Game delays have become common. Every project (big or small) now assumes the risk of not meeting its deadline, and production often gets pushed back a few weeks or even months so developers can get back under the hood and iron out some kinks before launch. In Sad Cat Studios’ case, REPLACED was moved out of 2022 due to wartime relocation, but Sad Cat Studios kept development moving. Delays after the fact stemmed from Sad Cat’s reluctance to sacrifice quality to meet their imposed deadline, and it was a sacrifice well made for REPLACED.
What fans end up with is a REPLACED well worth the wait. Sad Cat Studios ships an impossible-to-put-down narrative that will make you laugh, cry, and slam the wall with anger by the time the credits roll. REPLACED will sub in for your current obsession and become your next.
The story begins in the science lab of Warren Marsh, a prolific doctor based in the 1980s. Warren is the father of the super AI known as R.E.A.C.H. (Research Engine for Altering and Composing Humans). This AI is designed to identify organ donor matches with 93% efficiency, reducing mortality rates. The program analyzes humans as data to determine the best potential matches for patients.
“Sad Cat Studios layers its satire here, and it works seamlessly.”
This technology is ripe for corruption, and those horrors are fully realized. Human organs and body parts are used as currency, and when they are incomplete, they are discarded outside the city and labelled “disposal” by the deeply corrupt Phoenix organization. It turns out this technology is not good for everyone, and the city is named Phoenix City.
During a conflict of conscience, Warren slams his fists onto his office mainframe and causes a scientific anomaly, which injects R.E.A.C.H.’s consciousness into him. When you take control, you are driving Warren’s body, with Reach, now without the periods as the human form, behind the wheel. Because Reach has replaced Warren, and has no skill at being human, he constantly uses Warren as a sounding board and often directs his thoughts at him.
This relationship is brought to light immediately, as Reach asks Warren (they’re the same body) why the police are shooting at him when they’re supposed to be helping (to always silence). What follows is an escape sequence where you learn the ropes as Reach, and Sad Cat Studios’ brilliant design team can flex their visual prowess.
“REPLACED is the best-looking title of the year.”
REPLACED is the best-looking title of the year. By infusing 2.5D pixel art with stunning lighting and set design, Sad Cat Studios drops the best use of the 2D-HD art style to date. Each atmosphere bleeds vivid colour and visual design, and what REPLACED doesn’t tell you directly about its post-nuclear dystopian version of 1980s USA, can be weeded out from the background and collectibles you find on your journey.
While other cyberpunk titles like, well, Cyberpunk 2077, bring extensive world-building to the equation, REPLACED gives you enough to enjoy the narrative, but a lot more if you keep your eyes tuned in (like a good scene out of Cowboy Bebop). REPLACED tells an intimate story held within a much larger picture, and Sad Cat Studios’ commitment to their vision and nearly a decade in development made this a title that holds you hostage with its sharp storytelling, visual style and tone.
After escaping the lab, you are taken to a small “town” of Disposals known as Station, so named because it is a rundown train station, where you are introduced to the main players in the story. REPLACED’s commitment to Reach’s character never goes unnoticed. He constantly takes in data and evolves as events unfold, though he still relays the information to Warren without getting an answer.
As Reach, you can help the people of Station and flesh out more of this unrealized dystopian version of the Reagan era, and you are regularly informed of the heart-wrenching injustices that occur. Reach’s personal realizations during each of these moments, about power and right and wrong, follow the story and steep REPLACED in heavy ethical themes.
One side quest sees Reach help a child rebuild an arcade, and it allows you to play a hilariously morbid game called Donor Rush, a top-down driving game in which you deliver donor organs as Phoenix Corp to patients, and can rack up your score by going faster. Sad Cat Studios layers its satire here, and it works seamlessly.
As you embark on your first mission, you’re given access to the Huxley, a hybrid firearm/baton that turns Reach into the 2.5D version of Arkham Series’ Batman. As you start off by performing acrobatic flips and dispatching seasoned ruffians with well-timed strikes and parries, you evolve into a war machine with access to a myriad of combat abilities, and even your enemies notice, asking, “What are you?” Reach often reminds Warren how these things are possible, which are cool explanations over just assuming 1980s doctors go to Superhero school.
“REPLACED brings solid combat and excellent platforming to an intimate journey that will put you through a blender of emotions, and it will look good doing it.”
REPLACED combat is fluid, fast, and satisfying. The thwack of the Huxley is repetitive but stays infectious. When you connect enough parries and melee strikes, you can pull the trigger and shoot the Huxley, which often leads to a kill shot. When shooting in a combo or after a parry, Reach can perform smooth executions that are animated well and are satisfying to pull off. REPLACED bleeds style, and Reach can optimize the body, Warren.
REPLACED is also a puzzle-platformer wrapped in a Blade Runner aesthetic. Through each chapter, you will have to puzzle-platform your way through the setting using the acrobatics of a person well-trained in parkour. One sequence has you string together a line of jumps and swings that feel great in practice. Sad Cat Studios will use directorial tricks, like obtuse camera angles to add depth to the atmosphere, breathing life further into the foreground, and it’s hard to get over just how good everything looks in REPLACED.
REPLACED also knows how to hit you in the feelings. When meeting one character, Reach’s inquisitive questioning has him find out that one Disposal’s organ that was missing is her voice (Larynx), and it was taken from her. When her significant other walks in the room, he asks her to stop talking because they have one battery left for her voice box, showing just how bleak the folk of Station have it.
REPLACED is a triumph. Sad Cat Studios’ insistence on staying the course and putting quality first has paid off with everything REPLACED sets out to do. The result of that hard work is an emotional tragedy steeped in parallels to real-world issues, which shows how refined an idea can get with many years in development. REPLACED brings solid combat and excellent platforming to an intimate journey that will put you through a blender of emotions, and it will look good doing it. It was worth the wait, Warren.
