Review #061 – Replaced

I’m conflicted with Replaced because it doesn’t have any particularly compelling gameplay mechanics but its style and atmosphere are damn near immaculate. Just look up a trailer for this game and see its hybrid pixel art for yourself—it looks really slick, especially in motion. The music’s fantastic too.

The ‘playing the game’ part is where I have some issues though, mainly stemming from how plodding it can feel at times. It’s a side scrolling action game with somewhat crunchy combat, but the platforming is kind of awkward and your character never feels very agile. And while the plot is fairly captivating, it takes control away from you for exposition quite often, slowing the pace.

It took me about 13 hours to finish which, for a game that doesn’t really evolve much beyond its first 2 hours, felt a little drawn out. It’s fun and it has some decent world building—not to mention its terrific presentation—but you definitely have to accept its deliberately slow pace to fully appreciate it.