Quantum Break

Release Date: April 5, 2016

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Genres: Science Fiction, Action-Adventure, Third-Person Shooter

Platforms: Xbox, PC

My Platform: Xbox Series S

Difficulty Levels: Easy, Normal, Hard

My Level: Normal

Game Difficulty: 3/10

Game Rating: 6/10

Time To Beat: 9hrs30min

Difficulty Related Achievements: Yes, need to finish the game on Hard

The Story

When time breaks, a fracture is born, and catastrophe becomes your playground. As hero Jack Joyce, you will fight your way through epic disasters, that stutter back and forth in time. Surviving this unstable world, and halting the end of time itself...is only possible by mastering your new time powers.

The fracture is a Chronon related phenomena, created by the University time machine. The event happened due to a miscalculation in the time machine's design. Or was it sabotage?

To fix this fracture, Jack Joyce played by Shawn Ashmore, needs to get his hands on the CFR. This is a Chronon Field Regulator. Build by his brother, William Joyce, played by Dominic Monaghan. He designed this CFR to repair the fracture, and by doing so, prevent the end of time.

But not everybody wants that to happen. And every game needs a good villain. In this case his name is Paul Serene, played by Aidan Gillen. He and Jack are childhood friends. Paul was working on a time travel experiment, based of the work of William. That last one had warned Paul not to go through with his experiment. But he did not listen. He convinced Jack to help him test the time machine. When the malfunction in the machine caused the fracture in time. Paul was forced to go through the machine and witness the end of time. In an attempt to survive that breakdown, he traveled back in time where he founded Monarch Solutions. A company designed to aid him in the survival of the human race.

Paul needs the CFR to make his lifeboat escape plan work. That lifeboat will only save a few.

Jack needs the CFR to fix the fracture and save everyone.

I can not skip the right hands of the good and bad guy in this game. Jack is getting help from someone inside the company, Beth Wilder, played by Courtney Hope. She works for Monarch Solutions, but thinks there is something fishy going on. She just doesn't know what yet. Beth tries to help Jack to figure it all out and get the CFR back in their hands. 

And even a villain can use some help every once and a while. Paul's right hand is Martin Hatch, played by the one and only Lance Reddick. 

As you can read, there are some very well know actors in this game, mostly from movies/tv shows. But as a gamer if you have played 'Horizon Zero Dawn', you will definitely recognize Mr. Reddick. The same goes for Courtney Hope. You might have seen her before in the game 'Control'. Other than the actors I have named so far. There are a couple of more familiar faces in this game, that you will definitely recognize.  

The Build

'Quantum Break' exists out of 5 acts in total. Each act has multiple parts, a junction and ends with an episode. Expect for the last act, that one is a bit different. 

The junctions are a crucial point in the game. You will have to choose between two options. With both their own consequences. There is no right or wrong way to play this game. Just go for whatever option you feel like. Of course those options are achievement related. So if you want them all, you will have to replay those junctions. In order to choose either option at least once. 

Every act gets concluded with an episode of an integrated live-action tv show. Featuring the actors of the characters. The actors display the choices you made as a player during that act. Every decision has consequences. 

Collectibles

This game has plenty of collectibles for you to find.

• Quantum Ripples
• Intel
• Chronon Sources
• Documents
• Computers
• Media

All of these are perfectly tracked in your timeline menu. If you miss some, you can always replay a part later, to get the ones you still need. So don't worry about it too much, if you want to get all the achievements. And since this is not a long game, you can even choose to just replay the whole game. If you are going for all the achievements, you need to complete the game on hard. Which might even be the best difficulty to start with. Especially when you are familiar with shooters. I played on medium and it was kind of easy. The only real challenge on that difficulty was the end game. And still it was not that hard. 

Final Word

This game was recommended to me by someone. And I am glad I took a look at the game. Since it is on Game Pass, I did not have to think twice if I should get it or not. The game surprised me, it was better than I thought! The graphics look insanely good and the way the game plays out, is refreshing and really awesome. The fact that you see the real actors playing out your choices at the end of every act is really cool.

The first time I jumped into the game, it reminded me a lot of the game 'Control'. It has the same play on quantum physics, bending and playing with time. But I didn't think too much of it at that time. The next day I played some more and I saw Beth, she looked/sounded familiar. But I could not put my finger on it straight away. But a few parts later, it hit me. She looked like the protagonist of 'Control'. I looked it up straight away, and I was right! So I looked a little bit further and both these games are a Remedy Entertainment production. Very nice touch on how they made both games work together. But still be there own games. 

The cast in this game is really, really good. It always adds something extra, when there are familiar faces. Especially when you have seen them in other games. The episodes are a really nice twist to see in a video game. First it was a bit weird, because it's a game, so let me play it. If I want to watch a movie/tv show, I will put something on. But it is actually a very nice add on, and works surprisingly good in this game. And all in all, it is just really awesome to see real people play out the choices you made in a game. These episodes are very good for the story.

The controls were a little bit rough for me at the start. But if you turn off aim assist, that helps a lot. Because most of the time, that is just annoying, instead of helpful. 

The perks in this game are great. They all have to do with bending/manipulating time. And of course you can upgrade these perks and make them even better, more efficient. 

All in all, I am very glad I played this game. It was so much fun to play and an absolute joy to see all these familiar faces! Remedy Entertainment did a great job, yet again. And this game being available on Game Pass, it is a no brainer. Just get it and give it a go! 

Thank you so much for reading my blog, very much appreciated! If you have games in mind that are a must play as well, please let me know in the comments. And I will check them out.

Game on and I'll catch you on the flipside!