The Swapper jumps to Playstation

By Matt Taylor

Almost a year since it’s release on PC, Facepalm Games’ critical success, “The Swapper”, will be released on Playstation with help from London’s Curve Studios. I also had the chance to interview developer Olli Harjola which you can read here

Returning to the lonely space puzzler, players will be able to use Playstation’s Cross-buy system to download The Swapper on their Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and the Playstation Vita. As well as transferring between platforms, save games will also share between the systems and allows players to continue their journey through the desolate space station from anywhere.

From the opening sequence The Swapper does it’s best to make sure you know that you are on your own. Landing on the deserted research station, Theseus, on far off planet Chori V, players are given control of a lone space traveller who quickly discovers a device that clones the user. The clones that you create move in time with the original character and it’s not long before you discover that you can “swap” between clones. The puzzles throughout the game revolve around the ability to replicate and jump between replications, resulting in some of the smartest platforming puzzles I’ve ever played.

Puzzle games usually walk a fine line between boringly easy or frustratingly hard. The Swapper never falls into either category and manages to stay smart. Instead of overly complex and frustratingly hard solutions the game asks the player to think about your surroundings and use the tools given to you. In the whole time I played the game I have never felt cheated by complex or obscure puzzles, or felt that the game was holding my hand. It’s the perfect puzzle game, and it’s coming to Playstation.

I visited Curve Studios to check out the Playstation version of The Swapper. Walking into the dark office lined with couches, empty beer bottles sitting on the coffee table, the first thing I saw was The Swapper on the TV screen in front of me. I’ve played the game on my MacBook Air, which is admittedly the wrong platform to experience the game, but I’ve managed through on a trackpad and thought the game looked great. Then I saw it on Playstation 4. I could instantly see the difference in quality, with the colours bright and accurate, and the higher level of detail revealing Facepalm’s elaborate and beautiful design.

After seeing both the Playstation 4 and Playstation Vita version of the game first hand, Curve Studios should be proud of what they have achieved. Both titles looked amazing with only minor differences between them. Playing it on the Vita I found that the only part that felt off was the slow targeting and slowdown effect during a “swap”. Fearing the worst, I pressed start and found that the speeds could be adjusted through the games settings. But both of the changes made sense when you leave the world of keyboard and mouse, and were well implemented on the Dualshock 4 and Vita’s button layout.

With the game already seeing success on PC, Mac and Linux, joining the growing library on the highest selling next generation console is an awesome opportunity for Facepalm, Curve and Playstation players who are aching for more titles on the Playstation 4 store.

The Swapper will be available on Playstation 4, Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita from the 25th of June.

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All images courtesy of Curve Studios and are taken from the Vita version of the game.