I adore co-op horror games with a dumb premise, horrific monsters, funny physics, and an endless story in which my friends and I can devote hours on hours to trying to concur and inevitably only get worse at. So it should come as no surprise that Semiwork’s new game, R.E.P.O. (Repo), has quickly become a staple among my Discord friends.
Identically to Lethal Company, the premise is to collect trinkets and hit a quota set by some faceless greedy boss. But unlike other co-op horror games, where the biggest obstacle is all the monsters that roam around the maps, Repo has that plus a physics system that will make transporting your loot much more stressful, accident-prone, and slapsticky.
You can’t just place an item in your inventory or even carry it with your bare hands. Instead, you use a tool that grabs onto an item and levitates it off the ground, much like how the portal gun can pick up and hold objects. This may help when it comes to picking up larger items like TVs but every time you accidentally knock your item into a wall or another player it depreciates in value, and if you drop a breakable item like a plate or a crystal then it’ll smash into a million pieces and be of no value to anyone.
But I only heard this from a friend. It’s not like I dropped a really expensive vase and cost my team the whole game; I wouldn’t do something like that.
A sardine’s work is never done
(Image credit: Semiwork)
One of the most endearing parts of Repo has to be the robot, sardine-like player characters that talk like the Canadians from South Park. The proximity chat detaches your character’s jaw relative to how much volume you’re spitting through the mic. It’s unspeakably funny watching one of my friends run from a killer clown while their head is completely cocked back screaming at the top of their lungs.
But you know what’s not funny? Having to put yourself through hell time and time again with no respite just to earn your crummy boss who doesn’t even like you some extra cash. Like other co-op horror games, Lethal Company, Content Warning, and Phasmophobia, Repo is a roguelike, meaning you carry on going in a run until you all die or fail to meet the quota.
This means dying is expected, and only feels bad when you’ve managed to reach a respectively high level or you’re just about to break a personal best. But so far, my friends and I’ve only made it past level 3, so we’re not really playing high stakes yet.
But even if you die, you can still win, kind of. Failing to meet a quota means your boss will send you down the trash shoot and force you to battle it out to decide who the king of the losers is. I felt like I was in the Colosseum the first time I was dropped down onto the small structure full of random trinkets like teddy bears and weapons like grenades, a great sword, and my personal favourite, a massive inflatable hammer. I also want to note that I’m currently the King of the Losers amongst my friends after defending the title three times, the third of which I accidentally killed everyone including myself, but I won by default, so I’m claiming it.
Beware the gnomes
(Image credit: Semiwork)
R.E.P.O. is also full of creative and deadly monsters, like any good chaotic co-op horror game. So far, I’ve come across the Headman, a giant floating head that’ll try and eat you, the Reaper, a doll with blades for arms, the Mentalist, a floating alien that can kill you with its mind, and the Clown, which can fire off a laser beam which can also instantly kill you. Some of the monsters are more aggressive than others, and some even try to kill you with kindness, like the cute little duck that bumps items out of your hands and turns into a man-eating monster if you try to pet it. But otherwise, there are no massively distinctive traits between enemies yet. These guys may be scary, but they’re nothing compared to the Huntsman and those dastardly gnomes.
My only advice when it comes to dealing with the Huntsman would be to run and hide.
The Huntsman is absolutely lethal, and all it is is some random dude with a shotgun. The Huntsman is blind but has ridiculously good hearing. He can track you down no matter where you are on the map, and he has a fantastic shot, so he rarely ever misses you. One time, I retreated back to the van to get some health and pick up a bat because I’d had enough of being pushed around. But unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to take out my aggression because as soon as I turned around, the Huntsman was there with his shotgun inches away from my face. Needless to say, I had my head taken clean off, and we ended up losing that round.
My only advice when it comes to dealing with the Huntsman would be to run and hide while he’s reloading the shotgun, as that takes a while, and then crouch-walk around until you’re sure he’s gone.
Still, the Hunstman is nowhere near as annoying as those bloody gnomes. These little guys dart around the map, nipping at your heels and destroying any precious items you’ve managed to collect. At one point, I had to fight a horde of them off, picking them up and smashing them into one another. It was brutal; there were porcelain shards scattered all over the ground, and I was left with only 1 HP. My bloody fight scared them away for a bit, letting us collect a few more trinkets. But sadly, another group soon found us, and after fending off the backup gnomes for as long as I could, I went down with one blow to my heel. I was like Achilles, except more heroic.
Repo is a fantastic co-op horror game that can hold its own against big shots like Lethal Company. It’s also only in early access right now, and with plans to introduce more player customisation, story elements, equipment, levels, and enemies, all I can say is that I’m really looking forward to seeing where the devs take this co-op horror game.
