The Swapper

[Moribunderast]

Anyone played this? A relatively new indie-developed puzzle game (trailer here) that has really impressed me. It's been compared (for varying reasons) to games like Metroid and Portal - the latter due to it's similarity in devising a great central gaming mechanic and utilising it creatively and extensively. The gameplay mainly involves you, the nameless main character and your nifty space-gun The Swapper. The Swapper allows you to create clones of yourself to help with solving puzzles. While you can swap between controlling any one of your given clones at any time, they will all move exactly as you do. This mechanic is used wonderfully throughout the game, with puzzles starting off relatively simple but gradually working their way up in difficulty before you're staring at the screen for extended periods of time, plotting your way through the next.

It's more than a very good puzzle game, however, as it's the music, the gorgeous graphics and understated story that really elevate it. The backgrounds, as far as I've read are all handmade from clay and they look lovely, especially in some beautiful, rare expansive shots that take place. The music is subtle, quiet and a perfect counterpart to the visuals. The story starts off very vague and though it becomes clearer as you go through, things are never spelt out too clearly and it's really what you make of it. Various logs and short interludes of dialogue expand on the story which is spoonfed very deliberately. It's a game I'm still thinking about, even having finished it and I'm keen to play it again to get more out of the experience.

Having recently completed The Last Of Us, I worried that gaming had reached it's peak for me and inevitable disappointment marked my next few game experiences. I was wrong, as The Swapper will likely end up being in my 5 favourite games for the year and may feature quite highly on that list. In terms of recent(ish) independent puzzle-type games I've played (Limbo, Antichamber, The Unfinished Swan) this is a clear standout and a game I was enthralled by from start-to-finish. 

[Bored of Canada]

Yeah, played this. Haven't actually finished it. I think I was close to the end, stuck on a puzzle but University became quite busy so forgot to get back to it.

I love just how the central mechanic works so well with the themes of the story. There's just such a great building of unease and discomfort from cloning yourself. Especially when you solve puzzles through sacrificing the 'original'(?) version of yourself, with them just hitting the ground with an understated crack and their oxygen tank bursts. Very few games are so cohesive in having their systems reflect the story it's trying to tell. This one's a great exception. The themes it deals with calls to mind a few films, of which I can't actually mention otherwise I'll spoil the shitting things[nb]

Spoiler alert

You've been warned

[close]

Spoiler alert

Seriously. Don't get upset. Okay, here goes:

[close]

Spoiler alert

The Prestige

[close]

Spoiler alert

Solaris

[close]

Spoiler alert

Moon

[close]

[/nb]. But it does it in a subtle and intelligent way that lets you reflect on it yourself.
But yeah! Agree with all this! It's fantastic. It's all really muted and quiet and beautiful.

Honestly, it took quite a few recommendations before I actually bought it for myself, and it's mainly because of the name. I think it's a serious problem.
"The Swapper". That is just terrible bad name. I feel it'd be doing considerably better if it had something that felt a bit more weighty.
Or am I the only one who was put off by the name? If so, I take it all back and concede I'm a stupid prick with terrible opinions[nb]Almost as terrible as this game's shitty name.[/nb].

Now, all this talking about it has prompted me to actually finish the bloody thing.

[falafel]

I was going to buy it, but then I found out it wasn't gay porn.