Game Pass It Up: Quantum Break

Quantum Break is a third person shooter from Remedy Games, and is currently available to play on game pass. I remember being hyped up by a faux Sam Lake to play as Jack Joyce and create dimensional rifts, but somehow this game never landed on my shelf. But now, just over three years after its release, I have stepped into the dimensional rift and became Jack Joyce.

The game itself is a single player experience with a tv show tie in that can play out in slightly different ways based on decisions you make, and items you find in game. The story is split across five acts of gameplay, four short decision sections called junctions, and four half-hour tv episodes. In all, the game took me just shy of ten hours to complete on normal difficulty. During the course of the run there are plenty of collectables that can further enhance the narrative, and I managed to find most without having to go out of my way. That being said, I quickly lost interest in reading every single find. Having plenty of narrative items is great for world building, but that can also negatively impact the pacing. The story is an enjoyable sci-fi tale about time travel, and the end of time. The game does a good job of crafting an exciting story that wraps up nicely by the end of the fifth act. In short, I really enjoyed the main narrative. My only real gripe with the story is a forced relationship arc that seemingly pops out of left field between Jack and another central character. Maybe it was my interpretation of the arc, but it seemed very out of place.

One of the divisive aspects of Quantum Break is the four episode arc that plays out alongside the game. These episodes are completely optional, and were not included the initial installation from Game Pass. The weigh in at a hefty 75GB, so make sure you get that downloaded started before you complete the first act. For the most part, the decisions you make at junctions don’t have a huge impact on the episodes. From what I played, a few lines of dialogue, and a handful of scenes were impacted. The idea itself is pretty interesting, and gave me the same vibes as those old VHS boardgames. While it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I really enjoyed the show and the additional world building that it provided.

The game looks pretty good considering it is a three year old title existing in the same world as Spiderman PS4 and God of War. The character models and animations still look great, and everything looks superb in cutscenes. During gameplay I never once encountered a noticeable dip in performance, but there was also a noticeable level of texture pop-in after loading a new area. Objects would be a blurry mess for a few seconds at the start of almost every single act of the game. The starting area of the game was one of the worst offenders, which didn’t give a fantastic initial impression. Cutscenes had a different set of issues, with frames being dropped or torn on a regular basis. My final gripe with the presentation is that during gameplay, characters eyes have this look to them… everyone has special eyes. Despite those issues, the game really does still look great in 2019.

The game itself is pretty fun. Over the course of the game you are given access to a handful of time warping powers. These include freezing time in a certain area, a quick dodge, a bullet shield, a time vision allowing you to see objectives, enemies, and narrative items, and the ability to slow time itself. Powers operate on a cooldown, and can be used a certain number of times in succession. You upgrade powers by finding time distortions scattered throughout the level. The gunplay in the game felt good; The guns had a nice weighty feel to them. I did notice that occasionally guns wouldn’t want to fire when coming out of a time dodge. It didn’t happen every time, but was the only thing off about the combat. The weakest piece of gameplay came with the platforming. You would combine time powers to perform a kind of platforming over the course of the game. While there was only a handful of these segments, they were extremely finicky and came with an instant death mechanic. The instant death coupled with a longer than desirable loading time and poor checkpoint placement made the platforming unenjoyable.

In short, Quantum Break was fun. Some parts of the game feel dated in 2019, but overall the game still feels good to play. For me it is a one and done kind of experience even though the game offers some replayability from the choices you can make along the way.