Replaced: the preview of one of the surprises of E3 2021
Replaced
Replaced comes from a talented team of young people from all over the world. The developer Sad Cat Studios is not an American, English or French software house, but a Belarusian. Based in Minsk, the studio collaborated with Coatsink's expert programmers to create this beautiful adventure with a particular 2.5D graphic style.In the preview of Replaced we discover this cyberpunk platformer.
The Last Night? Maybe ... better!
The indie scene is also made up of talented minor studios, with low-sounding budgets but with concrete ideas. Replaced was able to kidnap the spectators of the Microsoft presentation with an incisive video, full of details and details on its gameplay. One of the most striking aspects was the very stylish graphic representation of the setting, created thanks to a really pleasant pixelart. Let's start from the beginning.From the first bars many have exchanged Replaced with the new The Last Night, another indie game presented even at E3 2017 and then mysteriously disappeared from the spotlight (but in reality it seems to be always in development). After a few seconds we understand that it is, on the contrary, a totally new game. The visual style is 2D with completely 3D background and elements and mapped to "8-bit squares". The scene is very deep and the parallax moves smoothly and convincingly thanks to the three-dimensional nature of all the background elements. Replaced shows us an enviable field of vision for a title of this genre.
What we can capture from the presentation
We are talking about an action-platform with a strong futuristic and dystopian connotation, being set in an alternative version of the 80s. In the presentation you can see many very different settings, starting from a forest where the protagonist runs through trees, bushes and fallen trunks. The great attention to three elements immediately transpires: the first, of evident quality, is that of the sound effects. Very clean, well sampled, of great impact and realism. The second aspect is that of the animations: in the video everything really moves, and well. The protagonist, called R.E.A.C.H. , juggles with great sinuosity running and dodging objects on his way.There are also many details on the screen such as small leaves fluttering everywhere, debris caused by a fire, trees that bend with the wind and move in all directions. The third element is that of the effects: light, fog, reflections and many other details suggest an extremely refined game. Subsequently, the action passes from the bush to the city, which, rather than representing a cold place where events take place, seems to be a real supporting actor of the plot. Just like New Tokyo was for the first Ghost in the Shell movie. We immediately understand the strongly cyberpunk and decadent background, made up of infamous and poor alleys that contrast with the idea of a better technological future for everyone, obviously never realized.
A stylish action-side scrolling
The gameplay moves into the city, showing us a few seconds of hand-to-hand combat. At first glance it would seem that the combat system resumes in some ways the good that has been seen in titles such as, for example, the Rocksteady Batman, offering a sort of "free-flow combat" with frighteningly beautiful and well-linked animations. The combat is made up of close shots and the use of firearms in rapid sequence, with the possibility of finishing the opponent with a more brutal and violent move. The gameplay feels truly immersive, fast and smooth. Replaced, however, is not only a frenetic action, but is much closer to the adventure genre, also interspersing platform and exploration scenes.In the video we notice how the protagonist manages to climb walls, clings to elements of the background to climb and is able to jump from one side to the other in perfect Tomb Raider style, just to mention one of the exponents of action - most famous adventures. It is evident how in Replaced the levels develop following all directions, giving a lot of importance to the vertical ones given the very nature of the city in which the game is set. Like all futuristic megacities, it is in fact full of skyscrapers, very tall structures and buildings that form the perfect setting for a cyberpunk title. In short, during the almost two minutes of presentation, we saw many beautiful things. The release date is a little less: a generic 2022 that will keep you on your toes for a while.
Replaced showed itself to the general public of E3 2021 with a very convincing video that revealed many things good done by the two development teams. Coming out of practically nothing, the title is already in the most wanted by many players who love pixelart and the cyberpunk-dystopian context of the 80s. The graphic style is very pleasant, as are the sound effects, and the combat system seems to be very fluid and fun. Many doubts about the actual release of the title, dated with a generic 2022, and about one of the most important aspects for a video game: how long will it last?
