I must admit I knew nothing about The Swapper when it was announced that it was coming to the PlayStation 4 & PS Vita, nor was I really interested in finding out what it was about. But the folks at Facepalm Games sent us a copy and I went into the game with a blank slate. I am really glad I did because The Swapper was able to completely draw me into it’s mysterious world and I fully embraced it. The game is a puzzle platformer that has you play as an astronaut who holds a device called the swapper. This gun-like device allows the user to create clones of themselves and have control over their movement as well as transfer the “original” user into the clones. This essentially allows you to move between the clones to solve the puzzles in the rooms you navigate. Your character is trapped on a space station where almost everyone is dead and is trying to figure out what has happened. The atmosphere and design of the game is very reminiscent of classic sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien, The gameplay reminds me of the Limbo, using side scrolling elements and the environment to solve the puzzles. The art design is gorgeous, with everything constructed from clay models, it just adds to the ‘not from this world’ feel of the game. In the end I was really surprised by the game and really enjoyed it, and made me happy that not all sci-fi based games have to turn into giant gorefests. The subtly and mystery of The Swapper combined with the brain busting environmental puzzle make The Swapper a worthwhile game to have in your collection.
Loves:
- Great mysterious sci-fi storyline, very Kubrick-esque.
- Hand created clay environments add to the ‘otherworldly’ nature of the game, beautiful to look at
- Clever environmental puzzle solving, make you really think and feel really accomplished when you solve a puzzle
- Soundtrack is very ethereal, add to the isolation and desolation of the world you are trying to escape from
Dislikes:
- Sometimes can be a bit too vague in figuring out how to navigate through environments
- At one point the difficulty of the game play mechanics shot up exponentially with out a tutorial, I was literally stuck in the bottom of a pit trying to figure out how to get out of it for 10 minutes. I eventually figured it out but there was no tutorial prior to show me that what I did was an alternative way to move through the environment
The Swapper is out now on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Windows, OS X, and Linux.
