If God’s Acre was a penultimate Gaiden, Terminus is where Republique course corrects and barrels toward an expected conclusion. The not-so-dead freedom fighter Daniel Zager and his operating partner Mireille Prideaux have secured Hope’s escape with a well-timed series of explosions. These collapse Metamorphosis’ internal and external structures, finally allowing Hope an opportunity to evade Overseer Treglazov and his prowling Prizrak security force in order to claim her freedom.
I had to look up the names of everyone in the above paragraph. This isn’t necessarily a fault of the story, but rather the stunted release of Republique’s installments. Exordium, the first episode, was released for mobile devices in 2013 (and I reviewed it on an iPhone 4S in 2014). This release not only showcased the premise and promise of Republique’s developing world, but also a concentrated commitment to honoring its own ideals. Systems and gameplay could grow and evolve, but it couldn’t build anything too unstable on top of its foundation. Likewise, the player’s role as Hope’s remote guardian, accessing security cameras to propel Hope through her prison, couldn’t exceed the grasp of a touch device.
All of this put Republique in a weird place! After delivering two more episodes in 2014, Republique took more than a year off before finally dropping God’s Acre in the closing weeks of 2015. Worse, other than expanding Republique’s already well-ingrained dystopian themes and social prison, God’s Acre did little to move the game—either its narrative or gameplay—forward. Republique also moved to a new version of its game engine and received some very nice visual upgrades on its way to the PC (and now PlayStation 4), but this did nothing for players whom were already invested in Republique and expected more immediacy from it. Either through Kickstarter or a direct purchase, they placed their bets on Republique’s pitch of an AAA game on a mobile device. Subsequent twists and turns eroded interest and, barring a full game replay, all but erased context. With that in (or out of, I guess) mind, you’ll have to forgive me for forgetting the particulars of Republique’s narrative.
Terminus twists Republique’s image by granting the player agency in how to best achieve Hope’s goals. Shortly after the episode begins, you’re presented with two completely different options with how to proceed. Hope can follow Zager’s plan and slip plastic guns to rogue Prizrak guards, or follow Prideaux’s advice and adhere to a more traditional stealth-and-sabotage approach to Republique. Either path takes Hope through two distinct parts of Metamorphosis, each with their own specific goals.
Following Prideaux provides Terminus with a signature mechanic; more aggressive security cameras. If these red-light cameras see Hope, they will instantly alert a guard. If you, as the player, take control of one, you have eight seconds of control before it sounds the same alarm. Initially this was something of a threat, but soon I worked a strategy to overtake a red camera, click a safe area for Hope to run to, and then turn the camera in the complete opposite direction. This was the equivalent of giving the playable game space a constant side-eye, but it worked through the three puzzle environments that can compose Terminus‘ second act.
Zager’s path is less nuanced but still carries Republique’s through its conclusion. Rather than deal with more hostile cameras, Hope is tasked with combing the Prizrak dormitories and flipping the loyalty of a few guards. Sometimes this involves isolating one in a room, and other times you’re required to get captured by a specific guard and have him walk Hope back to a holding cell. Either way, sending Hope through a labyrinth of doors and strategically locking out a pursuant was a welcomed chance to play with a more kinetic version of Republique.
Playing through Terminus a second time makes it easier to appreciate. I had originally chosen to follow Prideaux, and when Republique rolled credits I wasn’t left satisfied by what I had played. It felt like a smaller level pack sandwiched between unmovable bookends. The addition of a separate path through Zager, complete with different assets and goals, helps Republique’s case, but it doesn’t change the functional indifference of its opening and closing sequences. There’s more stuff, but the game isn’t much better for it.
Without spoiling much, Hope always ends in the same place and it doesn’t feel like the player has a choice. This isn’t new—agency in most videogame endings is usually calculated—but when Terminus ended I felt let down by the last five minutes. True motivations from three principle characters were deployed with laser guided accuracy, revealing their actions to be more (or less) complicated than initially assumed. Following that, Hope is forced down a road that is objectively tragic but functionally insane. In a way Republique’s finale rationalized the dozens of times Prizrak guards escorted Hope back to a cell with no questions asked, but I also felt most of the game could have been equally solved by putting a bullet in her head in the first episode. This could be my own failure in understanding the narrative, but if it was either primarily locked down inside collectables or decayed by over two years of time I’m not sure if I should be held responsible.
Spinning back to Republique’s greater problem; the whole project feels disconnected. Terminus is an OK episode with a generous amount of content, but that’s all it feels like; content. It’s absent. It’s empty. There’s nothing here. Releasing five episodes over two years creates problems that are impossible to solve, and trying to work a passable narrative inside a challenging game was a task too herculean for Republique’s development team. Sometimes it even felt like they had given up; I encountered a few annoying bugs that left Hope paralyzed, and in one instance a Prizrak guard, appearing female in her name and photo I.D., produced the same voice as every other male Prizrak. Could this person have been transgendered? Possibly, but that doesn’t seem like the sort of identity that would have been tolerated around Metamorphosis.
And yet, there are still parts Republique to like. I loved its dreary and oppressive atmosphere and the influence it draws from the colorful yet authoritative surroundings. Metamorphosis, despite its occasional indulgence in extravagance, felt claustrophobic and unsympathetic. Same goes for Republique’s moody soundtrack and its evocative theme. Even some smaller features, like the seamless transition between map-screen and game world, are cool. Pieces of Republique make a meaningful contribution to gaming, but it’s compromised by incoherence and disorganization. Inescapable fate and/or unchecked accountability conspired to leave Republique in disarray, and there’s little evidence to prove it was headed in any other direction.
