REPLACED

Making dystopia look good

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It's been four years since Replaced was revealed with an expected release in 2022.

Certain situations require the use of a handheld gadget to bypass. Arcade games are among the attractions in the hub, but nothing is licensed, even though publisher Thunderful Games has been acquired by Atari.

The camera isn't always fixed, as the tilt here suggests. Game director Yura Zhdanovich “is a real movie aficionado,” Gritsay says. As well as studio co-founder, Gritsay is the game's composer and extols the virtues of the soundtrack alongside the headlining visuals Not far into our demo session with Replaced, we're getting flashbacks to the opening of Playdead's Inside. Jogging along a 2D plane, we're stalked from the background by a powerful beam of light emitting from an ominous, tram-like vehicle. Get caught in it and a sniper's bullet will follow, thanks to the Termites — a raider gang — on board.

“They terrorise local communities. They kidnap people, use them as slaves, or eat them,” Sad Cat Studios co-founder Igor Gritsay informs us. The prospect of instant execution seems like a relative mercy, then, as we duck into cover between sweeps of the orange light.