The Swapper

“Welcome to the age of independently developed puzzle platformers!” would be, perhaps a bit of an exaggeration if it were to be a greeting in today’s gaming landscape. Or would it? It’s no obscure fact that ever since Braid came along, platformers have been much of a preferred genre for small indie developers and we’ve seen enough games trying to introduce smart game mechanics in order to gather a fanbase around them. The Swapper is part of this ever-growing family of videogames.

In space, unpleasant things tend to happen on a frequent basis, it would seem, and that is where the events of the title take place. During the 7 hours or so of gameplay, you’ll be exploring an eerie space station that’s almost desolate. There are enough titles set in space nowadays but not all of them get the atmosphere right. The Swapper happens to be one of those that gives a very plausible feel to everything.

The first thing that will strike you is the way the game looks and that is mostly, because you’ll find it hard to relate it to anything else that’s out there. Claymation is the word behind the visuals, Facepalm Games having built all of the art assets by using actual physical clay. This, alongside the brilliant use of lighting makes the game engulf you in its world. While you have it running, you’re there, living through and as the main character, since all he seems to be is a vessel for the player.

The game is surprisingly dark for the amount of light you find in it. And it’s exactly that, alongside the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack, that gives you a sense of emptiness, making you actually feel the void around you. There will not be a moment when you’ll feel disconnected. As you move from room to room and, eventually, outside of the space station, the various environments alongside the written journals you find will keep you wanting to find out more regarding what happened there. And as you go deeper into the mystery, chances are you will find yourself breathing more heavily.

Every platformer has to have a mechanic that innovates or at least keeps one interested in the puzzle solving. The Swapper’s approach to this is the device the game is named after. With it, you can create clones of yourself, clones into which you can actually transfer your consciousness. These clones move in tandem with you and are as silent as you are.

Being able to have 4 of said clones active at any given time, you will encounter various types of light that will restrict you either from placing clones, swapping to clones or even both. Add a bit of gravity change into the mix and you’ll receive, most assuredly after the first half of the game, quite a few puzzles that will twist your brain a bit before you’ll get to the solution. There are a couple of tricks the device allows you to do which are never actually told to you. Allowing the player to find out a thing or two by himself is always a plus in the age of games that hold your hand until the very end. While The Swapper may not be the most difficult game out there, you will receive a good amount of satisfaction when you figure out the harder puzzles towards the end.

It can be said that gameplay-wise, there’s not much variety. The number of things you can do is limited, and while the core concept revolves around solving puzzles that impose limitations upon you, it may not be enough for those who seek a game that gives them plenty of things to do.

The gameplay is a means to explore the station, and on it, you’ll find The Watchers. Their presence there is what creates the layers that inspired the game in the first place. The idea behind The Swapper, came after one of the designers read “A living soul”, which is a book about a brain in the jar. Here, they also delve a bit into subjects such as the human soul or the concept of consciousness, through various means. It’s really great to see how at the start of the game the clones are simply tools you use to get further and by the end, you’ll start thinking about their actual fate.

There will be plenty of situations where you’ll be required to kill them off and it’s beautiful how you start asking yourself questions without the game actually pushing you into doing that. All it does is present a way of seeing things, of approaching the topics mentioned earlier, but it does it in such a way that you can’t remain passive to what’s being circulated, especially when you reach the conclusion of the story.

The Swapper is a homogenous mixture of elements that fit together just well. When you look back at it, it’s hard to find too many things that are objectively broken.  It understands what it’s supposed to be very well. It follows the well-constructed plan the developers most likely had for it flawlessly, and while, you’re probably not going to get enough information regarding the human soul as to get your PhD, what you will get is a fantastic 7 hours of a very atmospheric gaming experience that you’ll most likely love.

MateÈ™ Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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