One of the wackiest things I played at PAX East 2025 was One More Game’s Swapmeat, a roguelike third-person shooter that involves swapping in/out body parts like a turkey head or some giga-Chad legs while fending off waves of comically disgusting aliens.
If that one-liner doesn’t sell the game, maybe some of its influences will. According to Swapmeat’s game director, Jamie Stormbreaker (awesome name), the development team was inspired by everything from Risk of Rain 2 and Helldivers 2 to Invader Zim and I Think You Should Leave. Having played the game for myself, those references certainly ring true.
A Gory Good Time
My Swapmeat demo consisted of a single “run” capped to about 15 minutes. In traditional roguelike fashion, I started out in a hub environment where I could test weapons, preview various abilities (assigned to different hotkeys), and then queue up for the gauntlet at hand.
Right off the bat, I knew this game was different. While perusing the different abilities available to my character, I equipped one that replaced my torso with that of a mantis. Another swapped my feet with rockets, and another still traded my head for a turkey. Swap… meat, I thought to myself. That’s a hoot.
Heading through the exit of my hub world, I was transported to an open zone filled with creatures, objectives, and other upgrades just like the ones I’d previewed before. At the tap of a button, I swapped out my legs for yet another piece of meat. This one hurled me across half the map — much to my delight. With some welcome speed, I sought out my first objective: clearing an outpost of some alien baddies.
Combat is fast, frequent, and fun — three adjectives key to any successful roguelike. Unlike, January’s Hyper Light Breaker, which suffered from repetitive weaponry and brutal difficulty spikes, Swapmeat makes you feel like a badass from the very first second. Before long, I was firing lasers, slinging rockets, and dodging incoming fire with reckless abandon. After completing the objective at hand, I headed off toward the next.
Plenty of Meat on These Bones
Ultimately, my demo run would end up fruitless. I made my way to a boss encounter, only to get blown to bits. (Each zone has a health station, but from my initial impressions, they’re relatively scarce. In a nice touch, however, each of your three body parts — head, torso, legs — doubles as a shield, extending your vitality.)
I left my demo with many questions. How many piece of meat are there to swap? How many zones are there to discover? Would the difficulty ramp up consistently, or would it suffer the same kiss of death as so many other poorly balanced roguelikes?
Unfortunately, I had to run off to my next appointment (but not before a game representative handed me a beef stick to snack on). The good news is that we won’t have to wait long for answers. Following PAX East 2025, One More Game confirmed that Swapmeat will release for PC and macOS later this year.
Swapmeat, developed and published by One More Game, is set to release sometime in 2025. A recent playtest ran from May 15 to 22, allowing players to join in on the madness.
For news on potential future playtests, check out the game’s Steam page.
David is the founder of The Punished Backlog. He has a problem finishing games he starts. Just beat: Nine Sols, UFO 50. Working on: Metaphor: ReFantazio. Can't wait for: Hollow Knight: Silksong. Follow David on Twitter at @David_Silbert to keep up to date with all things The Punished Backlog.
