Quick Review: The Swapper

Can a game be saved despite a really bad first impression? Because this game had an uphill battle.

Instant cloning, just have empty space.

Developed by Olli Harjola, Otto Hantula, Tom Jubert and Carlo Castellano, published by Facepalm Games and released on May 30th, 2013, The Swapper is another puzzle “platformer” with a twist. Your character comes down from the space station Theseus to the planet beneath. You quickly return with new abilities, found within the mine of the planet. Now, using this new set of powers, you can explore the space station and figure out why its inhabitants have become so antagonistic at the beginning.

Four clones, all necessary, all gone in a second.

The first ability is to place a clone of yourself somewhere in the area that your character can look at, with the Right-click button. The clone will make the exact same movements you make, you can create up to 4 clones like this, and you can re-absorb any or all of those clones by making physical contact with them. Uncontrolled clones disappear when you/they walk under a light source. The second is to Swap your consciousness into one of the clones that’s in your line of vision, using the Left-click button. You can jump with W or Space, view the map with Q and interact with stuff using E. The character’s jumping is pretty limited, so summoning a clone at the other side of a large gap and swapping into it is often the only way to progress. So what if you kill the previous body? Nobody cares about that, right? A technique you learn early on involves summoning a clone way above you, then instantly swapping consciousness with it and repeating the process to climb up empty rooms. Or do the same with a clone summoned beneath you to land safely on the ground, as time slows down when you create a clone.

I nickname it the Clone Elevator. No need to
worry about your old body.

Not anywhere close from seeing everything around this place.

The ship has the feel of a Metroidvania, with a map that you discover as you explore it. To progress, you collect spheres, most of which (there's 124 total) are hidden behind puzzles; usually, those involve blue mist, which prevents the creation of clones within that mist, or red mist, which blocks out consciousness swaps (and, sometimes a purple mix of the two). Get enough spheres to open the door to the next area, and so on. The atmosphere is gloomy, with a lot of shadows and a creepy feel, likely caused by the place being seemingly deserted, aside from bizarre stones that speak. I wouldn’t be surprised if this took a turn to horror sci-fi by the end…

The game made a terrible first impression: On opening, it asks you to input your name for some reason. The mouse cursor on that screen was glitched to Hell, wouldn’t even reach the input area, and the OK underneath even less so. A quick search indicated that I had to use the compatibility beta instead of the game proper… meaning that while I got to play the game, I only got to experience what I assume to be a weaker version. Bad start.

I do like the creativity of some parts, like this
means of quick transportation. Hurry, all
aboard the Strong Winds Express!

The goal: The little orb behind the wall.
How to: A series of pressure pad presses.

The game does try to do something visually interesting, as the environments and items were created by hand and photographed for use in the game, making for a seldom-seen claymation feel to the rooms. The music isn’t too memorable. The story is fine, maintaining a mystery but also having a lot of weird voiced transmissions and on-screen text from the sentient rocks, but it didn’t quite hook me in. Neither did the gameplay, really, which in the end felt a bit bland to me. I lost interest rather quickly, maybe a combination of gameplay not changing enough and the environments being dark and hard to see in. Sure, the gameplay mechanic of the clones is very interesting, and leads to really good puzzles, but I didn’t know whether there was more to it.

Maybe it’s that bad first impression, I don’t know. This time, I’ll really say that it may be a purely personal distaste. By all means, if you are intrigued a more puzzle-focused Metroidvania-like using a unique gameplay mechanic and featuring a perplexing plot, by all means, give this one a try. I didn’t feel it was for me.

The Swapper is available on Steam for 14.99$ USD.