After Years of Development, Does Replaced Deliver on Its Cyberpunk Promise?
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
A hands-on preview of the long-awaited action-platformer Replaced reveals that despite stunning pixel art and a great synth soundtrack, the game spends too much time in post-apocalyptic wastes rather than delivering deep cyberpunk cityscapes.
Development cycles can be brutal, especially when a studio faces geopolitical upheaval and multiple visual overhauls. Sad Cat Studios began work on Replaced back in 2018, and after weathering relocations spurred by the Russo-Ukrainian war alongside two complete art style reworks, the 2.5D pixel art action-platformer is finally nearing its March 12 release date. Recent hands-on preview coverage from Polygon by Sam Nelson highlights that while the game boasts gorgeous aesthetics and a compelling synth-heavy score, early hours push players away from sleek neon cityscapes and into familiar post-apocalyptic territory.
The game kicks off in an alternate 1980s America where a nuclear strike forced the government to partner with the monolithic Phoenix Corporation. The plot gets rolling when an AI assistant named Reach accidentally becomes trapped inside the body of a corporate leader, leading to a botched escape that forces the naive program to flee. Unfortunately, the cyberpunk trappings of Phoenix City quickly give way to wilderness survival. Reach soon tumbles into a makeshift community run by a guitar-playing, katana-wielding rebel named Tempest, trading high-tech corporate espionage for battles against Mad Max style gangs in the dirt.
While developers did showcase glimpses of what players actually want from the genre, such as hacking traffic lights and dodging roving drones inside Phoenix City, the opening hours rely heavily on repetitive platforming and somewhat shallow characters. Side quests in these early zones include basic fetch tasks and arcade minigames rather than deep world-building interactions. Replaced remains one of the most visually striking indie titles on the horizon, but players jumping in on launch day will want to watch whether the narrative manages to lean back into its core sci-fi identity after the initial wilderness detour.
Original reporting and details sourced from Polygon
Tags: Replaced, Sad Cat Studios, Action Platformer, Cyberpunk, Polygon
Original article: Polygon