Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗ERSATZ
Paris Stalker · Published by Paris Stalker, ALL iN · Official site ↗
Positive — 90% positive (20 reviews) · 17 achievements
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
ERSATZ is a speed focused Hardcore Action Platformer with a musical twist! Featuring an Original Electronic Soundtrack also by Paris Stalker, the game's creator, hear and feel the music build as you progress and hazards, obstacles, boss attacks & controller vibrations move to the ever present beat!
£1.69
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£1.69
Price history
3 Sept 2026Lowest: £1.69 · Highest: £1.6911 Oct 2026
Action, Indie · 2017 · More under £5 games
ERSATZ challenges players to navigate through intense levels at breakneck speeds, set to an original electronic soundtrack by its creator. As you progress, the rhythm intensifies with each obstacle and enemy encounter.
About this game
WHAT IS ERSATZ?
ERSATZ is a speed focused, hardcore Action Platformer with Rhythm elements. Featuring a multiple genre Original Electronic Soundtrack which dynamically builds and changes based on your progression!In ERSATZ, your dash is also your attack, and hitting enemies recharges a dash block instantly. So use it effectively in combination with your slam to chain actions together and speed through 8 challenging and increasingly intense levels as fast as you can. Can you get an S Rank on every level and playstyle?
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT ERSATZ
"It’s the immaculate sound design and tremendous freedom of movement that makes Ersatz so satisfying to play."- Rock Paper Shotgun
"If you're a fan of seriously good music and challenging platformers, stop right now and go get it. It's very simple to get into, difficult to master and it's a damn treat for the ears."
- Gaming On Linux
"...Out of every game I've reviewed on this channel and probably every game I will review, this has got to be one of the most overlooked, under rated and underappreciated of them all."
- The Hidden Chest
"For a game made by one person, ERSATZ is one of the most polished games I've ever played!"
- Peppage
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Original Soundtrack by game's creator, with genres including:
House, Trance, Synthwave, DnB, Techno & More!_____________________________________________________________________
Also Inlcuding:
- TYPE BETA & TYPE GAMMA: Unlockable alternative playstyles with their own times & grades
- JOURNEY MODE: Try & complete all 8 levels as fast as you can. Do it in under 60mins for a special reward. For experts & speedrunners!
- INFINITE MODE: Infinite dash energy, go wild and set crazy times on the mode's own leaderboards!
- SYNTH RUSH: Challenge any individual or ALL of the bosses of ERSATZ against the clock!
- STEAM LEADERBOARDS: See how your times stack up compared to other players all over the world on Windows, Mac & Linux (viewable in game!)
- VIBRATION: With full controller support. Feel your controller vibrate to the beat!
Design, Art, Animation, Programming & Music all by Paris Stalker (that's me!).
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
Minimum:
- OS *: Windows Vista and above
- Processor: 1.2 ghz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Graphics: 768mb video memory
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 250 MB available space
Supported Languages
English*, Russian
*languages with full audio support
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
ERSATZ v1.62 (Win + Linux)
ERSATZ v1.62 This update focuses on correcting a bunch of unseen errors that popped up when the game was ported into the later versions of GameMaker from GameMaker Studio 1.4. This fixes Steam functionality, a bunch of crashes, strange draw order issues with some backgrounds, controller and keyboard swapping in the opening language selection working more consistently, and a number of other small bits such unintended behaviour with the screen distortion effects. Please note that I haven't made any significant changes to the underlying game or how it handles things, and whilst I played through it several times to try and fix everything, it's possible you might encounter things I've not seen. If you see a bug that makes progression impossible or impedes your ability to play then please let me know.Read full article on Community Announcements (allin.indie)Patch NotesOfficial
Optional Windows Update Adds Russian Language & Bootup Fix
Hey all, it's been a looooong time! I've been hard at work on my next project the last couple of years and the engine I use has gone through some major updates meaning working on ERSATZ was largely a lot of effort for very little personal gain. However, spurred by an odd error a windows user was having and upcoming plans for Steam with my next game, I've added a new Beta branch to ERSATZ which hopefully fixes this issue and also adds Russian language translations a friend did for me a while back. Some things to note: This Beta branch is only available in Windows. I no longer have access to a Mac that runs on late enough software and my Linux partition has been lost to time. Both of these platforms account for a very small chunk of my user base I'm afraid so to update these and possibly not fix anything is very low on my priorities. I'm very sorry! The Russian language should be well translated from a fluid speaker and a native speaker. But I haven't yet formatted the text to visually fit in all menus, so you will likely come across issues of text overlapping or going off screen. If this is impacting you, please do not hesitate to post in the forums and let me know and I'll bump up fixing it in my priorities! If you wish to try out this build either for a fix or the Russian Language, then in your Steam library, right click the game and select properties. From there select "BETA" on the left and in the drop down select the only available beta. There is no passcode. The game should begin redownloading in your download queue. Any issues, please let me know!Read full article on Community Announcements (allin.indie)AnnouncementsOfficial
Translations Incoming!
I can confirm that translation work for ERSATZ is now underway! I've finished setting the game up to take the translations and have collated all the game's text. It's now just a matter of waiting for translators to finish their work :D At the moment of writing this, I officially have translators for Spanish, Italian, Russian & Japanese, with definite plans for French & German, and possibly future ones for Polish, Korean & Chinese. I'll be adding languages as and when they are ready, so you might be seeing them added to the game one by one over the next few months. I'm looking forward to making the game more accessible to more people just by eliminating some language barriers, and that might include some other exciting news in the future ;) Stay well everyone, and I hope 2019 is a good year for us all, Paris ALL iNRead full article on Community Announcements (allin.indie)AnnouncementsOfficial
ERSATZ v 1.47
Hey all, just a very small update for all platforms today. I've fixed a bug that caused freezing. This would trigger if pressed up against certain walls and trying to dash slide away from them. Thanks to JayJay for posting about a potential issue and Klianc09 for helping me discover the specifics of this bug! Paris ALL iNRead full article on Community Announcements (allin.indie)Community & EventsOfficial
ERSATZ World Record Holder LIVE at speedrunning event! [08/10/2018]
Exciting News! Watch Austrian World Record holder for ERSATZ, Klianc09, speedrun the game at German speedrunning event Germench today at: 14:20 gmt / 15:20 cet / 06:00 pst / 08:00 est The whole event will be watchable here: https://www.twitch.tv/germenchrestream I'll be sure to support him in spirit on my second monitor whilst working today! I hope some of you might do the same to see what high level ERSATZ play looks like :D Paris ALL iNRead full article on Community Announcements (allin.indie)
