To say that REPLACED is one of the most unique looking games announced in the past few years would be an understatement. It’s darkly stylish, pixelated world and it’s flashy combat has done more then enough to get the community talking about it’s inevitable release date. Though they have been relatively silent over the past few year, we finally have some resemblance of hope that a release is coming sometime in the near future.

In an interview with IGN Co-founder of Sad Cat Studios, Igor Gritsay talked about the sheer scale of a project their original vision ended up being and showed off some impressive gameplay. Originally announced in 2021 with a planned release on Xbox in 2022, it’s no secret that the game has had its fair share of trouble since that time.

Given the ongoing conflicts in Belarus from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, it’s no surprise that a studio based in that part of the world has been affected in the worst ways possible but it appears the end may be on the horizon.

The World: A Dystopian America Unlike Any We’ve Seen

The game in motion throughout the trailer is a sight to behold. The stylistic vibe of the world and those that call it home almost feels akin to a cyberpunk inspired world that collapsed in on itself, very much like the description Igor uses when talking about the world.

Basically in our world everything revolves around bio- transplantation and bio-engineering. Everything went horribly wrong for America in the forties, were basically instead of bombing Japan they bombed themselves. This event gave a huge push to transplantation and healthcare. Initially donorship was very honorable and gave you great perks, but as the world shifted to a more dystopian society a new subgroup of mankind was adopted called Disposals. These people’s organs are stolen and their bodies are disposed of outside the cities walls. – Igor Gritsay

This paints a picture of a world unlike anything we’ve seen before. The idea of bio-transplantation and bio engineering aren’t anything new with games such as Cyberpunk 2077 using it frequently throughout it’s story, but this game throws a twist on the usual methodology employed in that series.

In REPLACED, you play as Reach who is an AI trapped inside the body of his creator. Your job is simple – find the best donors and the best recipients. The game more then anything seems to focus on the thin line between what separates humans from their own creations.

Igor goes on to further build up the world, reiterating that the version of the United States we see is built from their own perception they’ve experienced in their own lives from movies, and other forms of media they grew up on. He specifically mention the movie Blade Runner, which the game is clearly inspired by from world they created and the twisted dystopian story that occurs inside it.

Gameplay: Batman Meets Blade Runner

For the rest of the interview, Igor talks about the combat and how it was inspired by Batman, specifically the Arkham series. The snappiness of the combat as you transition from enemy to enemy and the fluidity of the actions occurring does remind me of the original Arkham Asylum with a dystopian twist that has me extremely excited to get my hands on it. The seamless transitions from gameplay to cinematic show that the developers not only care about the presentation from a flashy standpoint, but maintaining the feel of a 2.5D action game that sells it’s own story.

And that’s all we have for today! I for one am hopeful that a 2026 release is in the cards and that we’ll all be able to enjoy this game sometime in the near future. What are your thoughts on REPLACED? Does it look too good to be true, or the perfect mix of games that you love?

You can see the gameplay and video interview below.