Republique (PS4)
Republique is a game that takes place in a very controlled society very alike George Orwell's 1984. Originally developed for Android devices and released episodically, the game eventually expanded to being released for Mac, PC, and a PS4 version that contains all five episodes. Let's crack this one open and see how it is.
When you're in control of Hope, the left joystick controls her movement, while the right stick lets you swing the camera around through which you are currently viewing. X interacts with things that you can either pick up, search (like lockers), or crawl under. O makes Hope crouch, △ opens up the map interface, and □ lets her attack an enemy or pickpocket them. The D-pad lets you zoom the camera you're controlling in and out, R2 makes Hope run, and R1 opens the All Seeing Eye from which you can access OMNI view.
In OMNI view, the X, O, △, and □ buttons are used to jump between cameras. L1, L2, and R2 are used to interact with things you that you can hack or scan, like computers, phones, and certain puzzles in the game. R1 will exit OMNI view and return back to controlling Hope. You can click the touch pad to bring up a menu where you can choose between looking at your inventory, bringing up the map, any data you've collected, or you can locate Hope if you've managed to get too far away inside the cameras and want to snap-back to her.
You can switch between OMNI view and Hope view as often as you'd like, and each has their own impact in the game, but the majority of it will be in Hope view as time essentially freezes while you're in OMNI view. When you're in control of Hope, your goal is to stay hidden and find your way through the facility. There's plenty of cover to use, which comes in handy when you are making sure you don't get caught by the patrolling guards. Through a combination of these two views, your story plays out over five episodes in which your main goal overall is to help Hope escape the facility, and each episode is broken down into overcoming a specific hurdle to achieve that goal.
Hope has a few weapons at her disposal, such as pepper spray canisters and tasers, all of which can be used once, but can be picked up numerous times. You use these by getting close enough to one of the guards to bring up the prompt to attack. Hope will then turn the guard around and spray or zap him. If you use the pepper spray it will disorient them for a few moments, but the taser will effectively take them out for the remainder of the game, however their bodies will collapse on site with no way of moving them. Hope's other "weapon" is her ability to pickpocket, and it is used in the same way as the weapons, by getting close enough to the guards. This can be used to gain items, data, and floppy disks.
Her liaison in the game is a man named Cooper who works at the facility but is helping Hope escape. Cooper serves as your tutorial really, teaching you the things you can do in each of the views and how they can be used effectively. He is also the source of one of our side quests, the floppy disks. Cooper was a collector of old games and had a stash of them in his office, but the guards like to play jokes on him and steal his stuff, which is why they can be found through pickpocketing. Your other side quests include finding cassette tapes left behind by a man named Zager, and various books that have been forbidden by the Republique.
Overall, this is a really fun game. It plays out a lot like a Metal Gear Solid game and the emphasis towards stealth is very enjoyable. Let's see how much of a challenge this game brings to the table.
The stealth gameplay is a moderate challenge throughout the entirety of the game. You're given plenty of cover in most areas to stay hidden from the patrolling guards, The biggest challenge with this will be maintaining something blocking you from the guards field of vision. Most of the guards will maintain a patrol across an area where you need to go, so you don't have the option of waiting until they get to the other end of a room, you sort of have to hustle when they're not looking. Fortunately, if you get caught by a guard all you have to do is break line of sight and find a place to hide out. The guard will check the last place they saw you and then resume their previous patrol.
While the side-quests aren't necessary, they are pretty fun to try and do. However, you'll be facing a moderate challenge to do so. Most of the materials can be found just randomly laying around the facility. All, actually, can be found this way except for Cooper's floppy disk game collection. These are all found by pickpocketing the guards, as the guards are the reason the games are missing in the first place. Pickpocketing them without being detected requires you to either maintain a perfect aim and pace behind the guard as they move, or waiting for them to stop where you can get behind them and not be seen by anyone else in the area.
The enemies themselves can be tricky, but overall they're pretty easy since most of them can be completely avoided. In the second episode, you're introduced to Prizrak guards wearing ARC suits. These suits make them invincible to taser attacks. You can find an email by hacking one of the computers that reveals that the guards wearing the ARC suits have been told to take random patrol routes to try and increase the chance of an encounter with an inmate (namely you at this point), to test the durability of these suits. These guards in particular are slightly more challenging than the regular guards as you never know where they're going to go, so memorizing their patrol won't do you much good.
Lastly, the puzzles lie somewhere between easy and moderate for a challenge. Most of them must be solved from the OMNI view, but there are a couple in which you need to move Hope herself to do so. All the puzzles generally take place in one specific room, and in the same room is usually a key clue that will give you a hint towards solving the puzzle. Beginning in the second episode, you have an option in your menu to contact Cooper for help, and he'll usually give you another hint towards finding the solution, but after that you're on your own to figure it out.
In the end, Republique presents a bit of a challenge, but it's not enough to deter away from the game. But before we go there, let's see what was good and bad about this one and then see what the final verdict is.
- Inspiration. The developers behind this one drew on a lot of inspiration from the Metal Gear Solid games, as is more than evident in Republique's gameplay. However, they also drew a little bit from other games as well, one of which was the Resident Evil games. There's a cool little nod to this one, too. Every so often, you come across safe-rooms in Republique where you can access a computer to sell any of the data you've collected up to that point, and buy your upgrades. After you're finished with the computer, once you back out of it and return to the game, the computer says "Come back anytime" and the tone in which it says it sounds exactly like a digital version of The Merchant from Resident Evil 4, as he says the same thing when you're done dealing with him.
- Hope can save herself. If you're walking through a room and a guard detects you and manages to catch you, if you have any weapons at all in your inventory, Hope automatically draws it and uses it to save herself. It's a very nice touch so if you happen to get caught off guard, all hope is not completely lost (I think I accidentally managed to squeeze a couple puns in that sentence).
You can find a copy of this at your local GameStop for just over $20 pre-owned, or $25 new, or you can play a game of chance and try sniping one on eBay for a little less.
The Story
The game takes place inside of a facility called Metamorphosis. In the facility, Prizrak (members of the totalitarian government) perform experiments on Pre-Cal's, people who were born in the facility and raised under the strict guidelines of the government where they are told and taught how to think, and are shut off from things that don't agree with their point of view. Republique begins with Hope, one of the Pre-Cal's, contacting the player. She's begun questioning the teachings in the facility and has managed to get her hands on some of the forbidden literature, and after contacting the player, hopes that they will be able to help her escape Metamorphosis.The Controls
Republique's controls are broken up into two sections. One is when you can control Hope, and the other is when you're in OMNI view, which I will explain in more detail in the Gameplay section below.When you're in control of Hope, the left joystick controls her movement, while the right stick lets you swing the camera around through which you are currently viewing. X interacts with things that you can either pick up, search (like lockers), or crawl under. O makes Hope crouch, △ opens up the map interface, and □ lets her attack an enemy or pickpocket them. The D-pad lets you zoom the camera you're controlling in and out, R2 makes Hope run, and R1 opens the All Seeing Eye from which you can access OMNI view.
In OMNI view, the X, O, △, and □ buttons are used to jump between cameras. L1, L2, and R2 are used to interact with things you that you can hack or scan, like computers, phones, and certain puzzles in the game. R1 will exit OMNI view and return back to controlling Hope. You can click the touch pad to bring up a menu where you can choose between looking at your inventory, bringing up the map, any data you've collected, or you can locate Hope if you've managed to get too far away inside the cameras and want to snap-back to her.
The Gameplay
Republique is a stealth action game with an emphasis on survival. You spend your time guiding Hope through the facility, keeping her out of sight of the Prizak while you try to lead her to her freedom. The game even includes the player as a character of sorts, as everytime Hope talks to you she's actually talking to you.You can switch between OMNI view and Hope view as often as you'd like, and each has their own impact in the game, but the majority of it will be in Hope view as time essentially freezes while you're in OMNI view. When you're in control of Hope, your goal is to stay hidden and find your way through the facility. There's plenty of cover to use, which comes in handy when you are making sure you don't get caught by the patrolling guards. Through a combination of these two views, your story plays out over five episodes in which your main goal overall is to help Hope escape the facility, and each episode is broken down into overcoming a specific hurdle to achieve that goal.
Hope has a few weapons at her disposal, such as pepper spray canisters and tasers, all of which can be used once, but can be picked up numerous times. You use these by getting close enough to one of the guards to bring up the prompt to attack. Hope will then turn the guard around and spray or zap him. If you use the pepper spray it will disorient them for a few moments, but the taser will effectively take them out for the remainder of the game, however their bodies will collapse on site with no way of moving them. Hope's other "weapon" is her ability to pickpocket, and it is used in the same way as the weapons, by getting close enough to the guards. This can be used to gain items, data, and floppy disks.
Her liaison in the game is a man named Cooper who works at the facility but is helping Hope escape. Cooper serves as your tutorial really, teaching you the things you can do in each of the views and how they can be used effectively. He is also the source of one of our side quests, the floppy disks. Cooper was a collector of old games and had a stash of them in his office, but the guards like to play jokes on him and steal his stuff, which is why they can be found through pickpocketing. Your other side quests include finding cassette tapes left behind by a man named Zager, and various books that have been forbidden by the Republique.
Overall, this is a really fun game. It plays out a lot like a Metal Gear Solid game and the emphasis towards stealth is very enjoyable. Let's see how much of a challenge this game brings to the table.
The Challenge (or lack thereof?)
Republique has a few areas that it brings some challenge to the player. There's the stealth play, the sidequests, the enemies, and puzzles. So let's see how they break down.The stealth gameplay is a moderate challenge throughout the entirety of the game. You're given plenty of cover in most areas to stay hidden from the patrolling guards, The biggest challenge with this will be maintaining something blocking you from the guards field of vision. Most of the guards will maintain a patrol across an area where you need to go, so you don't have the option of waiting until they get to the other end of a room, you sort of have to hustle when they're not looking. Fortunately, if you get caught by a guard all you have to do is break line of sight and find a place to hide out. The guard will check the last place they saw you and then resume their previous patrol.
While the side-quests aren't necessary, they are pretty fun to try and do. However, you'll be facing a moderate challenge to do so. Most of the materials can be found just randomly laying around the facility. All, actually, can be found this way except for Cooper's floppy disk game collection. These are all found by pickpocketing the guards, as the guards are the reason the games are missing in the first place. Pickpocketing them without being detected requires you to either maintain a perfect aim and pace behind the guard as they move, or waiting for them to stop where you can get behind them and not be seen by anyone else in the area.
The enemies themselves can be tricky, but overall they're pretty easy since most of them can be completely avoided. In the second episode, you're introduced to Prizrak guards wearing ARC suits. These suits make them invincible to taser attacks. You can find an email by hacking one of the computers that reveals that the guards wearing the ARC suits have been told to take random patrol routes to try and increase the chance of an encounter with an inmate (namely you at this point), to test the durability of these suits. These guards in particular are slightly more challenging than the regular guards as you never know where they're going to go, so memorizing their patrol won't do you much good.
Lastly, the puzzles lie somewhere between easy and moderate for a challenge. Most of them must be solved from the OMNI view, but there are a couple in which you need to move Hope herself to do so. All the puzzles generally take place in one specific room, and in the same room is usually a key clue that will give you a hint towards solving the puzzle. Beginning in the second episode, you have an option in your menu to contact Cooper for help, and he'll usually give you another hint towards finding the solution, but after that you're on your own to figure it out.
In the end, Republique presents a bit of a challenge, but it's not enough to deter away from the game. But before we go there, let's see what was good and bad about this one and then see what the final verdict is.
PROS
- Republique started as a mobile game, and once all the episodes were released, it saw an HD upgrade and full console release on-disc. The transition from mobile game came off beautifully as did the integration of analog controles. I haven't yet tried out the mobile version of this game but, even though I have the console version, I'm aching to try it out on the phone.- Inspiration. The developers behind this one drew on a lot of inspiration from the Metal Gear Solid games, as is more than evident in Republique's gameplay. However, they also drew a little bit from other games as well, one of which was the Resident Evil games. There's a cool little nod to this one, too. Every so often, you come across safe-rooms in Republique where you can access a computer to sell any of the data you've collected up to that point, and buy your upgrades. After you're finished with the computer, once you back out of it and return to the game, the computer says "Come back anytime" and the tone in which it says it sounds exactly like a digital version of The Merchant from Resident Evil 4, as he says the same thing when you're done dealing with him.
- Hope can save herself. If you're walking through a room and a guard detects you and manages to catch you, if you have any weapons at all in your inventory, Hope automatically draws it and uses it to save herself. It's a very nice touch so if you happen to get caught off guard, all hope is not completely lost (I think I accidentally managed to squeeze a couple puns in that sentence).
CONS
- Camera loading when you get too far away from Hope. The game lets you bounce from camera to camera, and even encourages you to do so to scan farther ahead and make sure the coast is clear from Hope. However, once you leave the room or hallway that Hope is in, the load time to get to the new camera takes so long that sometimes you wonder if the game has frozen on you. Luckily, when in OMNI view, the world around Hope stops moving, so the long load times don't risk you getting detected, but it's still a bit annoying.Final Verdict
This game is a lot of fun, and very worth adding to your library. For fans of the Metal Gear Solid series, you'll instantly get hooked on this little gem. The story is beyond exciting and parallel's that of George Orwell's 1984, and it's a lot of fun getting to experience it in the ironic way of using the Metamorphosis' in depth security system against itself. If you like stealth-based video games, then this is definitely one for you.You can find a copy of this at your local GameStop for just over $20 pre-owned, or $25 new, or you can play a game of chance and try sniping one on eBay for a little less.
