''République'' is an episodic

action-adventure An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...

stealth Stealth may refer to: Military *Stealth technology, technology used to conceal ships, aircraft, and missiles **Stealth aircraft, aircraft which use stealth technology ** Stealth ground vehicle, ground vehicles which use stealth technology ** Ste ...

video game developed by

Camouflaj Camouflaj is a video game development company based in Bellevue, Washington. Founded in 2011 by Ryan Payton, the studio is most known for developing '' République'', ''Iron Man VR'', and '' Batman: Arkham Shadow''. The studio was acquired by Met ...

and Logan Games and published by

GungHo Online Entertainment is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. They are primarily known for hosting the Japanese server of '' Ragnarok Online'' (developed by its listed Korean subsidiary Gravity), as well as their development of '' Ragnarok DS'' for the N ...

. The game was originally released for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

devices but has since expanded to Android,

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and

OS X macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

. A

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

version, containing all five episodes, was released on March 22, 2016, while a version for the Stadia cloud gaming service was released on September 15, 2020. A VR version debuted on the Oculus Go, followed by a release onto

Oculus Quest The first-generation Oculus Quest is a discontinued virtual reality headset developed by Oculus (now Reality Labs), a brand of Meta Platforms, and released on May 21, 2019. Similar to its predecessor, Oculus Go, it is a standalone device, tha ...

in July 2019, and Steam on 15 June 2020 (for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Valve Index) and Oculus Go. In June 14, 2021, Camouflaj announced an Anniversary Edition of the game for the

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, PlayStation 4 and

PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. The headset works with the company's PlayStation 4 video game console and is forward compatible with PlaySta ...

which was released on March 10, 2022.

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 Totalitarianism is a political system and a Government#Forms, form of government that prohibits opposition from political parties, disregards and outlaws the political claims of individual and group opposition to the state, and completely contr ...

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.

Plot

''République'' takes place in an unnamed totalitarian state (similar to

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

's ''1984''), led by its sinister "Overseer"/"Headmaster" named Treglazov (

Dwight Schultz William Dwight Schultz (born November 24, 1947) is an American television, film and voice actor. He is known for his roles as List of The A-Team characters#Howling Mad Murdock, Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action series ''The A-Te ...

), a powerhouse technology and security mogul with an insane ideology he has peddled most of his life, mostly through books. His latest book, a manifesto he has concocted, is what he has used to initiate his utopia, and has given them to everyone who lives in, and works for it. Within a facility a part of it called "Metamorphosis", Prizrak, the hired guards of the totalitarian state, protect from intruders, and keep in line the adolescents called "Pre-Cals" (short for Pre-Calibration), who are getting mysterious experiments performed on them, and are people who were born and raised in the facility. One Pre-Cal teenager, Hope (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 (James Holloway), an American who works as a Prizrak in Metamorphosis, and has grown a strong hate for it. Other characters include Daniel Markus Zager (

David Hayter David Hayter is a Canadian-American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is well known as the English-language voice actor for Solid Snake and Big Boss (Metal Gear), Naked Snake in the ''Metal Gear'' video game series. He wrote the fi ...

), a deceased journalist/revolutionary who leaves audio logs behind for Hope and the player; Quinn Derringer (

Khary Payton Khary Payton (born May 16, 1972) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as King Ezekiel on the AMC horror drama series '' The Walking Dead'' and Dr. Terrell Jackson on the soap opera ''General Hospital'', as well as voicing Cyborg acr ...

) who is the Head of the Prizrak; and Mireille Prideaux (

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Mass Effect'', '' Metal Gear Solid'', '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Metroid Prime'', '' Halo'', '' Overwatch'', and '' ...

), who serves as a high-ranking official for the facility, and as Hope and every other Pre-Cal's caretaker, and may or may not be an infiltrator who is against Treglazov.

Development

Ryan Payton, founder of

, 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 ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also published as ''1984'') is a dystopian novel and cautionary tale by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final completed book. Thematically ...

'' as a major influence on the atmosphere. The game also draws inspiration from ''

Metal Gear is a Media franchise, franchise of stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear (video game), Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX, MSX home computers. The player often takes con ...

'', the first ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'', and ''

Demon's Souls is a 2009 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It was released in Japan in February 2009, in North America by Atlus in October 2009, and in PAL territories by Na ...

''. The central themes are "voyeurism, paranoia, censorship, and control". Logan co-founder Alexei Tylevich serves as art director; Logan focued on visual development while Camouflaj handled the gameplay and systems. 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.

Reception

''Episode 1: Exordium''

''Episode 1: Exordium'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

''Episode 2: Metamorphosis''

''Episode 2: Metamorphosis'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic.

''Episode 3: Ones and Zeroes''

''Episode 3: Ones and Zeroes'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic.

''Episode 4: God's Acre''

''Episode 4: God's Acre'' received "mixed or average" reviews, according to Metacritic.

''Episode 5: Terminus''

''Episode 5: Terminus'' received "mixed or average" reviews, according to Metacritic.

References

External links

Camouflaj websiteLogan websiteKickstarter page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Republique 2013 video games Action-adventure games Android (operating system) games Fiction about photography Crowdfunded video games Dystopian video games Episodic video games Fiction about government Experimental medical treatments in fiction IOS games Kickstarter-funded video games Martyrdom in fiction Video games about mass surveillance Fiction about mind control MacOS games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games Propaganda in fiction Fiction about rebellions Science fiction video games Single-player video games Stealth video games Stadia games Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring female protagonists Video games featuring non-playable protagonists Windows games Works based on Nineteen Eighty-Four Camouflaj games NIS America games