Wow, there’s so much I want to tell you about the game Replaced. I could talk about how you move and fight from the side, or the cool cityscapes that look like something from the future. I could also tell you about the flying cars and the bad company running this messed-up world. But you probably already know some of that from the ads. And after playing the first few hours, I can tell you it’s all there in the game. It’s as good as I hoped it would be since Replaced was first shown off a while back.
So, I’ll get into those details soon, but for now, if you’ll let me, I want to share something that really surprised me when I got to try Replaced at the publisher’s place last month. It’s how much real feeling and heart this tough, futuristic world has.
Let me quickly set the scene for you. Replaced is a game where you play from the side, kind of like the old games, but with a futuristic, 1980s American feel. This America was hit hard by a nuclear bomb, and now people are divided. On one side, there’s the greedy Phoenix Corporation, safe inside their city walls. On the other side are the people they don’t care about, living in poor towns outside the city. There’s also a mean group called the Termites who hunt people for fun. The story really kicks off when a smart computer program, called Reach, gets stuck inside a person’s body at a place called the Transplantology Department. That’s when Reach finds out just how rough things are outside the fancy city.
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As soon as I started playing as Reach, stuck in this new body, I felt like I needed to protect him. Reach only knows what he was taught by the person whose body he’s in. At the start, he’s very innocent, almost like a child. He just wants to keep the body safe and doesn’t understand why the police are after him. So, he runs away into a world he doesn’t know. At one point, Reach says he thought people outside the city walls would have what they need to live. “But this place is… ruined,” Reach says. He also mentions, “The way people act so aggressive doesn’t match the information I have.”
Luckily, Reach is saved from the mean Termites and broken-down places by someone named Tempest. She’s a really cool person who takes him to a safer spot called Prospero. (I noticed the names sound like they’re from Shakespeare, which is kind of neat). Even though Prospero doesn’t have much, it’s full of life. There’s a deep sadness there, but also hope. Some people there truly want to help others and do good things.
You could easily miss these good moments, but Replaced, from what I’ve played, has a good amount of extra missions that help you understand the world better if you talk to the people around. And I really think you should. For example, I helped a young girl fix an old arcade game. I then spent about 20 minutes playing a mini-game inside Replaced, which added a whole new layer to a game I thought would just be a simple action game.
Then there were people in Prospero who had a really hard life. A *really* hard life. But they weren’t just sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. They were finding ways to help others. Another story I came across, which I won’t spoil, really made me emotional. From my short time playing, the game developers, Sad Cat, have done an amazing job of mixing a dark world with characters you really feel for. There are some great characters, like the tough leader of Prospero, called Matriarch, the very unique “tech genius” Yo-Yo, and the serious but kind Ironwood.
You can also find lots of little notes and papers scattered around Replaced. Some of them are fun, like a box for a board game. Others are sad, like a notice about someone losing their home or a diary entry. Sad Cat has put an incredible amount of detail into this world.
And speaking of details, the way the game looks is just incredible. There were many times I just stopped playing to look around. The places you go, shown in beautiful pixel art, are so alive. Trees sway in the wind, birds fly overhead, sunlight shines through the leaves onto the ground, old signs hint at a better past, and there’s graffiti everywhere. It’s truly amazing to see.
When I wasn’t making friends in Prospero, I was fighting the police from Phoenix-City and different members of the Termite gang. I used speed, strength, and sneaking to get through. When things first went wrong for poor Reach, I did what anyone would do – I ran. I dodged bullets flying at me, jumped over fences and logs, and got away from the city into the woods. The way you move between running and jumping felt smooth and quick. Even though that part might have lasted a *little* too long, it was exciting.
But soon, I was face-to-face with a big cop who wanted to hurt me. That’s when Reach and I learned to block and dodge attacks. You can tell when to block by little yellow ‘lightning bolts’ above an enemy’s head, and when to dodge by a red one. Later, I found a gun. Reach couldn’t shoot it yet because of a special lock, but he could use it like a club, which was useful against those Termites. Then it was just a matter of punching and repeating.
For a while, I worried the fighting might get boring, but thankfully, a bit later in the game, I could finally shoot my gun thanks to Yo-Yo. I couldn’t just go crazy with it, though. It wasn’t like a movie where you just start blasting. I had to charge the gun with energy by hitting and blocking enemy attacks. Only then could I fire a really satisfying shot at an enemy.
As for the enemies, they were everything from simple Termite soldiers to tougher ones called Tank Termites. Some enemies had guns too, so it was important to watch what everyone was doing during a fight. I got shot quite a few times when I was only focused on one Termite and didn’t see another one sneaking up behind me (thank goodness for those health packs I found earlier!).
Then there was the leader of the Termites, a tough guy named Uncle Ben. He looks like a mix of a character from the Monkey Island games and, after someone pointed it out, the bad guy from Disney’s Mulan. Before I could fight him, I had to sneak past the rest of his crew, using my third skill: stealth!
I had to avoid the searchlight from a patrolling Termite car, which had a very good sniper. I used a new pickaxe to swing behind things and stay hidden. I hid behind boxes, climbed up walls, and squeezed through windows, all while trying not to get caught by the light that would mean instant death. To be honest, I didn’t get past him the first time. Or the second. It took me several tries to finally get past the searching cars. For a while, I kept making Reach fall to his death because I couldn’t use my pickaxe at the right moment. I’m pretty sure he forgives me, though…
I really enjoyed my time with Replaced. I always thought I would like it, but it turned out to be even better than I expected. There are still a few things that aren’t perfect. The bright yellow markers that show you where to go can be a bit distracting, and there could have been more different kinds of enemies.
But overall, I think Replaced has the chance to be something really special. I have a feeling I’ll need tissues by the end of the game because of where I think the story is going, and well, emotions. And while feelings alone aren’t everything, it’s the harshness and realness of its dark world that makes its human heart so important.