REPLACED is out today on Xbox and PC

Sad Cat Studios' long-delayed 2.5D action platformer REPLACED is out today on Xbox consoles, PC, and Xbox Game Pass. The launch ends a five-year wait since the game's initial reveal at E3 2021.

The road to release was rocky. Sad Cat originally planned to launch the game in 2022. The development team, then based in Minsk, Belarus, had to relocate to Cyprus following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That massive disruption pushed the schedule back indefinitely.

The studio delayed the game three more times after that. The final delay happened just weeks ago, pushing the game from March to April. The developers used that extra month to act on player feedback from a highly successful Steam demo. Game Director Yura Zhdanovich noted that the team refused to compromise on their high standards. They chose to delay the release rather than ship an unpolished product.

An AI in a meat suit

Players control R.E.A.C.H., an artificial intelligence unwillingly downloaded into a human body. The story takes place in Phoenix-City, an alternate 1980s dystopia where corporate elites harvest organs from the lower classes. Human life is literally traded like currency.

You explore areas like The Station, a fortified settlement near the city wall that serves as a self-sustaining community for miners and scavengers. Between combat encounters, the game has a hub area where you can talk to NPCs, pick up side quests, and learn more about the world.

The gameplay mixes cinematic platforming in the vein of Flashback or Inside with free-flow combat. The combat system is rhythmic and fluid. Indicators warn you of incoming strikes. You have a brief window to react. You have to manage parries and dodges to build momentum for brutal executions. Enemies carry shields that require specific counterattacks to break, and you can chain melee strikes with ranged options to clear crowded rooms.

Hand-drawn grit

The art direction is the main draw. Sad Cat's founders previously worked entirely on mobile games. They wanted to build something riskier for their debut project. The team initially experimented with traditional flat pixel art, but they quickly abandoned that approach in favor of a custom 2.5D engine.

The result is a striking visual style that drops detailed, hand-drawn pixel art into 3D environments. The engine uses modern volumetric lighting, fog, and particle effects to give the world depth. You can move between the foreground and background to solve puzzles or find upgrades hidden in the environment.

Xbox ecosystem exclusive

REPLACED is a console launch exclusive for Microsoft. It is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows PC via Steam, the Epic Games Store, and GOG. The base game costs $20, and publisher Thunderful is also offering a Supporter Edition with the soundtrack for $25.

There is no PlayStation version at launch, and the developers have not announced plans for a PS5 port. PlayStation owners will simply have to wait and see if the exclusivity window expires.

The game supports Xbox Play Anywhere, so a digital purchase works across both Xbox and Windows PC. It is also Steam Deck verified right out of the gate. That makes it an easy fit for handheld players who want to take their dystopian corporate espionage on the bus.