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Genre: Adventure Developer & Publisher: Cryo Swamp Released: March 4, 2026 Requirements: OS: Windows 64-bit Processor: Minimum, Intel Core i3/AMD Ryzen 3; Recommended, Intel Core i5/ AMD Ryzen 5 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 950M/Radeon 6950; Nvidia GTX 970/AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT Direct X: DX11 Storage: 8 GB available space
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By flotsam Back In The Swamp Cryo Swamp Who doesn’t like a bit of post-apocalyptic first-person adventuring in a swamp inhabited by giant insects? Not to mention that you can play it completely point-and-click, and save to multiple slots whenever you choose. Back In The Swamp is the debut release and solo enterprise of a game maker from Toulouse, and a fine one it is too. About four hours of user-friendly exploration await, through a ruined landscape littered with the bits and pieces of a large scale conflict. The opening helicopter scene gives a sense of what has gone on. Graphically it reminded me a bit of a high-end graphic novel, but however it might be described it does look good. It's visually rich and the style suits the events, as do the muted hues and tones of the environment, whether that be internal or outdoors. It can be grim, as after the apocalypses are, so bright and sparkly is not required. Supported by an excellent soundscape and a not overused soundtrack, you can feel the dilapidation and degradation throughout. It all works together really well. There is no spoken and almost no written word either, with any information needed being provided through little pictograms. If for instance a character wants something in return for something else, line drawings of the relevant items will convey what is required. It is simple and is all that is required. Those same little pictograms are part of the hint system, if you choose to turn it on. If an item is needed at a hotspot, clicking the active curser will generate an image of the necessary item or items. You can also toggle the hints on or off throughout the game, meaning you can choose to play without them but still dip into them if stuck. So too, you can choose to have hotspots automatically and briefly indicated each time you change scenes, and again you can easily toggle them on or have them repeat if you think you might have missed something. It remains largely within your control. The game plays in a letterbox format, with inventory items sitting outside the graphical world in the bottom black ribbon. Just drag to try and use on a hotspot, or to possibly combine with another item. If more than one item is needed to resolve a conundrum, if you have the necessary items simply using one of them will generate a little cutscene that will see all the items deployed. And if hints are turned on and you have two of three items, a pictogram of the missing item will pop up to let you know what else you need to find. The maps you generate are in that same ribbon, and you will know when a new location has been added. You can use the map to jump between locations, but there are limitations. You can work these out for yourself. A pictorial journal is also in that ribbon, made up of images you find as you explore. Finally, there is a little array of directional arrows bottom right (more about that shortly). In the top ribbon is a menu icon and a small outline of the inactive curser, which you can click to reveal the hotspots in a scene whether or not you have the automatic function turned on. Another aspect of the game’s user friendliness. Movement is node-to-node and is quiet fluid in the transition. Its up to you how you get about; either use the mouse in the game world on a directional hotspot, click one of the arrows in the array in the bottom ribbon, or use the WASD keys or any other set of keys you choose to map the directions to. I tended to use the keyboard keys with my left hand and used the mouse with my right to interact with the world, but found myself utilising the hotspots in the game world from time to time as they could be a little more accurate as to where exactly I might end up. I also used the directional array in the ribbon not to move but to quickly identify where I could move. If from the node you are at you can only move forward or back, only those arrows are displayed, and it also identifies that e.g., a move to the left is eventually possible but is currently blocked, and indicates the direction from which you came. It is very useful indeed. Interestingly, you never turn around. You are always ‘facing’ top of screen which means if you want to move back, you will effectively do it backwards. It might seem a little odd at first, but the fluid nature of the transitions I mentioned previously helped to make it more organic than it might otherwise have been. I also found it helped me to remain clear about where I was and where I was going (i.e., you never have to worry about getting turned around!!). Puzzling is predominantly inventory based, and items will be discarded when not needed. I reckon I only ever had about 6 or 7 at any one time at the most, and usually less than that. You will be doing any number of things with those items, including powering-up bots to remove large insects that block your way, and fixing an array of vehicles to help move you about. Two require a bit of gentle timing in that you need to wait for the route to open up and then move through before it closes again. It isn’t a hard game, but nor is it painting by numbers, even with the hints. Careful exploration will serve you will. You can’t die, and don’t be tempted to hit the skip button if offered in a cutscene. They are relatively short and rather enjoyable. You will get a feel for what it is you are doing early on, and I found the tale and its conclusion more than satisfying. The end has been reworked since it was first released in response to feedback, in order to make it more “complete and cohesive.” Congrats to the maker for taking the time and the effort. I literally ended up back in the swamp more than once, and I didn’t mind one bit. I played on: Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Intel I7 Ultra Core, 2.2GHz Intel Arc 140V GPU, 16 GB 32 GB RAM Windows 11, 64 Bit
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