldview. That being said, it is disappointing that the designs of enemies are rather generic and don’t lean into the whole body experiments as far as they could have outside of one instance, and even then it wasn’t even a visual element.
It is worth noting that there is no voice work of any kind in REPLACED. Even the audio diaries that players find are simply shown as text in the player’s collectables. The background music on the other hand is outstanding and it is a nice touch that players can collect the background music and listen to it on their handheld in the game, but it is rather unfortunate that they cannot play these tracks while platforming around, only in the menu itself.
Overall
REPLACED is a stunning looking game that takes 2.5D to the next level and that is something Sad Cat Games should truly feel proud of here. Combine that with a story that grows to be incredibly interesting over time and players will find themselves eager to see the end of REACH’s journey, even if it means they’ll have to deal with combat that grows repetitive, generic platforming, and annoying stealth sections along the way to see it through.
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