7.6 /10 1 Votes
8.5/10 IGN Director(s) Ryan Payton Designer(s) Ryan Payton Initial release date 19 December 2013 Publisher GungHo Online | 7/10 Steam 72% Metacritic Producer(s) Darci Morales Artist(s) Alexei Tylevich Developer Camouflaj Mode Single-player video game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Distributor(s) NA: Atlus
EU: NIS America Writer(s) Brendan Murphy
Ryan Payton Genres Action-adventure game, Stealth game Platforms PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems Similar Stealth games, Other games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
République is an episodic action-adventure stealth video game developed by Camouflaj and Logan Games and published by GungHo Online Entertainment.
Contents
- Gameplay
- Setting
- Development
- Release
- Episode 1 Exordium
- Episode 2 Metamorphosis
- Episode 3 Ones and Zeroes
- Episode 4 Gods Acre
- Episode 5 Terminus
- References
Gameplay
Players communicate with the main character, Hope, through their phone or computer, in order to help her escape. The player controls surveillance cameras in the fictional totalitarian state or corporate republic of République in order to monitor Hope's actions, as well as hack into various electronic devices.
The interface that the player must use is the "OMNI View" software, which allows them to lock and unlock doors, distract patrolling enemies, and obtain information. In some situations, the player must upgrade their OMNI View to higher versions, enabling them to access areas and nodes with stronger security. In the OS X and Windows versions, players will be able to access multiple cameras at once.
Setting
République takes place in an unnamed totalitarian state (similar to George Orwell's 1984), within a facility called "Metamorphosis". Here, the Prizrak, the people of the totalitarian state, perform mysterious experiments on "Pre-Cals", people who were born and raised in the facility. One Pre-Cal woman, Hope (voiced by Rena Strober), manages to contact the player through their phone, and requests them to help her escape from Metamorphosis.
Hope and the player receive assistance from Cooper (voiced by James Holloway), an American who works as a Prizrak in Metamorphosis. Other characters include Daniel Markus Zager (voiced by David Hayter), a deceased revolutionary who leaves audio logs behind for Hope and the player; and Mireille Prideaux (voiced by Jennifer Hale), who serves as Hope's caretaker.
Development
Ryan Payton, founder of Camouflaj, initiated the project because he wanted to "stop complaining about the lack of real games on mobile and start making one". The idea for Hope came about when he was performing a thought experiment about how to make Love Plus for a Western audience. Payton cites Nineteen Eighty-Four as a major influence on the atmosphere. The game also draws inspiration from Metal Gear, the first Resident Evil, and Demon's Souls. The central themes are "voyeurism, paranoia, censorship, and control". Logan co-founder Alexei Tylevich serves as art director; Logan will focus on visual development while Camouflaj handles the gameplay and systems. Payton claims the game will last 4–6 hours and feature "Metroidvania"-style exploration.
On April 11, 2012, Camouflaj launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise $500,000 to help with development costs. The project was funded on May 11, 2012 with a total of $555,662.
On December 22, 2016, Camouflaj announced plans to bring République to the Nintendo Switch console, although no release date was provided.
Release
The game was originally announced for iOS devices but has since expanded to Android, Microsoft Windows and OS X. A PlayStation 4 version, containing all five episodes, has been released on 22 March 2016.
Episode 1: Exordium
Episode 1: Exordium received positive reviews. It received an aggregated score of 76.76% on GameRankings based on 25 reviews and 77/100 on Metacritic based on 34 reviews.
Episode 2: Metamorphosis
Episode 2: Metamorphosis received positive reviews. It received an aggregated score of 78.71% on GameRankings based on 14 reviews and 79/100 on Metacritic based on 20 reviews.
Episode 3: Ones and Zeroes
Episode 3: Ones and Zeroes received positive reviews. It received an aggregated score of 75.87% on GameRankings based on 8 reviews and 75/100 on Metacritic based on 11 reviews.
Episode 4: God's Acre
Episode 4: God's Acre received slightly above average reviews. It received an aggregated score of 64.60% on GameRankings based on 5 reviews and 63/100 on Metacritic based on 8 reviews.
Episode 5: Terminus
Episode 5: Terminus received above average reviews. It received an aggregated score of 73.33% on GameRankings based on 3 reviews and 69/100 on Metacritic based on 4 reviews.