Replacement is a beautiful, excellent 2.5D cyberpunk thriller | Gamescom 2025

When you play long enough, when you see a game that seems to be particularly special, you end up developing “Spidey Sense”. Of course, you will never know until the final product goes to the hard drive, but usually, the sixth sense is right.

Instead, a 2.5D action-adventure game that is soaked in the absolutely stunning sci-fi Cyberpunk-art Artetic – with incredible camera work and moody music – makes Spidey Sense tingle sting. A year ago, I had played a short three-part demo that only reinforced the feeling I first gained after my first reveal four years ago. This time I had to go to the first 30 minutes or so of the campaign, which didn't undermine my passion for possible – if the rest of the game could offer – the same Indie Classics as Limbo, Braid, Inside, balatro, Ett –

Starting with the jump, it's obvious that the replaced art director knows what they're doing. This dystopian look set in the alternative history of the 1980s, with 16-bit graphics I grew up with and rooted with soft dynamic lighting and some absolutely brilliant photography. Torture the right amount of depth of field and you will get a world that looks like life. It exudes sadness and despair, but somehow makes them look beautiful.

The character you play, an artificial intelligence living inside a man named Warren, who wakes up after dying in a pile of corpses. The world of Phoenix you see is the evolution of global nuclear events that happened decades ago. There are diaries, news articles and other ephemeral world building information scattered around world building information that can be collected and read in your wingers – consider it as the 1980 World Version of the 1980 Walkman-Meets-Palm-Pilot.

The replacement startup is simple enough to allow you to do it on a 2D plane, old-fashioned, distance from left to right, and let you do more than just some basic platform. But it's set up very well and starts quickly. Whether it's the aforementioned digital clippings, the work that reveals the backstory of the radiation coating, or the sniper wielding a searchlight, they'll shoot you if they find you, and things in Phoenix are obviously grim. Soon after, you will have to fight for survival as you will be forced to reach out with several factions and the entire gang.

The next replacement will impress you: it packs a proper Batman: Arkham combat system. The enemies about to attack will get yellow lightning on their heads. When you see it fight immediately, press y. Then – my Arkham veterans know where this is – When the red lightning bolt appears on the enemy's head, it means they will release an unstoppable/uninfected attack and you need to press a button at the right moment in order to avoid the rolling. Successful Dodge and Parrot collect a meter for special attacks, which in place of the case means you either shoot a gun from a distance and can brutally execute the enemy if you are at close range. Of course, it will get more complicated; soon after, the rifle-wielding bad guys will enter the competition, and the timing window changes (obviously) unstoppable bullets. The enemy's paradise will also complicate things. In the opening hours of the replacement, there was only one, and probably through design, he was not difficult to tango. All his attacks can't be stopped, he needs a lot of hits to shoot down, but when we faced, he didn't leave friends, so this is an introduction to the higher click points you face with later in the game. Therefore, I hope that in the replacement time of each word of replacement, the fist bone will be greatly increased: enemy, difficulty, etc.

Soon, the replacement began to introduce 2.5D elements, expanding the world by getting me to the background or foreground to get what I needed to improve. You need to grab the bins to slide them in order to climb a higher ladder or bridge the gap, like an example. While this opening sequence doesn't give me much freedom of activity in the environment, I eventually know because I've seen it in my demo last year. I should add, though, that exploring sometimes rewards your pickups, which are usually hidden in sight – I won't call them secrets – they fill out your files and emit more lights in this broken world, or give you an upgrade. I wouldn't say the replacement itself will be replayable, but if the developers do a great job of building Phoenix's background, that might bring enough motivation to go back and find all the hidden information.

This year's demo – again, because it's the beginning of the game – also didn't show off the biggest surprise for the initial hands-on practice last year: the RPG is hidden under its 2.5D Cyberpunk aesthetic. From the initially impressive trailer, I think the replacement is a “just” side-scrolling action adventure game. But, no, it's partly full of the ability to explore NPCs and free and open areas. I absolutely can't wait to dig out more.

But back to the latest replacement, I should take a moment to praise the music. The moody synth soundtrack is key to nailing the atmosphere in any dystopian Cyberpunk media, and there is no time to replace waste to confirm it understands the department’s mission. I actually want to go back to the visual logo of this game for a second too. As you know, pixel art is amazing, the use of colors and lighting is top, but I also want to shout animation. I'm not sure if this makes sense, but when trying out a retro look and complementing it with modern visuals, for example, animation is too good. I think the development team at Sad Cat Studios hits the perfect balance here. Neither the arrival nor his enemies were too stable. Instead, they have a slightly stinging move on them, which only adds to the broken, reduced spirit of Phoenix, and in my eyes it sells a new 16-bit look more perfectly.

When I reach the end of the demo build of the replacement, all I want is to play more. It's just a fascinating game from top to bottom, and I can't wait to see where the story of Range and what the deeper plot reveals. I'm also eager to find out how deep the combat and RPG elements are. I can only get my Spidey Sense to prove correct and replace it with one of the best and most memorable games of 2026 (even if we already know that Grand Theft Auto 6 will dominate the headlines). We don't have a release date for a replacement, but I feel it's close. Hopefully we will soon learn exactly when we can see the particularity of the last game.

Ryan McCaffrey Podcast Unlockand our monthly (-ish) interview program, IGN is not filtered. He was a North Jersey guy, so it was “Taylor Ham” and not “Pork Rolls”. Debate with him on Twitter @dmc_ryan.