République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes (PC) Review

By Adam Riley 04.01.2016

Review for République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes on PC

République Episode 1: Exordium introduced Hope, Episode 2: Metamorphosis brought in the idea of a whole new world in which she is trapped, along with numerous other poor souls. What does Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes bring to the table, and is the core story enough to keep the adventure going in full flow, even into this third chapter?

How many ways can you skip past a guard before the process becomes tiresome? Well, République managed to make it exciting enough in its first outing, and then added in enough variety and expanded the story sufficiently to keep the process exciting through to the finale of the second episode. Now, in Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes the same procedure of guiding Hope around the crazily-strict 'New World' of Metamorphosis is back, now with guards that can throw gas canisters at her when spotted to prevent the young 'Pre-Cal' (someone raised entirely within the confines of the regimented facility) from reaching the outside world. Thankfully, the guards on duty are still as easy to bypass as before, thanks to the plethora of hiding spots that the player-controlled computer entity can guide her to, as well as their sheer idiocy at times (no sixth sense…at all!).

Everything works as smoothly as it did previously - switch between security cameras to check for the clearest path and then swap modes to move Hope around using a simple click of the mouse - and having the next target marked out on a handy map makes navigation much less painful, with shortcuts now also being found in the form of air vents that can be accessed if a screwdriver is located (one is not enough, since in the world of Metamorphosis it seems they have the least durable tools ever…). The beauty of Episode 3, and this is something carried across from Metamorphosis, as well, is that every section previously visited can be re-visited now. This means that any bonus items missed the first time round can be acquired with a little extra patience to do some back-tracking.

Screenshot for République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes on PC

Touched upon first time round, then teasingly expanded in the follow-up, the story is well and truly the core focus for Ones & Zeroes, and the lunacy of this creepy world and talk of an impending event called 'The Arrival' start to weigh heavily as Hope is drawn closer and closer to the surface, with the hope of freedom afterwards…The consequences of her actions come back to haunt her as the tale develops, though, and there is a question of "How far would you go for freedom?" that lingers in the air a little longer than is comfortable.

For all its clever developments on the story side, however - and it is gripping content - this new part of the République pie takes a few steps backwards on the gameplay front. Gone are the clever puzzles found in Metamorphosis, replaced instead by intricate mazes that Hope must be guided through, and there is far more linearity brought in. In fact, certain sections later on take away all choice completely and literally become scenes where instructions to just keep clicking away are dished out. Understandably, time is being given to reach a crescendo in narrative terms, but certain elements that made the previous jaunt so enticing seem to have been put to one side, disappointingly and the final credits are rushed to in order to find out what happens next, rather than calmly reaching them, having been pleasantly surprised at the smart gameplay included on the way.

Screenshot for République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes on PC

Cubed3 Rating

6/10
Rated 6 out of 10

Good

République Episode 3: Ones & Zeroes still offers enough to keep engagement high, and the story alone will keep most people plugging through to see what is coming next, but whereas the previous episode added more actual gameplay content to freshen up the experience, a few elements fall by the wayside here, with more emphasis being put on development of the tale instead, with a little too much linearity wedged in towards the final stages.

Developer

Camouflaj

Publisher

NIS America

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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