At long last, REPLACED, a striking, sci-fi action-platformer, is finally releasing in roughly a month, but you don’t have to wait that long to play it. In fact, a free Steam demo is already out.
As per its Steam store page, REPLACED is the best that the “dark cyberpunk thriller” genre has to offer, complete with phenomenal pixel art and free-flow animations. Cyberpunk games may be a dime a dozen nowadays for various reasons, but gamers would be remiss to not have REPLACED on their radar, and this demo may be what piques some players’ curiosity now that the game’s release date is fast approaching.
REPLACED Is Worth The Wait
On visuals alone, REPLACED is a treat. It’s a 2.5D side-scrolling platformer with a breathtaking atmosphere, and combat being inspired by the Batman: Arkham franchise is sure to win over many fans who believe that close-quarters melee combat peaked with that series. It promises to be eerie, melodic, and cinematic, and it’ll be exciting to see if its story can stand tall alongside other narrative titans in the cyberpunk genre.
Inspirations across all entertainment media are present in REPLACED, and the demo is a decent introduction to how rich and deep REPLACED will be. Plus, REPLACED may be every bit as poignant as a proper dystopian, cyberpunk project should be, and is set to be a day-one Xbox Game Pass game.
Its Free Demo Is Out Now
It may not be all that alluring or surprising if other games put out a free Steam demo a month before it launched, but REPLACED doing so is fantastic due to how long it’s been since it was originally revealed. Indeed, REPLACED was announced in 2021 with a proposed release window of 2022, with multiple delays pushing it back as far as March 2026.
Of course, while some of these delays involved ordinary, developmental hurdles, these hurdles were also in no small part attributed to developer Sad Cat Studios’ relocation amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Therefore, REPLACED launching next month and having a playable demo out now is incredibly special as a culmination of all the challenges Sad Cat endured and overcame.
Overall, REPLACED could be an early Game of the Year 2026 contender, depending on how well it can stand out from a large crowd in March. It’ll be enveloped by 1348 Ex Voto, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, and Crimson Desert, however, with Grand Theft Auto scheduled to be released in November, and thus it’ll take a truly remarkable game to do so. If nothing else, REPLACED’s demo proves that it may have what it takes.
- Developer(s)
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Sad Cat Studios
- Publisher(s)
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Coatsink, Thunderful Development
