![]() The nature of the rock-like “Watchers” themselves as well as the gameplay mechanics raise those all important questions of identity, but never really draw any conclusions. As you explore the station that serves as the setting of the game, a combination of crew logs, and whispered alien exposition fill you in on the goings on ever so subtly to the story of “The Watchers” and the abandoned vessel which they were taken onboard. Your whereabouts, situation, or even identity a mystery, and you’re asked to press forward anyways. "The nature of the rock-like “Watchers” themselves as well as the gameplay mechanics raise those all important questions of identity, but never really draw any conclusions."Įasily likened to a Portal meets Dead Space, The Swapper begins with very little information given. It earned critical and gamer acclaim through a solid puzzle game draped in a chilling narrative, one that asks something ever so slightly distinctive from the usual of the player. Video games have a distinct advantage when it comes to raising big questions in relatively minimalistic ways, framing them around any number of genres.īack in 2013, Facepalm Games brought the original PC version of “The Swapper” to the masses. It's the rare game that dares to ask some tough questions, and is then fearless enough leave to the player alone to come up with their own answers.M any great stories throughout history pose the question “What is self?” Video games certainly pose the very query often themselves, with titles such as Persona 4 springing right to mind. Without giving too much away, it's clear that the folks at Facepalm are big fans of classic films like 2001, Moon, and Solaris. As the story unravels, fans of some particularly heady science fiction will be able to spot The Swapper's influences. Only a few bits of well-written prose are spread around. Making it seem effortless, The Swapper's atmosphere tells the story of a crumbled civilization aboard an abandoned space station primarily through subtle cues spread across locations ranging from the foliage of a botany dome to the sofas of an abandoned rec room. These fantastic obstacles exist within a stunning 2D world that rewards patient and observant players with one of the most emotional and thought-provoking stories I've experienced in quite some time. The Swapper is rich with this kind of impeccably designed challenge, and the act of finally discovering a solution to one brings the same bittersweet realization that I'll never be able to experience the joy of solving that puzzle with a fresh mind again I got from Portal. These puzzles are as well designed as the rest, and had I taken a day off and come back to them with a fresh set of eyes, I'm sure the solutions would've come to me. Eventually I resorted to outside help, but as is the mark of a truly fantastic puzzle game, the solutions caused me to slap my forehead (perhaps where the developer Facepalm got its name?) and ask why I hadn’t thought of that. I spent a few hours chipping away at them with no avail. I confess, with only two puzzles left between me and the finale, I simply could not wrap my head around the solutions. Though I was mostly mesmerized by the thought and foresight required to overcome the puzzles, I hit a wall right at the end. Learning how to utilize gravity, timing, inertia, and ultimately merciless clone murder for your own personal gain becomes paramount in completing its suite of clever challenges. ![]() ![]() While the challenges themselves start out simple enough - spawn a clone in an inaccessible place and swap into it - they eventually evolve into machinations of sheer wonder. The titular gun that allows you to create copies of yourself and swap places with them is relatively simplistic in its singular function, but developer Facepalm Games' uncanny ability to continually put us in foreign predicaments vaults The Swapper into the ranks of the elite puzzlers. Though The Swapper’s cloning mechanic brings to mind games like Braid and Closure, it differentiates itself by giving you your one and only puzzle-solving tool right at the start. That’s the big question that arose as I spent about four hours (excluding the time I got stuck) solving a series of puzzles and piecing together the profound and well-told story of a derelict space station.
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