What a long time coming for highly anticipated indie. I remember being absolutely blown away by its pixel art during Xbox’s showcase back in 2021, I was hyped and eagerly awaiting its arrival every year. Equally bummed each time it didn’t show back up or there was a delay, but games with this level of art from an indie dev take time. Was the wait for Replaced worth it? Let’s find out.

In Replaced you play as Warren, an employee of the Phoenix Corporation and co-creator of the highly sophisticated AI, R.E.A.C.H., an AI made to easily match potential organ donors. Bought out by the Phoenix Corporation, R.E.A.C.H. is used for large scale organ trade, and as we know, large corporations can always be trusted. The game is set in an alternate 1980’s America, a dystopian cyberpunk Metropolis called Phoenix City is dominated by corporate control and involved in illegal organ trade. Warren’s life changes when his lab is destroyed while he is hooked up to R.E.A.C.H. and the destruction short circuits the AI into him. Is it Warren still? Or only R.E.A.C.H.? They must escape the lab, and begin a journey of discovery, morality of humanity, and the aftermath of what R.E.A.C.H. has allowed the corporations to do.

Am I still Warren? Are you now Warren? We are R.E.A.C.H.

I actually really enjoyed this story even if on the surface it seems a bit “been there done that”. Yes, we have seen robotic humanoid characters set is a cyberpunk future with evil corporations. We have seen the robotic humanoid slowing finding out what it means to be human and have empathy. It’s more about the setting and the other characters that R.E.A.C.H. ends up bonding with that makes this story more unique. There is also the focus on Warren/R.E.A.C.H. as they come to terms with what they have become and how far they have strayed from their initial goals of the AI creation. You may be mostly AI now, but you’re still dealing with human problems and emotions, and that is what makes Replaced story more unique. And the title, Replaced, does have multiple meanings to the overall story.

Replaced is a 2.5D cinematic action platformer with a bit of the Batman Arkham series combat. While Warren is no fighter, R.E.A.C.H. is able override his senses and turn him into a killing machine. R.E.A.C.H. is not bound by the pain that Warren would feel so he is able to take much more punishment and push Warren’s body past what normal human’s could do. This allows the combat to have that high action ass kicking feel, while not seeming out of place for a computer engineer to be doing all of this murdering out of the blue. Since you’re on the run, you won’t have access to much weaponry. Replaced goes for more of a melee combat focus with a bit of shooting for quick kills.

Ooops, didn’t mean to just drop in like that.

During the initial escape you’re able to steal one of the Phoenix City Police Officers pistols, but this isn’t a standard pistol. It can transform into a baton for melee combat which then charges up the pistol for a single shot. Besides the large brutes or shielded characters, the pistol is a single shot kill. Using it at the right time or against some of the more annoying enemies is key. As I mentioned before, the main melee combat is Arkham style, but a bit stripped down. There are no combos or heavy attacks, which means you’ll be mostly mashing the one attack button. I played on PC with an Xbox controller so X to attack, Y to counter enemies when there is a flashing yellow and A to dodge when they are red.

As you progress there is a pickaxe that has multiple uses. In combat it allows for you to cut through an enemies shield or armor to leave them open for attacks. Yes you can use this for attacking (there is even an achievement for it), but the attack is slow and does low damage. Eventually you’ll start unlocking a few more abilities like Overdrive that allows you to fire multiple shots before needing to recharge. You will unlock Deflect which uses you guns energy to push an enemies bullet back at them. Shockwave is an area of attack move that pushes all enemies down and will break their armor or shield.

Finishing moves will use the charged up gun shot, but it’s an instant kill and stylish as hell.

That’s about it, it’s pretty basic and doesn’t really offer much depth, but it can be frenetic when you get in the zone and things flow smoothly. My biggest gripe is that combat starts to feel a bit monotonous since there aren’t many moves and not a lot of enemy variety. They also overuse the “surprise combat” setup a bit too much. What I mean by that is there are so many times where you will be climbing something, or crawling through vents and just drop into a group of guys. Sometimes its a cinematic drop that works really well, other times you just fall into a group and start fighting. In one of the levels, I think there were four fights in a row where I was crawling through a vent, it breaks, and then I fall into a fight. It loses any surprise and just gets predictable.

Another issue with combat I had is that sometimes things just don’t work. For example, if you’re too close to an enemy that is about to shoot you, you won’t be able to Deflect the shot. Doing a finishing move (using the gun shot on a close enemy) will stop enemies’ actions for the duration of the animation. However, if an enemy is ready to shoot you right before you do a finishing move, they will pause, but then shoot immediately when you’re done and the controls aren’t quick enough to do the Deflect. I’m not sure if that’s a design choice to not be able to follow up quickly like you can in Arkham, but it got annoying not having that quick reflex. I also would have liked to have more boss fights, there are a total of three and they were some of the more fun fights that introduce more enemy mechanics.

Boss fights were fun, but I wish there were more.

You do get to level up your health, stim pack usage, and how quickly your gun and abilities recharge. These are sometimes found in slightly hidden areas during levels, but mostly earned from side quests. When you’re back in the hub area between missions you will be able to talk with the citizens there to do side quests. There are some fun missions like the arcade, but since they all revolve around the hub Station they mostly boil down to fetch quests, or sometimes a simple puzzle. However, basically treat these as mandatory, because this is where most of the upgrades come from.

The other major gameplay aspects of Replaced are the platforming and puzzles, and much like the combat, these are a bit simplistic. Most of these are going to be climbing based and timing clambering around on walls and pipes to avoid hot steam vents- there isn’t so much precision platforming. You do use the pickaxe in platforming and that is used to attach to broken concrete as another way to bridge areas between your jumps. There is also a double jump, but you use your gun’s energy to push off air currents from vents, so this is only used in specific platforming parts which limits the usage.

Side missions are crucial for upgrades and you get to meet Excalibur, the adorable pup. He is the best boy.

Often you will need to find a battery to insert into a generator in order to turn air vents on and then move them in position before starting the climb in order to have the double jump. Unfortunately, I often found myself bored of the traversal and platforming. There are a lot of long sections of just running and then simple platforming. Often times the level design will have you slowly walk with a battery or push a crate across the level area. And since combat only happens in specific pockets, the levels don’t feel dynamic. There is a lot of crouching behind objects and waiting for security lights or drones to pass by and then between that a ton of walking and slowly moving through section.

Puzzles are here, but they aren’t a huge focus. There are a couple decent ones that will require you to check your notes and clues a few times, but never anything that will make you rage. I did like the few harder ones, but they are mostly just tricky wordplay type of puzzles or Pipe Puzzles, which isn’t bad, but nothing to write home about.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

While I did have a few sections of feeling bored and dozing off with the long drawn out traversal sections, one thing is certain: Replaced might be one of the best pixel art games I have played. Holy cow, this game is absolutely gorgeous in just about every way. From the extremely detailed pixel designs and how they cinematically blend the 3D environments with the 2D characters is spectacular. They even have these really slick transitions, where as the camera pans to a different perspective of the scene, the 2D characters smartly move to match the new position.

What really ties the entire look together is the stunning use of the lighting. The lighting and colors are gorgeous, and used so well for the scenes that it really pulls you in. How it shines of the outer pixels of the character models to illuminate them is so eye-catching. There is only one criticism I have and its the heavy use of depth of field. Don’t get me wrong, about 90% of the time it is used smartly and really adds to the scene. But there were a small handful of times when things blur out for a scene, and then just pop back in with no transition. It made me think “why did this scene need this?”, but overall it’s used brilliantly.

Sound design is also another really strong point for Replaced, offering that cool cyberpunk 1980’s synth style that really fits the overall theme. The soundtrack is truly great and you can listen to the songs as you find them in the levels as collectables. There are some melancholy tracks for the more somber parts, mostly back at the hub Station, but when it kicks in with the heavy stuff it’s electric. My one issue though, is that there were often a lot of times during the longer traversal sections where it would be really quiet. It would have been nice to be able to play the songs from your collection during these sections. There isn’t any voice acting in the game, but the excellent use of the pixel details and animations help bridge that to still show emotion.

Replaced is a peculiar game for me because I was so hyped for it and it left me a bit torn. On one hand, it is an absolute breathtakingly beautiful pixel art game that needs awards for its art design. It also has a good story that I was invested in. However, on the other hand, I can’t help feel a bit let down by its overall simplistic and sometimes repetitive gameplay design. So did it live up to the hype? Yes and no, but I think this is still a must play game for the overall package and experience even if it can drag a bit.

Replaced is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on PC with i7-12700kf, RTX 5070, 32gb of DDR5, and Steam Deck.

A Copy of Replaced was provided by the publisher.