Really the only thing I had an issue with in this game were the nonsensical achievements (de-chievements, really). Instead of bringing more of the back-story to light and enriching the overall experience, the devs decided to tuck away the extra terminals (messages from home) in the most impossible places imagined. So much so that in most cases, less than 5% of players read the extra messages -- this is evident from from the Global Achievements page for The Swapper on Steam. Which is a shame. The Swapper is a good example of how achievements should not be done.
Other than that, the game is an incredible achievement in itself. I don't believe there's a single 3d model in the game (mostly photographs with normal maps, placed in 3d space) and yet the shadows and lighting is phenomenal. As is the gameplay. Definitely worth checking out.
Yeah, that was a bummer. I mean, the main story logs slowly elaborate on what turns out to be the "main" storyline, but the hidden extra terminals actually have a decent amount of interesting backstory about the nature of Theseus Station and what happened. In fact, is it a hidden log that actually explains like 50 years have passed since everyone died? I know the main storyline establishes you are just a random scavenger and were never a crewmember on Theseus, but I swear it was a secret log that explained, "Naw man, all these people died decades ago", which kinda blew my mind.
@themanwithnoplan: totally agree, I bought it in the humble bundle and am using an xbox 360 controller. The slow down during midair aiming is more than adequate and the default sensitivity is really low to help with precision.
It's not on Xbox 360 or Xbox One. I don't have a PS3, PS4, or a Vita.
You can most likely thank Microsoft's self-publishing policy for that one.
Plus, Sony has been REALLY aggressive in trying to nab games made by smaller developers and from what people have also mentioned, Sony has been really good to work with in terms of developer support. I also don't have a Sony console (I primarily play on the PC now as of last year) but I like that the competition between them and MS have pretty much kept the industry going instead of stagnating and falling off. Hopefully, MS will continue to try and step up.
I played it for a few days and then stopped. I'll probably go back to it, but I didn't find it at all compelling. Some parts of the story are interesting, but it would be better as a short story than a game. Wouldn't have to stick inexplicable puzzle rooms in it either.
I thought the ending was neat; but it's the combination of gorgeous artstyle and fantastic sound design that made for such an enthralling sense of atmosphere, wrapped around one of the most satisfying puzzlers I've played in recent times (with a curve that kept me challenged throughout but never quite to the point where I had to look up a solution), that really made the game for me. The story thread is pretty cool too, though.
All I'll say for now is that when I finished it, I immediately played through the game again straight away - which is crazy for a puzzle game. Then the next morning I picked it up and ran through for a third time. If that isn't a good endorsement, I can't offer anything more.
Also you should totally run to Humble because it's part of their (excellent) bundle and you can get it with some other cool games for as little as you can afford to spend, if price is a concern for you.
Love this game, but only managed to finish it a couple of weeks ago because of how damn tricky some of the puzzles are (and other video games eating up my time!). I am proud enough to say that even though it took me about 8-10 hours to solve everything, not once did I ever look up a solution or ask for help from anyone who's beaten it.
It's really awesome how I got stuck for hours on a couple of puzzles, only to go back to them another day and have everything click and I solve them in like 2 minutes. Amazing atmosphere, compelling narrative, and a pretty cool ending. All y'all who haven't played it should pick it up.
Great that it's getting an even wider audience, and I might just end up buying it again on PS3 to support the devs.
A friend of mine bought it for me and himself back when it was first released. He said this could become one of those games everyone would be talking about like Portal. That didn't happen, but when I finally played it to completion a month ago I really enjoyed it. My friend I believe still hasn't finished it. I'm gonna have to nag him until that changes.
Woooo... Wait that seems like it would be hard to control with 2 joysticks. I remember there being several sections where you needed really accurate spawning and swapping.
Yeah, I'm curious to see what they do to compensate. This is one of the few times where I really think you need the precision of a mouse to play, and I avoid m/kb whenever I can
I've been playing the game with the Duelshock 4 the last couple of days and haven't had any problems with the precision at all. It should translate just fine for anyone who's used to using a controller.
Really the only thing I had an issue with in this game were the nonsensical achievements (de-chievements, really). Instead of bringing more of the back-story to light and enriching the overall experience, the devs decided to tuck away the extra terminals (messages from home) in the most impossible places imagined. So much so that in most cases, less than 5% of players read the extra messages -- this is evident from from the Global Achievements page for The Swapper on Steam. Which is a shame. The Swapper is a good example of how achievements should not be done.
Other than that, the game is an incredible achievement in itself. I don't believe there's a single 3d model in the game (mostly photographs with normal maps, placed in 3d space) and yet the shadows and lighting is phenomenal. As is the gameplay. Definitely worth checking out.
Woooo... Wait that seems like it would be hard to control with 2 joysticks. I remember there being several sections where you needed really accurate spawning and swapping.
Yeah, I'm curious to see what they do to compensate. This is one of the few times where I really think you need the precision of a mouse to play, and I avoid m/kb whenever I can
Hurray! One of the few PC games I really wanted to play that I was hoping would come to a console at some point. I'm definitely all over this in May. Thanks for supporting the porting of all these rad indie games, Sony.
Game is a damn masterpiece. My favorite from last year. I wanted @patrickklepek to argue so much for it on the site's top 10 of the year :/ lol. Ya broke my heart there scoops.
Woooo... Wait that seems like it would be hard to control with 2 joysticks. I remember there being several sections where you needed really accurate spawning and swapping.
Yeah, good point. I think I'm only maybe a half hour in and I can recall two times where I was having to jump off a cliff, spawn and swap, all within half a second.
@karthasmi: Yeah, no shit. This is probably the single best bundle they've ever had. I think the memes in Guac are pretty gross, but it's still a good game. Every single game there is great. Too bad I already had all of them :V
This game had one damn good composition of story and atmosphere. It's about 6-7 hours long for most people which is pretty good for a puzzle platformer, and is just too surreal in some parts to pass on playing.
Woooo... Wait that seems like it would be hard to control with 2 joysticks. I remember there being several sections where you needed really accurate spawning and swapping.
I played through all of the PC version using a 360 controller. Totally doable. Didn't have any moments of frustration from the controls.
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