Release - Big Brother Watching You

The subject surrounding confidentiality and government surveillance is not unknown to us today. We are constantly kidding on how our phones listen to us or the way someone looks at us behind our webcams. We laugh at it because the premise is realistic but ridiculous, but what would happen if one day it became our reality for the government to restore order in society? Would we accept this selling feeling claimed, or we rebel against the removal of our rights? The story of Libéré is an illustration, told through multiple perspectives via the chapters of a cartoon, showing us the different sides of the truth. A short and simple game with an intense story, we need to ask ourselves - does the rebellion are the effort, or is it futile?

Located in the almost dystopic future where everyone is judged by a citizen credit system (CCS), the actions of each citizen are monitored and they must display certain positive behaviors to maintain and improve their scores. While many people have accepted this system as the law, the released movement exists to resist against this government oversight. Motivated by freedom and even resorted to violence to justify his cause, the released believes that everyone has the right to determine his own actions and his destiny.

The history of Libéré is presented to the public in the form of four numbers of a comic strip, each number presenting different characters and problems. Filled with pages of blank panels, each panel turns out with a scene only when we arrive at this point in history. For this reason, we can not spoil the story for ourselves looking at the next page. This also guarantees that the player takes the time needed to understand the moment and enjoy the amazing illustration in each square. Each scene has an element of animation accompanied by music, sound effects, and is beautifully drawn by hand and visually adapts to dark history. We go through pages and pages, often becoming the characters and performing actions on their behalf in a 2.5D world while trying to help them in their fight for justice.

The game is simple and involves several different actions, including pressing the buttons in a certain random order, aim and pull rifles and solve puzzles. Although it is an adventure action and a platform game, you can easily finish a scene by browsing and flaming everyone. The learning curve is not very steep and the game forgives mistakes, but there is not much strategy involved. There are certainly frustrating moments where you are caught off guard due to quick actions and clumsy angles, but overall, the game is not difficult to play. Some parts of the action fail to follow due to lower than average image frequency performance, but for the most part, tasks are not difficult to accomplish.

You will probably need to test things to find the right path too, but it does not take a long time to understand. Of course, all the actions you undertake can have negative consequences, and it only takes a few shots of an enemy before your character dries, so you must be quick to kill first. Fortunately, the checkpoints are frequent and the reappearance takes only a few seconds, so do not be too afraid to try something imprudent and see where it leads you.

Despite some of the mentioned shortcomings, there is also a lot to love Libéré. Due to the quick nature of the game, there is no real filling filling for time. The story is direct, your actions (albeit repetitive) are necessary for the game, and the rhythm of each comic is synchronized. Very often, when I read a graphic novel, I take a look and I jump on some panels because I already have a general idea of ​​what is happening. The semi-long breaks and the trailed scenes Libéré helped illustrate the severity of certain situations, which slowed me and actually plunged me a little more in the world.

The themes of government surveillance and citizenship scores are not impossible to imagine, and that is only ie lifter and much more intense. The intrigue and the gameplay are both simple to understand, even if the game ended too quickly. I would also have liked a variety of enemies and more strategies in the game, but this is based on a pretty realistic world and have overpowering robots would probably not go into the story. Although it may not be the most exciting action-adventure platform game, the elegant illustration and narration are impressive and make the experience interesting.

__

• For incredible videos, go to our YouTube page here.
• Follow us on Twitter here.
• Our Facebook page here.
• Our Instagram page here.
• Listen to our podcast on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
• If you are a fan of cosplay, discover more of our Cosplay features here.