Two Things Are Certain In R.E.P.O.: Friends and Taxes

Over the past 6 weeks or so, HJP members have cumulatively poured hundreds of hours into R.E.P.O. (and not to boast, but I think Heather and I might be near the top of that stat sheet…).

If you’re unfamiliar with R.E.P.O., first of all, go spend the $10 and download it right now. But beyond that, the basic concept is that you get to play as an adorably colorful “Semibot” working to extract valuable items from various post apocalyptic environments while avoiding mysterious monsters and trying to keep as many members of your bot team alive as possible.

The game itself does an excellent job of building a world, sharing snippets of lore (who is the mysterious “Taxman” and why does he want all of these old items?), and scaling up challenges as you progress. It also makes really cool use of audio, where everything is directional so you need to be near the people you want to talk to, and certain items can change players’ voices. Plus the Semibot mouth movements are always hilarious since nothing beats seeing someone run through a room in a panic or a group of bots celebrating an accomplishment.

Despite its potential for jump scares and chilling moments, I think R.E.P.O. leans more towards the suspense genre, but it also does an excellent job of adding enough humor that even a player who isn’t into horror or suspense will have a great time without raising their blood pressure too much. You’re guaranteed at least one, if not many laugh out loud moments and ridiculous reactions in every game session.

But this isn’t a review of the game itself– it’s excellent and you should definitely go play it!

This is an exploration of everything else R.E.P.O. has to offer, written by someone who had never played an online multiplayer game until Final Fantasy XIV less than a year ago and has only recently begun to dip a toe in to voice chats. How am I suddenly comfortable enough to jump into hours-long sessions with different groups multiple times a week?

Let’s start by looking at the gameplay side of things:

One of my favorite aspects of R.E.P.O. is that everyone is on the same team. You’re not plotting or rooting against each other. The entire group is working towards a common goal, cheering on small and large victories alike, and finding new ways to solve problems and collaborate. And when most or all of your team is dead, each player has the potential for an epic hero moment.

As with any game, spending more time in R.E.P.O. builds more skills and familiarity, but the “RNG” (random number generation) approach to constructing levels, supplying resources, and determining which enemies appear means that no play through is ever the same and no single player can master everything. You have to rely on each other, regardless of individual skill level.

The Service Station after each level gives the group a chance to decompress and strategize. Should we spend our heard earned money on health packs? Should we gather weapons to go on the offensive? Do we stack strength and stamina in to one main tank?

But that’s only part of the R.E.P.O. experience. I’ve gotten so much more out of it since we started playing together.

R.E.P.O. has been such an incredible chance to connect with other HJP members. As much as I’m enjoying my first experience in FFXIV and as supportive as everyone has been in cheering me on along the way (I just unlocked the final map of Endwalker at the time I’m writing this), there has always been a “Master vs. Sprout” dynamic that’s just inevitable. I’m stepping into a world in which some players have spent more than a decade. A world filled with lore, stories, and more obscure character names than the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Since it’s a new and much simpler game, we’re all sprouts in R.E.P.O.. This is the first time I’ve been able to explore gameplay on the same footing as more experienced HJP members. And in some cases, since Heather and I have been borderline obsessed with it lately, I even sometimes have more knowledge or experience in a certain area. Crazy!

R.E.P.O. has given me a totally new and different appreciation for members of the HJP community and how they approach gaming. I can see how so many members love seeing something new and appreciate a dedicated team behind the scenes. Even though the games are vastly different, I think the ethos of the developers and creative teams behind FFXIV and R.E.P.O. share a lot of similarities.

As a lifelong perfectionist, making mistakes is my nightmare even though I know everybody makes mistakes (everybody has those days), you cannot play R.E.P.O. without making mistakes. But guess what? It’s totally ok. Since everybody does it at some point, no one has ever been cruel or harsh over mistakes. We just keep going and try to make it through the level as best as possible.

Before playing FFXIV, the idea of playing a game online with people I don’t know was terrifying. And I won’t lie, the idea of playing with total strangers is still scary, but HJP isn’t full of strangers. Even when playing with someone in the community I don’t know that well, the fact that we’re all here already means we have more in common than not. And I’ve been able to form totally new connections with names I’ve seen around the community for many months.

One of my favorite gaming memories was from late 2017. Heather and I had just started dating and we bought a Nintendo Switch with Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. I was still a teacher at the time, and we spent pretty much all of my winter break playing those games and exploring those worlds. It was amazing. To this day, we still think back and reminisce about what a great time it was.

I have a very similar feeling with our R.E.P.O. group: I know there will be a time in the future when I look back at the moment right now and wish I could do it all over again.

When a community centers around a unified purpose of fun and inclusivity, even someone like me, who wouldn’t have considered himself to be a serious gamer for most of my life can feel comfortable reaching out and trying something new. I feel more accepted, connected, and supported even though it seems like we’re all just having fun playing games. And that’s the magic of HJP.

There’s no way I ever would have tried R.E.P.O. without HJP (thank you Bree/Ciri for recommending it to us!) and that means I would have missed out on a ton of awesome memories and chances for personal growth– because yes, collecting a creepy Victorian doll, outrunning a four-legged man spider, and rushing back to the truck while holding your teammate’s head after final extraction has oddly enough been a hugely valuable experience beyond the digital domain.

Turns out the real valuables were the friends we made along the way.