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Indie Game Spotlight: ‘The Swapper’

Brendan Jacques
Connector Contributor

Crafted by the team of developers at Facepalm Games, “The Swapper” pulls you into its world like few games are ever able to do. With its haunting soundtrack, beautiful art direction and chilling themes, this game is able to capture the beauty and loneliness of space with a befitting elegance. This commitment to atmosphere is further bolstered by its deceptively simple puzzle design and a story that consistently questions what it means to be alive and what individuality even means when you’re surrounded by clones of yourself.

These clones come courtesy of the aptly named Swapper, a gun capable of creating clones that mimic your every movement and swapping your soul into the bodies of said clones. While this concept is fairly easy to get your head around at first, the game is able to create a myriad of unique puzzles with this mechanic, which only get more complicated with additional mechanics, such as shifting gravity. The feeling of solving any of the game’s puzzles is gratifying in a way I haven’t found in a puzzle game since “Portal.”

But that isn’t where the real genius of “The Swapper” lies. Rather, it’s in how the game forces you to question the ethics of using such a device. On one hand, discovering that any fall can be survived by placing a clone below you and swapping into it was amazingly gratifying, seeing my original body crash to the ground in a lifeless heap gave me pause. Are the clones I’m throwing around actually lifeless shells I can do with what I wish? Or am I committing murder with each clone I send falling to its death? The story is at its absolute best when it leaves you pondering these questions as you move forward hoping for answers.

Sadly, this silence is broken somewhat by the appearance of other survivors aboard the Theseus Space Station. While their dialogue is generally well written and well-directed, the story they try to tell is confusing and annoying. I was paying attention to every story sequence the game threw at me, but by the end I still had no idea who my character was or what any of the people I was doing missions for actually wanted to do outside of the broadest, general ideas. And it only gets more complicated when clones and alternate personalities and “alternate souls” are mixed in as well. It didn’t serve to hurt the experience of play in any major way, but it’s a shame that a messy story holds back a game with such a great commitment to atmosphere.

Regardless of my issues with the story, “The Swapper” is an incredibly unique experience that I highly recommend to anyone looking for a unique game that will stick with you long after the credits roll. “The Swapper” is available on PC and Mac for $15 and on Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 for $20.

 

Final Grade: A-

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