Quick Look: Republique

Reminda me of Experience 112.

I only watched half the QL, but this just doesn't look good. The stealth gameplay looks sloppy, which means it's either going to be frustrating or easy to the point of monotony. Bouncing around cameras and indirectly controlling your character looks awkward and unfun. The writing seems bland and tonally inconsistent, some of the voice acting sounds rough, the advertising is lame, and the episodic nature is bound to lead to cliffhangers and indeterminate waits. I kind of like the art style, and the story might get interesting, but I have zero interest in playing it.

Also, I have to assume this is addressed in-game, but what's the point of all of these security cameras? Wouldn't they be spotting her? And if they've all been commandeered, wouldn't someone in this dystopian, paranoid security state have noticed?

That doesn't make it any better. The Infinity Blade description sounded like an ad, and it was totally out of place. I'm sure the Republique guys feel great about being part of a big happy iOS family, but shoehorning in praise of their colleagues (and in some cases, probably friends) in such a ham-fisted way is goofy at best, and would be actively gross in most other contexts. If I'm going to spend $5 on a game, I expect it to be free of advertising, well-meaning or not.

I mean, it came from someone who name checks Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid as design influences. I think most people here don't want something like Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid anymore. Even if they complain that games today are too samey and bland.

The darkest dystopian future is one were screwdrivers only work once before they need to be replaced.

This game seems kinda neat but this whole "Wow, you found my vidya games, lol! Man this on is so great, I love everything about it, here go buy it" seems aweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeful. Why did they feel the need to put the Penny Arcade guy in this? It's just....baffeling and kinda off-putting in a game that seems to take itself fairly serious. Still, I might check it out once it comes to PC

The way the character keeps asking the player questions reminds me of characters on Sesame Street talking to pre-schoolers.

When I first saw the trailer for this, I figured it would be more like Lifeline.

looks like a decent mobile game

I wonder if Brad ever realizes when he is doing something that is recorded....

Huh, this is done by Ryan Payton of MGS4? Certainly explains how a small game like this features a voice cast like that.

Liquids and Solids? Maybe I'm reaching a little, but my first thought when seeing that ,given Payton's history, was a not-so-subtle reference to MGS.

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Give REPUBLIQUE

For Christmas a few years ago, someone got my brother in law a screwdriver set that was basically just 20 or so identical screwdrivers in one giant plastic-sealed container (the person who bought it thought they had different heads). We joked about why in the world you needed so many of the same screwdriver until he tried to use one to put batteries into a little remote controlled helicopter for one of the kids. A few twists and the shaft of the screwdriver completely snapped.

Basically, disposable screwdrivers totally exist.

Maybe try turning on Airplane mode before doing a quick look. That should get rid of your email/iMessage notifications which is what I assume those were.

At first I thought the REDACTED was part of the game.

Looks interesting, might check it out when it comes to Steam.

The accents sounds like Russian-French. Is it Portugreek?

I'm already thinking this would be waaaay cooler if it were FMV. Damn I miss un-ironic FMV.

( . Y . )

There is literally nothing about this game that I find at all appealing.

What's the intro sound from? I swear I've heard it from some DI Ambient Radio channel.

This is the first time seeing it in action, even though I did back it on Kickstarter.

Also: If you liked this check out eXperience 112

I like the design aesthetics I dunno if I like the game behind them.

I used to be interested in this game, but then I watched the Quick Look and I am no longer interested in this game.

I quite like some bits of the music in here, especially once she reaches the... hotel building or whatever it is. Kinda reminds me of Fear Effect.

Computer voice guy sure ruins the mood this game is going for.

I kinda thought this game was going to like Ghost Trick or something, but it just looks like a mediocre stealth game.

He probably backed their kickstarter campaign, where you could get your face in the game at some pledge level. Like Vinny said, they really should have required that they submitted an actual photo though. I assume none of the less famous backers would've gotten away with that.

has kinda a shameless 1984 thing goin on.

That text-to-speech is really annoying. I wonder why they choose not to do more voice work.

32:30

There's a weird edit where Jeff is answering a question that didn't get asked about the text to speech voice. Did someone say a bad word again, like that time Ryan said a bad word during the Lantern Run?

This game breaks the 4th wall so much that I wonder if it's some kind of grand social experiment where the developers are biding their time until this is considered Nostradamus-esque prophecy.

Also, this looks really not rad.

Yes, very much reminiscent of Para-Medic talking movies in MGS 3.

Blech, after seeing what this actually is from this QL, no thank you.

Jennifer Hale and David Hayter? Bringin' in the big voice-acting guns for this one.

It doesn't look too bad, although the political aspects of this game are about as subtle as a brick to the face. It might as well just periodically scream "U.S IS SURVEILLANCE STATE! U.S IS SURVEILLANCE STATE!" at the player, accompanied by a huge neon image of Uncle Sam pointing a camera at you while laughing manically.

I'm sympathetic to the message - I believe the US has gone too far down the surveillance road - but jeez, come on. Could they be a little less blatant and in-your-face about it? You can craft an intelligent commentary about this issue without blasting the message at the player like a fire-hose set to full.

quicklook where guys are cranky, everyone gets defensive of the game. quicklook where they are open and receptive to the game, everyone is cranky in the comments. guess we can never win.

I don't know, before it came out I was interested in this game. Seeing it now it kinda reminds me of Amy. The writing is pretty bad and the gameplay doesn't seem particularly great either.

@ripelivejam said:

From what I can tell there's plenty more people who would agree with the staff that this game doesn't look that great. Also, the community isn't a hive mind. There are a lot of individual users on here, and it's a pretty broad generalisation to always assume that the users who are perhaps cranky about one game are the exact sames ones being defensive about another.

Looks interesting but flawed.

All you need to know when you play this game is that it was designed by a person who worked with and loves Hideo Kojima crazy shit in games (gameplay and design not story). If you it through that lens everything makes sense.

So, this is the game that could only be fully-realized on mobile phones? What aspect of it is unique to the platform - Infinity Blade store links, perhaps? I guess the significance would be the player holding the very kind of phone Hope relies upon for her divine guidance.

The camera-focused perspective and transitions seem so confusing; it would be much less confunding if it had a more fluid transition between perspectives.

The intense story focus of Reypubleek clashes horribly with Tycho Brahe and the real-world game highlights like Infinity Blade 2. The clunky gameplay and barely-aware opponents hurt the game even more.

In any case, here's my plot prediction: the player is that divine Zager fellow, who is revealed to be neither dead nor divine. Hope ends up being the Hope of the Ribrak people, who are actually on an isolated island set in modern times. In the end, Zager is revealled to actually be divine, in spite of everything. It's sorta like V for Vendetta mixed with a bit of the Matrix. Or else the mute guy is the one that's been helping her all along.

Edit: Hrm, I guess that title screen guy is Mr. Mute.

Dr. Sbaisto reference, wow, haven't come across one of those in, maybe forever, probably never in a random fashion since I've been on the internet.

The game is not iPad elusive, I played it on an iPhone 5 and it plays fine.

I want to attend Jeff's Replubla-Q.

oh hey don't mind me I'm totally hidden in this locker despite slamming the door shut with the guy 2 feet away

I love Brad but man does he suck at video games sometimes, hahaha

shame of that frame rate, because it makes me actually feel like I'm playing it and cringing every time it takes a hit.

I'm not sure if I've ever seen a game try so damn hard to undermine itself.

I was definitely interested this one, and curious about all of the "real game on a mobile device" hype, but a painfully cliche story, tedious controls, patheticly broken AI, panderingly world-breaking kickstarter integration nonsense, and gross fucking ads as collectibles means I think this should be right there with Lady Chatterly's Lover on the Banned list.

Some of that shit is just inexcusable, but it gets a pass because it's a mobile game. Depressing.

@ripelivejam said:

What? How could you forget Year Walk and The Room? Or the travesty that was PvZ 2?

Also Kingdom Rush & sequel, and technically Spaceteam though that was different in tone from a typical QL.

The 4th wall breaking stuff does suck, but otherwise the game seems reasonably ok to me. Yeah it's simplistic, but it's a tablet game - and yeah that actually does excuse it of a lot. Tablet games are played on public transportation, or in bed, or on the toilet - they shouldn't be that demanding.

Judged by console games standards, as many are no doubt doing, it doesn't hold up - but that's an unreasonable comparison. Judged by tablet game standards it's pretty ambitious and pretty decent. Developers are still very much in the discovery phase of how to do involved, story driven games on touch only devices. I mean compared to stuff like Infinity Blade or Mass Effect Infiltrator which have even less story, this is big step in the right direction.

Also something very important here: There are no micro-transactions in this game. Yes it advertises its season pass, but there's no buying credits or powerups. It's not designed around having something that holds back progress to allow further monetization - which has been an impediment to increasing quality of tablet games. It's a one time purchase for a full, balanced experience.

I can't help but find it irksome that one of their Kickstarter "promises" for this game was to create a "believable, non-sexualized female lead", yet there is nothing about her that truly breaks the mold of female video game archetypes. You guys put your main female protagonist in a frumpy, gray jumpsuit? How non-sexualized! She must be so strong and empowering- a true role model for women. Finally, glad to see someone got it right! Reality: the only things she said of worth the entire game was how helpless she is. She can't even defend herself without "single use only pepper spray cans" (also, what? Seriously, in what world)... It feels the only mark they hit with that was making sure she wasn't some degraded piece of eye candy. The only believable thing about her is how they managed to box her into that whole annoying damsel in distress role. I get it has a lot to do with the stealth and mechanics, but still. Also, this game seemed incredibly clumsy and slow, even for episode one. 20 bucks seems way over-priced for this...

Pretty underwhelmed with this game. I couldn't finish the quick look. Too much fourth wall breaking, insidery stuff for my tastes, especially in a game that seems to be trying to tell a serious story.