We’re back! We’ve had snow this week, and the cold snap is rather irritating when you have a long commute to work. The Game of the Year discourse continues to be entertaining, and I find it funny how seriously people take it.
As always, we are back with the video games, and today’s review features SWAPMEAT, a colorful roguelite shooter that’s been enjoying a fairly solid reception. It is one of those games I hope gets more attention, and while it’s in early access with a long way to go, it has a solid core that nails one of the main reasons we play video games. We play them for fun, and SWAPMEAT is oodles of that, wrapped in an artistic style that drips with character. It’s not perfect, of course, but I am enjoying myself with this one so far.
SWAPMEAT has some interesting mechanics that set it apart from the torrent of roguelikes and ‘boomer shooters’ on the market, making it more engaging for players interested in innovative gameplay. I make a lot of jokes about how the indie market has its own version of the ‘AAA Open World’ model, and that’s usually the roguelike and deckbuilder genres. Regardless, I appreciate what SWAPMEAT has on offer. In this galactic adventure, players can take on body parts from the monsters they butcher, swapping out fleshy appendages for different bonuses. That is a creative way of powering yourself up. Most games offer dull methods like picking up the weapons of the fallen to bolster yourself in the big fight for survival.
Pulling off somebody’s arm and wielding it as a weapon against the poor corpse’s mates sounds disturbing and hilarious, and it is how I prefer to do things. SWAPMEAT comes with a decent amount of content for its alpha Early Access build, featuring a partially complete campaign, several difficulty levels, co-op multiplayer, and random solar systems to run through after finishing the campaign. I quite like how the devs are approaching this one, providing a solid core of progression and gameplay systems, a tasty campaign, and promising replayability that hints at more content to come, keeping players’ interest alive for future updates.
I’ve been having fun with this one so far, with both the visual design and core gameplay loop keeping me engaged. I do sometimes wonder, though, about the value of playing story campaigns while they are incomplete during Early Access. It usually means having to replay everything when it’s complete and polished for full release, which can lead to a rough first impression. Besides that quibble of mine and a few weird bugs, however, SWAPMEAT is living up to my expectations.
The price tag of $24.99 is relatively high for an indie game in Early Access, especially a FPS, but the combination of content and decent polish makes it a fair value. As with all Early Access games, though, I would purchase based on what is available now rather than what is planned, because anything can happen in this industry. This approach helps readers make informed choices and manage expectations. Regardless, however, I do recommend the game for its sheer creativity alone, which is evident even in its current state.
