| REPLACED | |||
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| Gameplay & Story | Release Date | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
Everything We Know About REPLACED
REPLACED Plot
REPLACED is set in an alternate version of the 1980s United States following a nuclear catastrophe that reshaped the country and forced society into isolated urban structures. The story takes place in and around Phoenix-City, a walled metropolis controlled by corporate forces and the "Termites".
REPLACED Gameplay
REPLACED is a 2.5D cinematic action platformer that combines side-scrolling traversal, environmental navigation, and real-time combat. Movement focuses on fluid platforming through interconnected urban environments, including climbing, jumping, sliding, and interacting with the surroundings to progress through levels. Certain sections introduce stealth-based mechanics, such as avoiding surveillance, as well as chase sequences that require continuous forward movement.
REPLACED Release Date
REPLACED is scheduled for release on April 14, 2026. A playable demo is currently available as part of Steam Next Fest.
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| Steam Demo |
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REPLACED Review (Demo)
Cinematic In Every Frame
There’s something quietly competitive about 2.5D action platformers. Every new one feels like it has to prove why it deserves to exist alongside the genre’s modern standouts like Hollow Knight—whether that’s through tighter movement, smarter level design, or some kind of mechanical twist.
REPLACED, at least in its current demo form, doesn’t immediately show a reinvention of the formula. It simply walks in and becomes the most beautiful game in the room.
The moment the game made me walk through the opening scene, I stopped thinking about genre expectations and just stared. I haven’t been this caught off guard by a side-scroller’s presentation in a long time—the same kind of surprise I felt when Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream proved how far visual storytelling could push an isometric game. In a genre where spectacle usually isn’t the main selling point, REPLACED turns cinematic framing into its strongest first impression.
Synthetic Soul Trapped in a Dying America
Before the demo even properly lets you move, it sets the stage with a premise that feels immediately heavy. This is 1980s America shaped by nuclear catastrophe. You play as Reach—an artificial intelligence that finds itself inside the body of its own creator, Warren. You’re a creation wearing its maker’s face, trying to cross the decaying sprawl of Phoenix-City to return him to where he belongs. A journey that becomes anything but straightforward.
Outside the "Walls", the city has rotted into something hostile, a place overrun by violent, corrupted beings known as Termites, all while the shadow of the Phoenix Corporation looms over everything. The demo doesn’t overexplain, but it gives you just enough to make every step forward feel like you’re moving through a world that already existed long before you arrived. And more importantly, it gives you a reason to keep walking.
Movement Trades Precision for Momentum
What surprised me most is how REPLACED approaches platforming. If you come in expecting the usual razor-sharp, timing-heavy structure—the kind where every jump has to be measured down to the pixel—that’s not what this is. The movement is far more fluid, almost parkour-like. It’s less about punishment and more about momentum, about the rhythm of vaulting over obstacles and chaining animations together in a way that feels stylish rather than stressful.
It isn’t difficult, at least not in the demo. But it is consistently fun. There are small variations that keep the traversal from feeling monotonous: sneaking through areas while avoiding surveillance, short escape sequences that push you to move faster, moments that briefly shift the pace. None of these are mechanically groundbreaking on their own, yet they’re framed in a way that makes them feel fresh, largely because the retro-futuristic world is so deeply embedded into how movement looks and sounds.
Combat That Feels Good… For Now
Although, the combat is where my excitement turns into cautious curiosity. In the demo’s one-hour runtime, there’s a healthy amount of it, and on a moment-to-moment basis it works. Gunshots have weight. Melee is quick and responsive. Encounters are fast, readable, and visually dynamic. But mechanically, it’s still very simple.
Your firearm fires a single charged shot before needing to recharge. You have limited healing within each encounter. The rhythm becomes: engage, time your attacks, create an opening, repeat. It’s engaging in short bursts, and the cinematic presentation does a lot of heavy lifting in making every hit feel impactful.
The concern isn’t that it’s bad, it’s that if this exact structure is repeated for a full game, and if combat appears as frequently as it does in the demo, it risks wearing out its welcome. Of course, this is a demo. This is quite literally a slice of what is to come… a promise, not a full system. And as a promise, it works. It shows just enough to suggest depth without confirming it. Right now, it’s a strong foundation that needs expansion.
Encounters Have the Perfect Angles
And then there are the visuals, the thing I keep circling back to, because it’s impossible not to. Combat sequences dynamically zoom in at just the right moments. Gunshots trigger these brief, perfectly framed cinematic beats. Character animations flow into environmental lighting in a way that makes every encounter look staged, like you’re playing through a scene rather than an encounter.
Even outside of combat, every area feels hand-composed. The lighting, the color contrast, the camera angles all direct your attention to where the game wants you to see. They tell you where to look, what to feel, when to slow down.
I usually prioritize gameplay over presentation. REPLACED is one of the rare cases where the visual direction alone could carry my interest for hours, not because it replaces mechanical depth, but because it elevates everything you’re already doing.
Cinematic Platformer Knows Where to Aim
If REPLACED somehow still isn’t on your radar after years of trailers and delays, this demo makes a very strong case for why it should be. There’s a mystery at its core—how Reach ended up in Warren’s body, what Phoenix Corporation is really doing, what happened to this version of America—and the world is visually compelling enough that I want to walk through it regardless of the answers.
My only real gripe is that it ends just as it feels like it’s about to show its full hand. I wanted more combat depth, more escalation, more of the systems that the trailers have been teasing—especially the mini-games and the other gameplay variations that never quite make an appearance here. But then again, this is a one-hour demo that costs absolutely nothing.
More than anything, though, I want to see how far this cinematic identity can go. Because right now, the demo doesn’t prove that REPLACED will redefine the genre. What it proves is that it already understands how to make it feel new. And that’s more than enough reason for me to wait for its release… hopefully without it getting replaced by another delay.
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REPLACED Product Information
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| Title | REPLACED |
|---|---|
| Release Date | April 14, 2026 |
| Developer | Sad Cat Studios |
| Publisher | Thunderful Publishing |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic, GoG), Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Platformer, Indie |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Rating | IARC 16+ |
| Official Website | REPLACED Official Website |
