Recent reviews by R3troSim

Glide through ten bizarre worlds in half an hour and come out the other side thinking what on earth did I just play.

Funny, light-hearted, even dark-humoured, Wild West-themed Source arena shooter. Also highly replayable: if you master the gunplay and learn the maps, you can be performing some pretty cool tricks.

Personally I've found the gunplay complements different paces of games (so it's actually quite varied!). So on servers with say 3-7 players, it's more about mastering the shooting and general gameplay...

Whereas on servers with higher numbers of players, it becomes a simply hilarious Wild West shootout with echoes of "Pass the whiskey!" bounding about, and plenty of genuine "WTF!?" moments (e.g. you shoot guy in face, another guy shoots you in face, other guy shoots guy who shot you in the face etc... or in my case random encounters in bar areas with loud piano music playing...).

The FoF community is evidently still growing, but so far for me there's always been a good bunch of dedicated people online. And, as said, it's growing - so expect more people as the weeks pass ;)

The Good:
+ It's fun!! :D
+ It's free!! (No microtransactions or anything.. just a fun, free game!)
+ Surprisingly solid gunplay given it's light-hearted exterior. Plays like a Source shooter, but you have to take a different approach to reloading, shooting and gun selection (well, they are WIld West guns of course!) in particular.
+ Again, surprisingly well-designed maps / spawn points in my opinion. Learn them well, and you'll master the game no doubt!
+ ..And a reputable amount of content (good number of (varied layout) maps).
+ Best whiskey drinking simulator to date!

The Bad:
- Erm.. I suppose some people might not like the gunplay.. they might consider it too 'slow' or possibly even aggravating at first. But play on a little more and you'll be getting positive K/D's!
- Not really too much else.. It's fun and it's free. Don't like it - uninstall it! :)
- I suppose we must wait on the devs for more awesome content (already got a Halloween update)!

Bottom line is this is a neat, well-executed Source arena shooter. Has good replayability because of its own twist on shooting mechanics, and the light-hearted (and almost black comedy like!) gameplay helps brighten up the game and make it really fun and interesting to play!

It's great also to see no microtransactions despite it being Free to Play. As said above - just a fun, free shooter. And ultimately - if you don't like it - then no money wasted!

Oh, and.. Pass the whiskey!!

The Body Changer is a genuinely intriguing blend of genres: at its core, it's a third person puzzle metroidvania game. But then it also splashes in some tense action gameplay alongside for you to experiment with (and these scenes are pretty tense). The challenges get progressively harder as you complete the objectives, and you get to tinker about with more guns & gadgets as well. And that's before we get onto the fantastic 'body-switching' mechanic - which adds that extra bit of ingenuity to make it a really fun game.

It also provides a solid return to the metroidvania genre* (see below). Expect to be racking your brains to figure out the puzzles, going back on yourself, finding objects which you just can't quite lay your hands on ;)

Also worth mentioning is the backdrop story and notably the art-style, which help provide an authentic, other-worldy (and eerie) atmopshere.

So it has a lot of potential, and with its open-minded devs, hopefully the ideas streaming in from players should be realised to a great standard. I am not trying to over-hype this game (which is a bad thing!), but it really does show a lot of promise, and does a lot of things well.

The Good:
+ Original blend of mechanics. Puzzle, action, themes from survival horror even. All encompassed by its evident dedication to the metroidvania genre.
+ Brilliant 'body-switching' mechanic. A lot of realised potential for this.. but there's more that's waiting to be explored with this I'm sure ;)
+ Great devs (only two of them as well!). They have a growing workload, yet they still remain in constant contact with their players. In my personal experience, they have only ever listened and acted on my feedback.
(Not directly to do with the game content, but hopefully should turn the faces of anyone put off by the 'Early Access' label)
+ Art-style is subjective to opinion (we might see some discussions arise in its Early Access stage), but I think it suits very well.
+ Weirdly eerie. Atmospheric and even frightening at the right times (there's that survival horror coming in!).. Decent SFX
+ Challenging puzzles & sticks true to metroidvania genre. You work out the puzzle (yes, it might be difficult!), and be prepared to go back on yourself a few times (a key mechanic of the metroidvania genre)

The Bad:
- Slightly clunky combat mechanics. These I'm sure will get a lot attention though.
- Environments could be a bit more .. pretty. In its current state. Minimalist world does suit though (complements the cel-shaded art-style).
- Some game progression bugs.
- UI needs a lot of work.
- Some QA (Quality Assurance) issues (relatively minor stuff though).
- Game could be longer (with more varied puzzles/combat sequences)... although it is by no means unimpressive at its current completion time (devs have said they are working on adding more levels).
- *EDIT: In my view, I would call this a solid metroidvania title.. however having read other reviews, some might think it doesn't do enough to earn that title. The game is likely to evolve more though to suit that genre if you felt it doesn't quite cut it.
- EDIT: Price. I would have imagined this as more of a below £10 (approx. $15) range title.

All in all though, this for me has been one of the most interesting games I've played for a while. Its setup very well by this original blend of mechanics, as well as reintroducing a dedicated and fitting return to the metroidvania genre.

The devs are great too - and rest assured you will be listened to! (Of course they are also very busy - but they have shown nothing but passion to deliver on this project!)

And yes.. I have temporarily renamed my display name in respect to the devs and the game :)

EDIT: So having looked back at this review (and also after getting some downvotes), I hope I haven't over-hyped the game and made it seem like something more than it is (in its current state). I do have a lot passion for this game, and I genuinely believe it will be something great -- but some people might not be satisfied with, for example, the 'metroidvania' stamp, or the actual innovation behind the mechanics.

I stand by what I've said - because the bottom-line is I do love the game, and I have faith in the devs - but I can understand if people feel it's not cutting it for them. Of course - it is still Early Access, and definitely only *half-finished* at the moment. The devs have stated that they are working on adding more (interesting) levels, and I think there hasn't been a game like this on the market for a little while, at least not presented like The Body Changer has.

Thanks for reading anyway :)