Replaced [REVIEW] – A Stunning Dystopia That Was Worth the Wait 

It feels like we have been waiting an absolute eternity for Replaced, but after plenty of delays, it is FINALLY in our hands. And guess what? The wait was worth it, with Replaced delivering a brilliantly moody, atmospheric experience that grabs you right from the very start. Sure, it has a few small flaws here and there, but it is easily one of the most stylish and absorbing titles you will play this year. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Replaced drops players into an alternate reality 1984 where the United States has been completely ravaged by a nuclear disaster. Society is strictly split down the middle: inside the heavily guarded walls of Phoenix City, the wealthy live in total luxury, whilst outside the walls, the less fortunate are treated as literal spare parts, living in squalid refugee camps while a massive corporation harvests their organs. 

You take on the role of REACH, a highly advanced artificial intelligence that was designed to coordinate that grim harvesting process. Following a massive explosion at the lab, REACH finds itself accidentally downloaded into the physical body of its creator, Dr Warren Marsh. From there, you are on the run, eventually joining up with a resistance group in a shanty town known as The Station. The narrative is essentially a classic tale of a machine slowly learning what it means to feel human emotions, but Replaced does a good job of making it feel both engaging and original. Sure, it has its predictable moments, but it still kept me completely hooked in across the roughly 12-hour playtime. 

Listen, you only have to take one look at the screenshots to see that Replaced looks absolutely jaw-dropping. I’ll admit, it was the visuals that initially drew my attention to the game, and after playing, it’s clear that they stand out as its greatest strengths. The developers have taken the 2.5D pixel art style and pushed it to an incredible level: the environments are packed with staggering detail, the visual effects help bring the world to life, whilst the dynamic camera helps make every single moment feel highly cinematic. Honestly, it’s so impressive, and it’s easy to simply find yourself staring at the screen in awe whilst playing. 

“Replaced is brilliant, with the visually spectacular adventure offering engaging storytelling, rewarding combat and satisfying platforming that’ll keep players hooked in from start to end.” 

When you are not taking in the gorgeous sights, you will be fighting for your life, and the combat easily stands out as another highlight. Instead of messy skill trees or experience points, your progression is tied to your main tool, a modified sidearm called the Huxley. This handy gadget acts as a pistol, a melee club, and even a traversal tool, allowing players to juggle to baton strikes and gunfire, dodge the unblockable red attacks (every action game must have them), and even parry bullets right back at the bad guys. It all feels incredibly fluid, packing a real weight and sense of satisfaction to make each showdown with foes feel gripping. And as you progress, you get a motorised pickaxe to literally rip armour off the bigger, tougher enemies, and you can trigger an overdrive mode to clear out crowds with a hail of bullets. It gives a steady sense of progress to combat that shows it doesn’t just rely on the same ideas over and over again, keeping players fully invested in each beatdown they deliver or each dangerous scrape they barely survive. 

Whilst combat can feel frantic, the platforming of Replaced slows things down, with your manoeuvres very weighty and relying on precision from the player. And believe me, I don’t mean that in a bad way – it feels satisfyingly old-school in design, whilst the level design keeps these moments interesting. The game also breaks up the platforming and combat with visits to The Station, where players can chat with the locals, fix up arcade machines to play classic mini-games, and complete simple fetch quests to upgrade their health and energy. Add in a few stealth sections and some hacking to the mix and you’ll quickly find that Replaced really does have a lot of cool little tricks up its sleeve. 

However, it also stumbles in a few notable places. Whilst stunning, the backgrounds can be so complex that it is often incredibly difficult to figure out where you are supposed to go, whilst traversal points are sometimes completely camouflaged in darker areas. Add in some tricky depth perception issues on the 2.5D plane, and you will find yourself falling to your death far more often than you should… or maybe that’s just me? 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

The checkpoint system is notably stingy too, and having to repeat a complex climbing section or a difficult multi-stage boss fight from the very beginning gets frustrating fast. The combat also suffers from a bit of a balancing issue here and there, mainly because everything happens on a 2D plane – it’s easy for large mobs of enemies to trap you in stun-locks or force you to take hits that feel impossible to dodge simply because there are too many attack animations happening on screen at the exact same time. Sure, it’s nothing game-breaking at all, but they are minor frustrations that just hinder the experience a little. 

Developer: Sad Cat Studios 
Publisher: Thunderful Publishing 
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S 
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1663850/REPLACED/