République (PlayStation 4) Second Opinion Review

From the opening scene of the game, République tries to keep the story as ambiguous as possible, with little information about the plot being revealed. Essentially, the story centres on Hope and her attempts at escaping the facility that she lives in. However, she cannot do it on her own, and instead needs to rely on the CCTV surveillance cameras around the facility to show her the path out, as well as observe the path ahead of her, so that she can plan her strategy to proceed past the various Prizrak on patrol.

The gameplay mechanics are not deep, as Hope can only walk, run or crouch. The surveillance cameras are used as the anchor points for the in-game camera that can search the surroundings. However, the lack of diversity in the controls isn't a bad thing, as République is more of a puzzle adventure, if anything. Hope can hide in lockers or behind statue busts and water coolers to ensure that she isn't spotted by the Prizrak.

While the adventure begins with a heavy dose of cut-scenes in order to begin the narrative, the rest of the plot and exposition is, for the most part, player-driven. Hidden around the episodes are various forms of information, newspaper clippings, and emails that further detail the story that is evolving, as well as providing background as to what led to the current events. Most of this is scattered around the map and can only be picked up by the surveillance cameras, with Hope only having direct contact with collectibles such as books, tape recordings, and game cartridges. These collectibles really add to the replayability as it is tough to collect everything in the first play-through.

Even though collecting the story snippets can be fun at times, this method of storytelling is also the bane of République's existence. The over-reliance of exposition being distributed using "optional" forms of environmental scans also prevents the game itself from telling the whole story. It has to be played with the intent of trying to find every tiny detail. Speed running and not stopping for each piece can hurt the whole experience, especially considering that the cut-scenes do not do much to explain the predicament, instead relying solely on Hope having that extra information, and so venturing further in without gathering information can put a real dampener on the tale.

The acting in République is superb due to the raw emotion that exudes from each of the characters in every video clip or voice recording. The Overseer of the facility is a sinister man with an icy cold demeanour and a calm and precise tone of voice. Zagar is the total opposite, with his loud and vulgar voice screaming in anger in nearly every tape recording. The tapes simply need to be collected just to hear Zagar ramble on and on about the issues surrounding the story events, and the emotion that he draws from is powerful. Hope draws the line between innocence and the impending fear of the unknown so well, as the characters play out around her.

No character is the same in République, and watching how each one interacts with another is a fascinating experiment. Probably the best part about them all is that they each bring a flair of mystery the role. Hope constantly hears the phrases like, "Watch your step," and "Trust no one," as the pawns keep jostling for position in the overarching scheme of things, with the narrative taking a lot of twists and turns, without ever giving much away.

The CCTV cameras can be used to perform tasks such as unlocking doors or causing disturbances for the Prizrak. However, performing those tasks may require some battery life. As Hope only has a finite amount of battery in her phone, she is required to refill it at a charging dock that is situated near every containment cell. Each cell also houses a computer set-up, which can contact the 'Data Broker,' who for a fee grants the CCTV cameras new abilities. While some of the abilities are useful, the game can be completed without ever needing to predict where the Prizrak's patrol routes are, or causing their radios to mess up, thus delaying their patrol.

One of the interesting elements that République has is the use of "respawns." When Hope gets caught by a Prizrak, rather than dying, they only lock her up, leaving her bereft of collected items, such as pepper spray or Tasers. In order to get them back, Hope needs to pickpocket the same Prizrak who caught her initially. While it is clever in its design, it can get quite annoying in the latter stages, especially when the difficulty really ramps up in the final third.

The main issue is that this is best played at a slow and leisurely pace, as in Hope is better off walking rather than running. While the Prizrak can, basically, be alerted to her presence at the mere sound of her running, controlling her in a seamless way is also near impossible because the action is viewed using fixed camera points. Therefore, every time Hope runs down a corridor or turns the corner, that next screen is seen from the opposite end of the room that she is running from. This can cause Hope to perform many awkward u-turns, as she stumbles over her own feet, which can prove to be costly when she is trying to outrun the guards.

Due to the enormity of the episodes, the CCTV can bring up a map of the various areas that can be explored, thus ensuring that Hope rarely ever gets lost. However, one of the biggest gripes is the constant need to keep re-opening the map each time, rather than the game providing a mini-map that was on-screen, especially for when back-tracking is required, as using the map is not seamless, even though it should have been.