"Tell me who I just ejected into space"
There's been a great deal of puzzle games that have been coming forth with compelling and driving narratives to add to their array of interesting game mechanics. The Swapper utilizes some well recognized puzzle mechanics from games like The Company of Myself or Thomas Was Alone in the sense that the game is kind of a one player co-op.
The Swapper is, at it's core, brilliantly simple. With only a few mechanics introduced in a well paced system of progression, the game manages to create an effective tutorial as you play. The game also manages to create create fiendish puzzles that the player has all the resources to complete using a small tool set. I would make no hesitation to place The Swapper next to some of the best puzzle games of all time.
The game's mechanics revolves around a device called The Swapper. It allows the player to create up to four clones to help solve puzzles to progress in the game. The clones mirror all of your actions and can die from environmental hazards. You're also allows to swap between the clones, effectively teleporting yourself across great distances. They're all mechanics we've seen before, but The Swapper manages to build off of them and innovate for its own.
liking the orange
The game's capstone to me is the narrative and the questions it asks players. You make a bunch of clones in your journey through the world, listening to these rock hive-mind beings called Watchers. It is hinted early in the game that they were once just one big mind that became fragmented and alone once human excavation began.
the game's visuals are dazzling
The Watchers once held one, unified thought, but as they became separated from another, each began to develop its own individual thought. All those clones you made inside an asteroid field to watch get flung around by asteroids, are they people? And is what you did murder?
The game's questions focus around the sanctity of life. We can create clones; it's been done before. We know that identical twins are separate, autonomous people. But if we were to ever be able to create consciousness, what does that say about us? What makes human thought special if its just some complex algorithm that can be created?
So here's the question: If you were to clone yourself and swap consciousness with your clone, would you still be you? In another words, are clones of yourself, still yourself or are they a completely separate person?
i don't wanna go through that, you go first. no you go first no you-
The questions posed by The Swapper are tantalizing and will need to be answered some time in the future. The game's presentation is amazing- can I just say something? Most of the game's assets were made in clay and other everyday materials, and then digitized: a copy of a real world entity. Sound familiar?
it's really cool
To top it all of is an atmospheric and curious soundtrack composed by Carlo Castellano. Everything about this game is polished and hard to find fault in. The Swapper manages to bring back old mechanics, build off of it, and present itself in a gorgeous manner all focused on a centralized theme.
And you know, puzzle games are puzzle games: they're gonna stump you once in awhile. Please, do not let up. Take a break, come back. Do not let this game hang on your shelf just because one puzzle stopped you. I promise, it's worth witnessing the end.
I'll say this again here: the game is available on Steam, but it's also available DRM free from the developers. The Swapper is both beautiful and profound; it's an experience to be had.
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