République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes (PC) Review

How many ways can you skip past a guard before the process becomes tiresome? Well, République managed to make it exciting enough in its first outing, and then added in enough variety and expanded the story sufficiently to keep the process exciting through to the finale of the second episode. Now, in Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes the same procedure of guiding Hope around the crazily-strict 'New World' of Metamorphosis is back, now with guards that can throw gas canisters at her when spotted to prevent the young 'Pre-Cal' (someone raised entirely within the confines of the regimented facility) from reaching the outside world. Thankfully, the guards on duty are still as easy to bypass as before, thanks to the plethora of hiding spots that the player-controlled computer entity can guide her to, as well as their sheer idiocy at times (no sixth sense…at all!).

Everything works as smoothly as it did previously - switch between security cameras to check for the clearest path and then swap modes to move Hope around using a simple click of the mouse - and having the next target marked out on a handy map makes navigation much less painful, with shortcuts now also being found in the form of air vents that can be accessed if a screwdriver is located (one is not enough, since in the world of Metamorphosis it seems they have the least durable tools ever…). The beauty of Episode 3, and this is something carried across from Metamorphosis, as well, is that every section previously visited can be re-visited now. This means that any bonus items missed the first time round can be acquired with a little extra patience to do some back-tracking.

Touched upon first time round, then teasingly expanded in the follow-up, the story is well and truly the core focus for Ones & Zeroes, and the lunacy of this creepy world and talk of an impending event called 'The Arrival' start to weigh heavily as Hope is drawn closer and closer to the surface, with the hope of freedom afterwards…The consequences of her actions come back to haunt her as the tale develops, though, and there is a question of "How far would you go for freedom?" that lingers in the air a little longer than is comfortable.

For all its clever developments on the story side, however - and it is gripping content - this new part of the République pie takes a few steps backwards on the gameplay front. Gone are the clever puzzles found in Metamorphosis, replaced instead by intricate mazes that Hope must be guided through, and there is far more linearity brought in. In fact, certain sections later on take away all choice completely and literally become scenes where instructions to just keep clicking away are dished out. Understandably, time is being given to reach a crescendo in narrative terms, but certain elements that made the previous jaunt so enticing seem to have been put to one side, disappointingly and the final credits are rushed to in order to find out what happens next, rather than calmly reaching them, having been pleasantly surprised at the smart gameplay included on the way.