Every Step Will Cost You in ‘Repose’ [Monster Mania]
Monster Mania is a monthly column celebrating the unique and varied monster designs in horror gaming.
Not unlike aquatic horror, my fondness for sci-fi horror is an integral part of my sicko horror heart. After all, “In space, no one can hear you scream” is about as apt an environment for horrors to befall players as there is. And while all manner of sub-genres have tackled the setting, I struggle to think of a game whose monsters are such an integral part of the creative blend of mechanics, such as in Repose, from developer Bozó Attila Bertold.
Repose is one part haunted house in space and one part dungeon crawler puzzler that blurs the lines between reality. You awaken in a strange facility contracted by a company to complete a job that your predecessor has disappeared. Surely, you shouldn’t read too much into that. The player is tasked with collecting damaged oxygen tanks from fallen explorers, slaying strange cosmic entities, and uncovering the facility’s mysteries.
But First: The Mechanics
To understand just how crucial and impressive Repose’s monster designs are, one must first understand the game’s mechanics, given that the monsters are more than simple combat threats; they’re puzzle pieces.
In classic 90s dungeon crawler fashion, Repose has a first-person perspective and restricts the player’s movement to one grid movement at a time. Changing direction from moving forward or backward requires the player to spin their viewpoint in the desired direction before progressing. Now, for those unfamiliar with dungeon crawlers, this may sound archaic. However, it is the secret sauce to the game’s puzzle elements. Each movement costs energy, of which the player has a limited amount per level. The larger the environment, the larger the energy reserve. Each step costs one energy, and some abilities, such as firing a handgun, cost five. When the player’s energy reserves hit zero, it’s lights out, and they respawn at the last bed they encountered.
While the player has an energy reserve for combat and movement, they can only sustain a single hit from enemies before dying. However, when they die, any doors they have opened remain open, but enemies will respawn. Early on, the player begins with an axe with a range of one square in front of them, which costs one energy per swing, while firing a handgun costs five energy and can only be used on certain enemy types. This energy consumption is vital, given that it must be considered for planning the player’s path, the enemy types they will encounter, and the cost required to proceed past them.
Oh, right. We’re here to talk about monster designs.
Enemy designs are indicative of man blending with machines and… something. Enemies in Repose resemble other space travelers from afar, but now have Ethernet cable tendrils sprouting from their bodies. The initial enemy players encounter (a grunt, so to speak) has a rifle that they will shoot from afar or swing if the player gets too close. While this enemy is simple enough to kill with a single blow from an axe, it is impervious to gunfire and will perform a Matrix bullet time dodge to avoid it. On the surface, this doesn’t seem problematic given the relative ease of dispatching them. But this is where limited visibility comes into play.
The most survival horror-like aspect in Repose is utilizing a light source to navigate specific, dim environments, which often conceal enemies waiting in ambush. When you consider limited visibility, even a typical “grunt” enemy cannot be discounted as such, given that they can still take the player out in a single hit. The next enemy the player will face is a “glower,” essentially the “grunt” enemy, but with a glowing orb where their face should be. Like the “grunt,” this enemy has the same attack abilities/health. However, they are impervious to melee attacks. Given that “glowers” can only be killed by the pistol, the energy consumption cost associated with progressing past them is greater and must be considered when plotting a course through a given level.
Meet The Creature Types of Repose
“Glowers” further emphasizes players memorizing environments by utilizing shortcuts they can find along the way. Whether an opened door or corridor, alternate paths allow the player to circumvent the energy consumption cost of defeating them. While not always the case, memorizing enemy placement within environments is a survival strategy in itself.
Then there are “cosmic glowers,” the toughest enemy players will face. From the neck down, “cosmic glowers” look like “glowers” but have a massive organic blob mass that sprouts from their head. Not only is this creature toweringly intimidating, but it also requires two gunshots in quick succession. Double the health means double the energy consumption required to kill it for good.
So far, every enemy the player has encountered has been a stationary target. No patrol patterns exist; thus, memorization is the player’s most effective tool, not reflexes. That is, until the player encounters a “leaper” for the first time, a stack of cables and monitors balanced atop one another that can leap several spaces toward the player when alerted to their presence. “Leapers” are the first reflex-based enemy the player will face, making it an enemy that throws a wrench in even the most well-thought-out maze runs.
Environmental Hazards
There are also environmental reflex-based hazards that are present in later environments: Crushing walls will, you guessed it, crush you, spike traps deplete 10 points of energy, electrical strikes impose a double energy cost for movements, and choppy mimics can present themselves as computer terminals and beds. Dungeon crawlers tend to forget that their dungeons themselves can be a threat rather than just a cage for the horrors roaming the halls.
In this regard, Repose is the best of both worlds, given the variety of threats that make mastering one’s environment, discovering shortcuts, and reserving energy whenever possible, the key to survival. In some ways, Repose has a Dark Souls or Bloodborne approach to progress in that muscling your way through environments rarely yields a positive outcome. Learning and studying a space, and most importantly, the position of enemies, will be the key to unlocking the facility’s secrets.
However, the true challenge will be whether Repose‘s protagonist can live with the answers that lie in store for them.
Categorized: Editorials
