République Episode 4: God's Acre (PC) Review

Everything has changed. Gone are the internal corridors. Gone are the hordes of guards. Gone are the prison cells that must be unlocked each and every time Hope is spotted and carted away. Gone is the need to keep recharging the mobile phone battery whenever abilities are used by whatever being is aiding the young girl's breakout scheme. In fact, gone completely are the abilities themselves, since up top, out in the fresh air, there are no emails to hack into, alarms to trigger, doors to override, phone messages to pick up… Yes, all of that effort made in the first three episodes to gain enough exchangeable 'currency' by scanning everything possible is all for nothing here. Naught is carried over, and there is no backtracking once God's Acre has commenced. Want to nip back and grab a few bits missed before? Whereas up to the conclusion of Ones & Zeroes everything was indeed accessible, now it is blocked off and a New Game must be started (although, with the 'Omni Version' being 4.0 still, and doors down below reaching up to level 5, surely a return is imminent in the next chapter?). Even Hope's mood is different…with more of a 'happy-go-lucky' trance-like attitude, and all the scratches and bumps from the previous chapter have seemingly cleared up magically.

Episode 4: God's Acre is weird, no doubt about it. Developed concurrently with the upcoming finale, Episode 5: Terminus, it almost feels as if developed by another team, separate from the previous chunks. Perhaps the large break between the first three and this fourth part plays some role in that. There is still the element of hiding from a watchman, this time a solitary Lurch-esque being called Mammoth that has a split-personality and moves far quicker than guards did previously, but…the overall atmosphere has altered. Hope no longer has any defence when captured - pepper spray, electric shocks, mines…all absent - so it means that catching Mammoth's attention results in nothing other than capture, each and every time (and in a horrible and uncalled for manner, it should be added - very tasteless strangulation, beating around the head, and so on).

Even Hope's desire to escape seems to be called into question now. Was she just a pawn in someone else's master plan? After all, being a Pre-Cal, she is not special, merely another brainwashed child of the facility, unlike the experts in their field that were lured into the idea of a 'New, Better World' by the so-called 'Overseer,' Treglazov, who also likes to go by the title of 'Headmaster.' After the cold and calculating actions carried out in Ones & Zeroes, there is definitely something far bigger than Hope at play here, and even though there are no incentives to scour the upper level garden areas for all the information in return for new abilities, République has reached a point in its tale where it is imperative to find out more in order to get the most out of the complicated topics being thrown around left, right, and centre. Listen to all of Zager's cassettes, use the photo function of Hope's mobile to grab shots of highlighted objects to receive back-story snippets (yes, scanning using security cameras is one of the functions disabled here, meaning getting up close and personal for a snap is required), and definitely keep checking for more of the illegal contraband books and hear the ludicrous explanations by the Headmaster as to why they are poison for the mind (even the Book of Revelation shockingly gets dragged into this…).

Metamorphosis was the peak of the episodes released so far, thanks to Episode 2 refining the mechanics of the first, and then building upon it by adding extra gameplay features. The next part went more for story over substance and suffered as a result. Here, that balance is almost back to how it should be. Flicking from camera to camera is the same as ever (in other words, very smooth), although now the signal gets lost quicker the further the camera is from Hope due to terrible stormy weather conditions, meaning security imagery can become blurry faster and clicking to bring Hope closer in range is needed, thus running the risk of getting hammered by Mammoth and upping the tension considerably. The principal of avoiding capture remains, although rather than multiple guards, it is just one crazed beast, with hazards instead thrown in to cause noise (scaring pigeons, splashing through puddles loudly if running, disturbing buzzing insects when passing too near to them…), and there are some pleasing puzzle elements brought in again (something that made Episode 2 a joy to play). All-in-all, God's Acre, despite not quite living up to its past entries, sets up the scene nicely for what is hoped will be the strongest chapter yet, Episode 5: Terminus, due early this year.