History VideoGame / TheSwapper

[[caption-width-right:350:Create up to four clones of yourself, BodySurf between them, and [[YouBastard kill them]]. [[CloningBlues Over and over.]]]]

* CloningBlues: Heavily discussed to a disturbing effect. The game brings up the same questions about continuity of memory vs. true continuity of consciousness as ''VideoGame/{{Soma}}'', with it being left ambiguous as to which one the Swapper actually does (with the possibility that it is simply the former, as Dennett believes, being one of the game's key sources of horror.)

** Also several to {{Metroid}}: the map, door, space setting, and character design are all nearly identical. Moreover, there are two characters who are living brains and [[spoiler: [[SamusIsAGirl the protagonist is female under her helmet.]]]]

* CloningBlues: Heavily discussed to a disturbing effect.

** Once you get all 124 orbs and head to the bridge, [[spoiler: every Watcher in the station changes it's dialogue after the Astronaut, Chalmers and Dennett merge with the Head Watcher.]]

''The Swapper'' is a puzzle platformer created by indie developer Facepalm Studios, in which the player is an unnamed astronaut who must explore the wreckage of the space station Theseus by manipulating a cloning device called The Swapper, that not only can create clones of yourself, but can "swap" your consciousness into the clones you created.

* AlphaBitch: Dennett, who refuses to believe the Swapper can switch and transfer souls and [[spoiler:who forcibly keeps trying to take control of The Scavenger]].

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: The clones you make will die, whether it's by falling a great height, getting crushed by doors, or passing through a beam a white light that erases all clones in the room.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the end the rescue team decides to abandon the main character because she is TouchedByVorlons and swiftly dying, leaving her with two brutal options, to commit suicide or steal the body of a rescue worker and leave her old body to die.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Both of them. The player character either commits suicide or steals a rescuer's body. The consequences of the latter are unexplored, but based on the other rescuers' dialogue, they're likely to be severe. Regardless of which option you choose, the only Theseus survivors are left in an ambiguous level of survival that may or may not be positive from their perspective.]]

* FriendlyEnemy: The Watchers dialog is sweet and friendly. Their nature is [[spoiler: so separate from the physical world that they spend their time struggling to understand basic physics such as physical matter and space. They have no idea they killed the population of the ship because they ''don't know what death is.'']]

* RedOniBlueOni: The nature of The Swapper and The Watcher has put Dennett and Chalmers at each other's throats about the nature of each, and [[OurSoulsAreDifferent the idea of the human consciousness]] for some time. Dennett is TheSpock, scoffing at the idea of a Soul, while Chalmers is more idealist, believing "a soul is not just a brain." [[spoiler: And they've been at it for over a century.]]

* ShoutOut: To real life philosophers Daniel Dennett and David Chalmers.

* YourDaysAreNumbered: According to the console logs, the entire staff of Theseus start hearing the thoughts of The Watchers and realize too late that [[spoiler:listening to a Watcher will soon result in death. More unfortunately, the protagonist was listening to them the entire time, sealing the protagonist's fate.]]

* OurSoulsAreDifferent: Heavily discussed and debated between Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Dennett.

** [[spoiler: One of the minds in the Scavenger's body appears to attempt this with a giant set of gears, but presumably one of the others stops her.]]

* AlphaBitch: Dennett.

* CompleteImmortality: The Watchers.
* CosmicHorrorStory
* DeadpanSnarker: Dennett.
* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: In the end the rescue team decides to abandon the main character because she is TouchedByVorlons and swiftly dying, leaving her with two brutal options, to committ suicide or steal the body of a rescue worker and leave her old body to die.]]

* ExpendableClone

* HiveMind: The Watchers.

* {{Metroidvania}}

** Also several to {{Metroid}}: the map, door, and character design are all nearly identical, not to mention the setting, there are two characters who are living brains, and [[spoiler: [[SamusIsAGirl the protagonist is female under her helmet.]]]]
* SilentProtagonist

* YourDaysAreNumbered

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler: The doctors and the original scavenger, all in one body, use the Swapper one final time to force themselves into the Head Watcher to see if they can "force" him to stop killing them. All it does is make them part of the Watcher HiveMind, and therefore, they become Watchers themselves. Whether they are content with this, or if its a FateWorseThanDeath, is unknown.]]

* [[spoiler: BrainInAJar: Dennett and Chalmers used the Swapper to force themselves into preserved brains in order to survive, trapped for over a century.]]

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: Both of them. The player character either commits suicide or steals a rescuer's body. The consequences of the latter are unexplored, but based on the other rescuers' dialogue, they're likely to be severe. Regardless of which option you choose, the only Theseus survivors are left in an ambiguous level of survival that may or may not be positive from their perspective.]]
* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide: In the ending where you choose to stay marooned on the planet, your only option is to jump to a massive bottomless pit to your death, listening to the Watchers' comments as they try to understand what death is and why you are attempting it.]]

* [[spoiler: SamusIsAGirl: The player is the first clone of the female scavenger.]]

* [[spoiler: YourDaysAreNumbered]]

* HowUnscientific: Dennett cant stand the thought of the idea of a "soul" or that the Swapper "swaps souls about."

...Or can it? The device is not easily understood, and unravelling the mysteries behind it, and why the crew of the space station died are both one and the same goal, and not everything is as it seems.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: When discussing the ideas of human conciousness, Dennett is cynical and Chalmers is an idealist.
* SpaceIsNoisy: Averted in free space segments, other than a justifiable "thudd" from firing the Swapper or bumping into objects.

* RedOniBlueOni: The nature of The Swapper and The Watcher has put Dennett and Chalmers at each other's throats about the nature of each, and [[{{Soul}}the idea of the human consciousness]] for some time. Dennett is TheSpock, scoffing at the idea of a Soul, while Chalmers is more idealist, believing "a soul is not just a brain." [[spoiler: And they've been at it for over a century.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Watchers. As far as humans can tell, they are space rocks with no organs or moving parts of any kind. But they are alvive, and immortal to the point that they have no grasp on the concept of death or CessationOfExistence, [[spoiler: to the point they don't realize they killed the crew.]]

''The Swapper'' is a puzzle platformer created by indie developer Facepalm Studios, in which the player is an unnamed astronaut who must explore the wreckage of the space station Thesius by manipulating a cloning device called The Swapper, that not only can create clones of yourself, but can "swap" your consciousness into the clones you created.

...Or can it? The device is not easily understood, and unravelling the mysteries behind it, and why the crew of the space station died are both one and the same goal, and not everything as it seems.

** [[spoiler: One of the minds in the Scavenger's body appears to attempt this with a giant set of gears, but presumably the one of the others stops her.]]

* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide: In the ending where you choose to stay marooned on the planet, your only option is to jump to a massive bottomless pit to your death, listening to the Watchers' comments as they try to understand what death is and why you are attempting it.]]