- 5 days ago
- #replaced
- #replacedgame
- #replacedreview
REPLACED is a cinematic pixel‑art action game set in cyberpunk dystopian world. In this review I break down how the games, give brief description of the world it's set in and give my own experience playing through the game.
If you're deciding whether to pick up Replaced or pass on it, this review should help you to make that choice.
#replaced #replacedgame #replacedreview
If you're deciding whether to pick up Replaced or pass on it, this review should help you to make that choice.
#replaced #replacedgame #replacedreview
Category
🎮️
GamingTranscript
00:09Sometimes a game comes along that seems universally praised by all journalists and
00:13critics out there. And so of course I had to give this one a try. Today we're talking about
00:18Replaced. This one came out in 2026, was published by Coatsink and Thunderful,
00:23and developed by Sad Cat Studios. This one is actually Sad Cat's debut title as a studio.
00:29So as always we're going to be looking at this one together, see what the game is,
00:32what it does, so that you can leave with enough info to decide for yourself if it's worth your
00:37time. Stick around to the end and I'll let you know how I personally felt about the game.
00:42Let's get into it. Replaced is set in Phoenix City. It's a run-down dystopian location set in an
00:50alternate version of the United States in the 1980s. This one is going for the cyberpunk dystopia
00:56where human life has been reduced completely to currency. The player takes on the role of Reach,
01:01an artificial intelligence who's trapped inside the body of Warren Marsh, the AI's creator. The
01:06story is going to follow Reach as they navigate the crumbling world controlled by the Phoenix
01:10Corporation, while also grappling with the idea of what it means to be human. The story touches on
01:15identity, consciousness, and morality in a narrative or story-driven experience.
01:23Okay, so how is Replaced actually going to play? Well, it's a 2.5D action platformer. This means
01:29that you're going to be progressing through environments in a side-scrolling style, but it
01:33does also have some depth to it. You can move a little bit into the foreground or background in
01:39certain sections to navigate or grab items. There's actually quite a bit of platforming throughout the
01:44game, climbing, jumping, or other various means of navigation. And we also have a little bit of
01:49puzzle solving mixed in with the platforming. The puzzles in the story mission areas are generally
01:55fairly simple. Typically, it's just going to be moving an object to reach a higher area or
02:00activating things correctly. Some side quest puzzles are a little bit more involved though.
02:05They require you to actually pay attention to what an NPC is telling you. And then based on that
02:10information, you need to ask yourself which location you need to visit or how to enter a passcode,
02:15what you actually need to select. This is definitely an appreciated detail as it breaks from
02:19the standard hand-holding in most games. Combat ends up feeling kind of like a 2D Batman Arkham
02:25experience. Melee, strikes, counters, dodges. This one has a gun mechanic as well that charges
02:30through consecutive hits, and you can even pull off finishing moves on enemies. Different enemy types
02:36have different counters, and the game throws a variety of types at you simultaneously. This means
02:41that you're going to have to use different attacks or chain different things together in order
02:45to take them all out. Movement is going to feel substantially slower compared to some other
02:51platformers out there. I'd say that everything feels very deliberate, and the combat follows the
02:56same philosophy. It feels a lot more methodical than fast-paced. Whether this is going to click
03:02with you, or if it feels kind of clunky, it's going to depend on your patience for that style of
03:07gameplay. But it's definitely something to keep in mind. Alright, so let's get some comparisons to
03:16give you an idea of what to expect. So this first one is going to sound weird, but like I
03:20mentioned
03:20earlier, the Batman Arkham series. It's definitely not going to be a one-to-one, replaced as a 2D game,
03:26but there's some similarity in terms of the combat and how that plays out. The general flow of melee
03:31strikes, counters, and dodges does feel pretty similar, I thought. Though I did find that replaced
03:36does slow things down quite a bit in combat encounters. For platforming, the Assassin's
03:41Creed Chronicles, those side-scrolling spin-offs, are somewhat similar. The pacing and movement has
03:47a little bit of crossover here. The Chronicles games also had that deliberate feel. However,
03:52that was of course due to the stealth elements. Combat is also going to feel totally different here.
03:58Instead of in Assassin's Creed, where you were encouraged to avoid combat altogether,
04:03replaced basically puts you into non-negotiable combat encounters.
04:07Lastly, I'll bring up Inside and Limbo. Dark, atmospheric, 2.5D side-scrollers as well.
04:13Again, this is going to feel more like a surface level comparison, as replaced ends up feeling quite
04:18a bit different in how the gameplay actually works. I would say that this is mostly due to the combat
04:22and also the art direction. One other mention that I want to make is Planet Alpha. The only reason
04:29I bring this one up is because in the early section of Replaced, it does end up having that
04:33hold-right simulator feeling, which I mentioned during the Planet Alpha review. This is mostly
04:39going to be in the opening sections of the game, but it does crop up a little bit throughout.
04:44It is offset more once the combat starts to become more of a central component though.
04:50The game ends up feeling like kind of a hybrid between something like a slow, deliberate platformer
04:55like Assassin's Creed Chronicles, and something else more along the lines of a beat-em-up side-scroller
05:00game. I would say that the combat does play out differently than your standard beat-em-up.
05:05I just bring it up because there's going to be a lot of combat throughout the game. It's not just
05:09a
05:09navigating environment style of platformer. If you've already played through the game and you have
05:14any other suggestions, please leave them down in the comments so that other gamers can get an idea
05:18of what to expect here. We've got a unique art style in Replaced. It's pixel art, but it gets
05:26combined with some 3D lighting and other depth of field effects. Obviously, this is going to be up
05:31to you if it's a good thing or not. If you're into pixel art, this does feel like a unique
05:36spin on that
05:36style, and I haven't really heard anybody complaining about it. I think it's mostly well-received.
05:42I haven't really experienced combat like this in a side-scrolling platformer either. Usually in side-scrolling
05:48games, like in the beat-em-up style, they're typically a lot simpler in terms of the combat
05:53execution. Other platformers either avoid combat like in Limbo or Inside, or they end up going a
05:59totally different route that feels a little bit more orthodox in the Assassin's Creed Chronicles
06:05games, where you basically are encouraged to avoid combat, or once you get engaged, then you need to
06:11use some simple combat techniques. The finishers also add in a little bit of cinematic flair during the
06:16combat, and this also helps to break things up. Aside from that, you've got the Wingman 2 handheld
06:21computer. It's going to feel similar to things like cell phones or PDAs if you're old enough to
06:26remember those in games, so this kind of mechanic has definitely been used before, but this alternate
06:31universe style device is nice to have something to keep track of to-do lists and the items that
06:37you've interacted with throughout your playthrough. As far as the performance goes, everything seemed to
06:42work pretty well during my playthrough. The only thing that I noticed that was frustrating was in
06:47a particular sequence where you need to just run from an enemy and do platforming to get away.
06:52If it catches you, it kills you. You don't have any choice here. Anyway, if you do get killed while
06:57running away, when I would respawn, I would die again almost immediately. For some reason, when you
07:03respawn, while the screen is still black, the enemy is already going to start chasing you, so the only way
07:08that I could actually complete this sequence was to hold right on the stick before respawning,
07:12and so my character would begin some distance away and already running. As far as bugs go,
07:18I guess it's not too bad. It's not game-breaking. It's just something that's annoying and could use a
07:22little bit more polish. Okay, we're going to talk graphics first here. They're certainly unique.
07:30Like I mentioned earlier, we've got that pixel art mixed in with modern lighting and depth of field
07:35effects, so this pairs to give it a little bit more of a distinct visual style. There's a little
07:42bit of diversity of environments, but it's not going to be huge. Basically, you're going to end
07:46up in a hub area, and then the locations are going to have a similar dystopian style, but they do
07:51change
07:52it up a little bit here and there, so whether that art direction appeals to you is going to be
07:56up to your
07:56personal taste, so just use the gameplay footage to try and decide for yourself. As for the sound,
08:01the music isn't too bad. It fits that cyberpunk atmosphere and does its job in setting the tone
08:07for it. Sound effects are also fine, but nothing that's likely to blow you away or take you out of
08:12it. Dialogue is all going to be text-based, so you're going to be reading a lot, and that also
08:17means I don't have anything to say in terms of voice acting. So with that said, the dialogue and
08:23writing, well, I found it to be a little bit of a mixed bag. Some of it's pretty good, but
08:28some is
08:29going to feel a little bit off. For example, some people will be talking in a certain tone
08:33and style, so like using casual or very slang heavy. Then suddenly they're going to shift to
08:39formal and it feels a little bit out of place. It's only little things like that, and of course
08:44it's all text-based, so it does leave a lot of room for personal interpretations here. Anyway, as far
08:50as the sound goes, I'm just going to play some examples for you so that you can get an idea
08:53of what
08:53you're going to expect here.
09:231
09:56So just before we jump into this, whether or not I like a particular game, it doesn't
10:00matter.
10:01It doesn't mean that you're going to like it or that you won't.
10:03I tried to show the game so that if you're interested, you can decide for yourself if
10:07it's for you.
10:08But from here on out, I'm simply just getting into my own opinions and experience.
10:12This part's just for fun, and I fully expect people to disagree, so make sure to use that
10:16comment section to discuss your own thoughts.
10:18So did I enjoy The Game Replaced?
10:25This game had so much praise going for it that I had to give it a try.
10:29I gotta say, I don't know if I totally understand where all the praise is coming from.
10:33So I'm just going to be honest with you here, I'm not the biggest pixel art fan as it is.
10:38I enjoyed the games back in the day when I played them, but I've also enjoyed the advancements
10:42that I've seen as they've been made over time.
10:45So just getting that out of the way, I'm not someone who dives head first with the nostalgia
10:49into pixel art styles.
10:50All that said, graphics have never been the main feature for me personally, whether I
10:55enjoy a game or not.
10:56I thought the story was very… mediocre.
11:00It's okay, but it's certainly nothing groundbreaking, and even people who seem to really enjoy the
11:06game, they also tend to agree on this part.
11:08The world is… interesting, even if it's a little bit cliché at this point.
11:12The whole dystopian alternate world with an AI grappling with what it means to be human.
11:17It's been done… quite a bit.
11:20But I still enjoy the premise.
11:22I do think that the mixing of pixel art with the more modern graphics and effects, it was
11:27done well, and it was interesting to me.
11:29I also really like the design of some of the side quests.
11:32You basically actually have to pay attention in order to figure out how to solve them.
11:36Either by listening and figuring out where to go, or inputting codes, or whatever you
11:42need to do.
11:43Regardless, the game doesn't just give you a waypoint, and I like that lack of handholding
11:48here.
11:48Alright, so that's probably about all I've got for praise, or at least things that
11:51were in the spectrum from mid to good.
11:53Now for the things that I really didn't care for.
11:56The game feels very slow.
11:58Slow movement, slow combat, and slow story progression.
12:01The story just seems to chug along, and I got bored fairly quickly.
12:05At first, the Archimask in 2D format combat was keeping me into it.
12:10Once you play out a number of combat sequences though, it starts to get extremely repetitive.
12:15To me, the combat ends up just feeling like, clunk, clunk, clunk, dodge, clunk, clunk, clunk,
12:21counter, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, shoot, repeat.
12:24Over and over.
12:32Every once in a while you do need to remove armor or shield, but that's really about it.
12:37The finishers are nice, but the combat in between is just so slow and repetitive that
12:42it got old very quickly for me.
12:44Also if you do happen to get defeated in a combat sequence, the game forces you to rewatch
12:50the entire scene building up to it, there's no skips, so it's just another thing that
12:54slows down the action in the game.
12:56The platforming is fine, but again, there's nothing really groundbreaking or new.
13:00I found that the design of the platforming also ends up just slowing the game down as well.
13:05So overall, in my opinion, I can respect the creative art direction, the style, the tone
13:11that they're going for.
13:12But for me at least, the story was not overly engaging.
13:15The combat gets stale quickly and starts to become more of a chore.
13:19And everything all around it just ends up moving very slowly as well.
13:23So the next thing I'm going to say might upset you if you're a big fan of the game,
13:28but keep in mind, this is just my opinion and how I felt about it.
13:31There's a ton of games out there, not everyone's going to like everything.
13:34I totally think it's okay if you like this game.
13:36Anyway, this game has the distinction of being the first game in the entire catalog of
13:41games that I've covered that I couldn't bring myself to finish.
13:44I just got so bored while playing through it, and the thought of clunking my way through
13:48another 3 or 4 hours, it just felt so depressing.
13:51Again, that doesn't mean that you can't like the game.
13:54If you do like it, great.
13:56Tell me all about it in the comments.
13:57It just really wasn't for me.
13:59I know there's going to be a lot of people who just really enjoy pixel art games.
14:04They love the style, they love that particular quirky nature of them, and they love going
14:09back into that nostalgic feel for it.
14:11If any of that describes you, then while considering this game has a lot of people raving about it,
14:17it could very well be a great option.
14:19It's on Game Pass right now, and otherwise the price point is quite low.
14:23So if those style of games are your thing, this is probably going to be worth it to at
14:27least look into.
14:29So if you made it all the way here, thank you so much for sticking around to the end.
14:33If you found the video useful or interesting, a like really helps out a lot.
14:37And whether you agree or disagree with me on this one, I'd love to hear about it in
14:40the comments.
14:41I also expect a lot of people to disagree with me on this, and that's fine.
14:45If you're not subscribed yet, please consider joining the community.
14:48I cover new releases as well as retrospectives on older games, I've got a bunch of walkthroughs
14:53on the channel, and I'm even doing some gaming news and updates.
14:57So there's definitely more on the channel if you're a gamer.
15:00Thank you so much for taking the time to watch today, and until next time, take care.
15:04You're welcome.
15:09Bye.
15:15Bye.
15:25Bye.
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