Republique Remastered Episode 3: Ones and Zeroes review: no place to hide

The game's third episode, Ones and Zeroes, solidifies the stealth focus of the series while spinning its paranoid dystopia plot into exciting new directions. On top of that, the newly released Republique Remastered moves the whole experience to a much more suitable — if less meta-fictionally clever — platform.

[Editor's note: We have previously reviewed Republique Episode 1 and Episode 2 in their mobile/tablet iterations. The following review for Episode 3 and reviews of all subsequent episodes will focus on the new PC port.]

At the end of the last episode, Republique protagonist Hope had seemingly been captured. As Episode 3 kicks off, you resume your role as Hope's mysterious hacker/protector and discover that she has escaped her captor ... somehow. Not only that, but she's closer than ever to the elevator that will take her out of the authoritarian underground society she was born into.

Between her and that freedom: an army of patrolling guards. Republique has largely avoided straightforward violence throughout, and Episode 3 continues that trend. However, Hope gets a few new tools, most notably the ability to see where guards are on the map and a weapon called "sleep mines" that swiftly knock out any guards that step on them.

Both of these tools build on Republique's clever stealth tendencies, which make each room a puzzle to solve. How do you sneak through this office with three armored thugs whose patrols intersect?

In one situation, I carefully followed patrols on the map, caused a telephone to ring to alter one guard's path, and watched him walk right into a sleep mine I had placed. The map ability makes planning these paths easier than ever by eliminating any uncertainty about whether a guard is hiding just out of view of your camera.

As in previous episodes, part of the draw is not just overcoming guards but pickpocketing them and actively digging into their private information. Republique Episode 3 takes this invasion of privacy to another level. In order to clear her way to the exit, Hope must remove multiple guards by looking through their personal history and crafting propaganda news reports that frame them.

Once you've found all the dirt you can on each guard, you have to choose an incriminating photo and a tidbit of recorded audio taken out of context that will make them seem guilty. Call it fighting fire with fire, but Hope is understandably uncomfortable with this task. It's one of the most interesting parts of the game so far, something that takes the obsessive collectibles and backstory all over Republique and attaches a fascinating gameplay hook to it.

These segments also provide a wider view of the world outside Republique's underground empire. As I learned about the past of several characters, I started to piece together the time frame for the game and even entertained some ideas about where in the world it takes place. Developer Camouflaj has made it clear that all of this is taking place in a recognizable modern world, but it has wisely made deciphering the wheres and hows of that world part of the game's overall puzzle.