Replaced Demo Preview | Stunning Cyberpunk Platformer That's Worth the Wait

Sad Cat Studios has announced that the Replaced Demo is now available on Steam as of February 11, 2026!

The demo took me about 40 minutes to complete, and I made sure to stop and "smell the roses" along the way.

Replaced is set in an alternate-universe America. It is the 1980s after a catastrophic event that caused the collapse of American society as a whole. Set roughly 40 years after this event, the remnants of society have fractured, and some upper echelon of the old world has progressed beyond the human body. The player controls an AI being known as R.E.A.C.H. who has somehow been implanted into a human body. The gameplay consists of light puzzle platforming and tight cinematic combat among the ruins of America.

Replaced looks to be absolutely gorgeous. The visual language in the art style is deep, and it is easy to spend time soaking in the views and atmosphere. The worldbuilding shown off in this small sample is masterful, and every pixel is oozing with style. The environmental storytelling and the collectible notes' deep exposition combine to establish an intriguing science fiction epic that has the potential to say a lot about current-day real-world aspirations.

On top of the thick and immersive atmosphere, the demo shows us that the combat in Replaced is not an afterthought. The combat featured was extremely easy to control and pretty simple in execution, but the real fun was in timing attacks, counterattacks, and executions to defeat crowds of opponents. Well-timed combat has a satisfying rhythm and brings the camera in to highlight the choreographed melee action. The animations for all of these attacks and counterattacks look great and feel really exciting to pull off - especially the pistol executions! A quick reminder of the mature tone of the game - R.E.A.C.H. attacks charge up an execution animation that caused me to shout in approval the first time.

The puzzle elements on display in this demo were very subdued, and I suspect that it is to accommodate more of the wider audience that might be hoping for a more action-centric experience. Subdued or not, manipulating objects in the area or moving in and out of the background to progress felt good, and I expect that to be heavily utilized on release.

I highly recommend checking the demo out for yourself because it is a delicious appetizer for a game that has been continually delayed for about 4 years. All of that development time is set to pay off when the game releases on March 12, 2026 on Steam, day one on Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S.