Replaced Review

After years of anticipation, neon filled trailers oozing with character, and several delays, I was on the edge of my seat when I realised REPLACED was finally arriving and nevertheless, on Xbox Game Pass. Developed by Sad Cat Studios, this 2.5D “cinematic platformer” has been one of the most watch listed indie titles since its reveal in 2021.

The first thing you’ll notice, and the thing you’ll never stop noticing, is the art direction. I am a sucker for something that speaks out to me in an art style or the choice in OST. REPLACED is, without exaggeration, one of the most beautiful games ever made in the 2.5D space. It uses a unique “hi-bit” style that blends traditional pixel art with modern 3D lighting, depth of field, and particle effects which just puts a smile on my face soaking everything in for the first time.

The game is based in an alternative, dystopian 1980s America. You play as R.E.A.C.H., artificial intelligence that has been forcibly “uploaded” into a human body against its will. You play a protagonist who moves around disconnected from the sense of machine and trying to pilot a biological machine trying to understand everything a human is capable off that mere machines cannot comprehend.

Walking through Phoenix City feels like stepping into a comic art book. Just having attention to detail with rain slicks the pavement, neon signs reflect in muddy puddles, and the background is teeming with life and struggle. Whether you’re navigating the cramped, derelict apartments or the high-tech, sterile corporate labs, the level of detail is staggering.

While the trailers focused on atmosphere, the actual gameplay is split between exploration, cinematic platforming, and a surprisingly robust combat system that evolves as you progress in game. The combat in REPLACED draws heavy inspiration from the Batman: Arkham series. It’s a rhythmic, flow-based system that rewards timing over button mashing in the hopes of a quick fix. You’ll find yourself surrounded by baddies and corporate thugs needing to parry incoming attacks (marked by yellow indicators) and dodge unblockable strikes (red indicators). It is down to you to get the rhythm down to a tee and make sure to barrel roll out of danger when getting surrounded by enemies.

Every punch and kick feel heavy and you can slowly feel your blood pumping because of a mistimed button press or eager to jump to gun. The animation work is so smooth that R.E.A.C.H. transitions between targets with a brutal, cinematic grace. The “Gun-Baton” is your primary tool which is a multi-purpose police baton that can fire a single, devastating shot once charged. Activating this trigger a mini cutscene where the camera zooms in to show your enemy being hit with a Doom inspired finisher that just gets better every time.

In the latter half of the game, the enemy variety spikes. You’ll have to juggle harder encounters, which are introduced as a fair pace such as armoured heavies, agile assassins, and long-range shooters. Whilst having hints of frustration making encounters feel like a high-stakes puzzle and controls the storyline as you progress. Because the art style is so dense and full of effects like film grain and bloom, it can occasionally be hard to see the tiny tells of an enemy attack during the most chaotic brawls which certain colour schemes chosen but once you have played a fair amount, you really get the feel for the combat and easily can overcome a couple of these sections.

The story of REPLACED is its strongest pillar outside of the visuals. It avoids the tired “AI wants to be human” tropes and instead leans into a darker, more political territory. In this version of the ‘80s, human organs have become a currency. The poor “donate” their bodies to pay off debts, and the rich live forever by swapping organs and body parts. The relationship between R.E.A.C.H and the town of Phoenix City is really heartwarming and acts as the hub area, taking on side quests which award you with upgrades and a chance to soak the lore in more. These sections can dampen the pace a little but are worth checking out to really get a feel of the doom and gloom.

This is where the game might divide people, but REPLACED is a cinematic platformer and the movement is heavy which is a stylistic choice to show that R.E.A.C.H doesn’t have the snappy reflexes but has to learn how to be human and navigate how far they can push the body. The platforming sections are usually rhythm and momentum based very similar to an interactive action movie and get small hits of dopamine. You will be hanging off ledges, swinging across pipes and using a pickaxe to scale walls. A lot of these sections lean on trial and error which gives it a puzzle element to the game which can be frustrating and even more so in a few instances you are having to navigate through time pressure.

REPLACED is an amazing feat of art direction, story telling and world building. It isn’t trying to be a massive open-world RPG, it is a focused, 8-to-10-hour cinematic experience that wants to tell a specific story in a specific way and captivates you from the start. If you have Xbox Game Pass, this is a must download. Even if the weighty platforming isn’t your usual style, the sheer visual spectacle and the “Batman-lite” combat are worth the price of entry alone. It’s a bold, confident debut from Sad Cat Studios that have taken many inspirations of iconic gaming to prove that indie games are still the best place for artistic risk taking and this may be a cult classic Indie in the near future.