I just beat Quantum Break in 2019 and it was alright

Turns out Quantum Break is alright.

I mean it's not great, don't get me wrong. This game certainly feels like an early launch title sort of deal. Even on an Xbox One X there were some weird performance issues, sound stutters, freezing of video in in-game cutscenes with audio continuing to play. I can't imagine how this ran on a base XB1 before a slew of patches hit - Remedy games being rather known for getting released in less than ideal states. I even watched all the TV show episodes, although they have apparently taken them down from whatever server they were on because the option to stream never worked (I watched them all on YouTube). Initially I had no desire to do this but then between I think Act 2 and 3 your character gets taken into custody and then after the episode, which I skipped, you're starting the game uncuffed, fully armed and next to your buddy Jesse Faden - Courtney Hope of Control fame voices one of your primary accomplices here which was a nice surprise! So I begrudgingly started watching the show thinking there was important stuff between the acts and surprise there really isn't. In a few instances you see how some character ended up where they did but thats about it. Still I kind of grew fond of how hokey and daytime TV it all was.

The most interesting thing about Quantum Break is how much of a template this game was for Control. Everything that Quantum Break did seems to have been ironed out and done better in Control - but you can see the connective tissue from one game to the next. You even have characters wearing techno-gadget-harnesses to stop them from an environmental hazard - in the case of QB it's the time stutters and Chronon Harnesses. There is a central mcguffin here that is holding everything together much like the Hedron-whatnot in Control. There is also a strong aesthetic centering around distortion as Jack Joyce will create ripples in the world as he shifts through it during a time stutter. It's really fascinating really to see this very commercial product from years ago get super ironed out but also became a little more niche in nature. Control shows so much more polish and complexity, but it's also not this blockbuster time travel romp with an obvious good guy/bad guy dynamic. Control is a lot more esoteric, elusive, artsy even. Thats not to say Quantum Break is extremely digestible - the time travel part of the story eats it's own tail so many times that I finally gave up trying to play catch it with what time we were at and why we needed to be 5 minutes before the future begins so that we can go to 10 minutes into the pasts present.. But it was a very shootery-shooter. It was a game very much of it's time while Control seems to be in a world completely of it's own.

It's also amazing how much they evolved in terms of level design. Max Payne was all about back alleys and dingy streets of New York. Alan Wake was seemingly the same bit of forest for the entire game when you weren't dealing with the interesting set-pieces. Quantum Break seems to find any excuse to place you in some decrepit building - old warehouses, old abandoned homes, underground maintenance.. broken windows, brick walls and graffiti is the basic decor. To go from these drab and rather featureless corridor levels to the Oldest House is really admirable. What a step up for that team. While parts of Control are very much like a mundane office building, there is always something around the corner to make things interesting, and thats not mentioning the amazing set-piece moments and boss battles that warp reality in delightful ways.

Apart from general movement and structure, Control really nails down the collectible side of the game. Quantum Break has a TON of this stuff to read, but it is extremely dry, very long and often placed in locations where you have side characters constantly nagging you to get moving. These are typically e-mail exchanges and they can sometimes span several screen heights in length. I read a whole lot of it hoping to get a little more insight into the story and I'd say half of it was fairly interesting while the other half was kind of pointless - and let me reiterate, a lot of it is very long. Control on the other hand really does a great job of condensing these collectibles into bite size treats. You never feel like there is too much text on screen to get through. It's short, to the point, and most importantly interesting. Well OK some of the stuff in Control was also really dry, like some Altered Item descriptions that were just kind of not all that engaging, but for the most part it was all handled really well.

The last thing I noticed was just how much Remedy love Alan Wake. Quantum Break is filled with Alan Wake references. There was a Night Springs show on a television ( yes they also have live action TV shows in-game ) there was a woman with clearly Alan Wake on screen playing the game, right down to her hands being on the WASD keys. Theres a lot of it, and only it. I saw no references to Max Payne anywhere weirdly enough.

It was an interesting trip down memory lane. I actually looked up Jeffs review for Quantum Break back when they did those regularly. Was surprised that he gave it that low of a score - seems like a decently average shooter with some interesting twists.

I'm not actually advocating anyone out there go out of their way to play Quantum Break. It's OK. I've often heard people say it's the worst Remedy game and not even worth playing. It's definitely worse than Max Payne.. but Alan Wake? I dunno. I certainly had more fun playing Quantum Break even if the story didn't really evolve as much as I hoped. But hey different strokes for different boats.

Either way, what I'm really trying to say here is that I'm stoked for that Control DLC.

I found it to be "ok", i didn't like the characters and having them be portrayed by recognisable tv stars was distracting, the story was a constant uphill struggle towards... something, with a lot of the events not really making sense to me not due to lack of explanation, there's plenty of that, but all the time sickness stuff just seemed like "the dark side" to me, and i feel like the live action episodes didn't really achieve anything, the action scenes were pedestrian and the rest was just filler, more weird explanations about the mechanics of the messed up world around them, they also sprinkled in some weird "obviously decent, obviously evil" choices which didn't pay off at all, and it all leads up to an unsatisfying conclusion.
That being said, it's not the story that i take the most issue with, the third person shooting mechanics in this game do not feel great, aim sensitivity never feels on point, no care was taken on the weapons, the cover mechanics work but are tetchy a lot of the time, and the time abilities have very basic damage dealing or defensive uses, for as insane as they make the world in that game, the gameplay ends up being very basic.
Of course on top of all that are the issues the game has technically, it's extremely demanding on PC, i didn't play the game until it was released on Steam and had all the patches it was going to receive, but even now it's still the most demanding game i own and only runs well downscaled giving the game large amounts of blur, i didn't suffer most of the other issues people encountered with the game, except one of the live action videos not playing, but i don't think its presentation demanded its resource requirements.
I didn't hate the game, but besides some of the in-game time bending animation looking really cool and unique, it doesn't offer much.
I'm sorry you can't get on with Alan Wake, i think that game is outstanding and extremely unique.
The lack of references to Max Payne are likely due to it being owned by Rockstar, they reference it in Alan Wake but i guess they moved on by QB, that's another thing, to borrow a term from Ace Combat, the Strangereal aspects of Remedy games up to that point are almost completely missing in QB, i feel like its first party published nature, its pressure to deliver a next gen title and the coordination requred to combine it with "a television show" took away from some of the Remedy charm fans had enjoyed up to that point.
It seems like Control is more of a return to form, i don't really like the way that game looks, it borrows heavily from QB, but by all accounts it's a great game, i might check it out in the future.

I've played through Quantum Break several times and I really enjoy it. The gameplay doesn't flow as well as in Control but I like the world and story.

The stuttering and audio problems was actually introduced with the One X patch. It ran fine on the S at launch.

Wait so the movies aren't available in the game? I thought they were like essential to the story??? *never played it*

I too thought it was alright and didn't have a bad time with it. Having said that, I also don't really remember anything significant about it other than I recall absolutely despising the final fight.

Interestingly enough though, I just learned that I guess I got all of the achievements in that game and I absolutely have ZERO recollection of doing that.

I loved Quantum Break, from the combat to the story to the crazy time set pieces. Never understood the tepid reception but oh well.

@oursin_360: they’re available as a separate download which is a whopping 75gb in size. Originally they just let you stream them and I didn’t feel like downloading the episode pack so I just watched them on YouTube. Not sure how much variation there can be to them I know each episode has a major branching path but maybe smaller things change as well?

I thought Quantum Break was fine, but nothing about it really grabbed me and it felt like it badly needed an extra coat of polish and an editor to reign that story in. There are far worse games you can play, but if you've come across it for cheap it's worth poking your head in to see what it's about.

I dug is quite a bit.

It was my least favorite Remedy game, but I really dig what those guys do, so it was still one of my favorites of that year.

I think the whole TV thing was novel and interesting. I kinda wish maybe there were more episodes that were far shorter, almost more like cut scenes. It was a weird, cool thing to try and it worked well enough for me.

@humanity: For the record. Alan Wake is the best Remedy game. I believe it’s been scientifically proven, link forthcoming ;)

Honestly, though, I really just love Alan Wake. It’s one of my favorites of all time. Control is super-fucking-cool, but Wake is m’boy.

The more they pull these worlds together, the better. I love what they’re doing with all these games referencing each other and I’m REALLY looking forward to see where it all goes.

@nutter: I think Control is the best Remedy game because it's just a comprehensive package. It has great combat, great levels, a prettty good story, and it has a ton of callbacks to other stuff as well as the signature Remedy touch. I don't begrudge anyone for liking the (vastly inferior) Alan Wake, but you gotta admit the combat in that game got stale kinda fast. Fighting a tornado and a tractor was pretty cool though.

@humanity: HA!

No, I agree. Objectively, Remedy has done their best work with Control. Alan Wake grabbed me more from a setting and story perspective, but Control is the better overall product. My heart is with Alan Wake, but Remedy has done more with their latest effort than any of their previous games.

I’m big into David Lynch stuff, and I think the more personal level of weirdness in Alan Wake tapped into that. Control, even with the personal story of Jesse and Dylan, feels a little colder and more about the FBC, the bureau, Polaris/Hedron, and the Hiss than the personal relationships of any characters. Maybe control is more Mark Frost, to keep going with the David Lynch line of thought...Frost did a lot more of the wider-fiction Twin Peaks stuff, while Lynch was more about the central mystery and the people around it.

One thing I would change about Control, though, get rid of the timed Bureau missions. I don’t think they add anything and their “gaminess” is distracting. It might be cooler and more organic if they were like Destiny 1 events, that just happen to pop-up here and there.

@nutter: Yah I totally get that. If you are a fan of Twin Peaks then no doubt Alan Wake will speak to you more, and sometimes that is stronger than gameplay itself. I love sci-fi and that setting can help me overcome weaker elements of the game, which is probably why Control spoke so much to me. I loved the setting so I was able to push past the bad checkpointing and some technical hiccups.

@humanity: The checkpoints were head-scratchers, but most of the game was easy enough where it wasn’t an issue.

I died during the last big action sequence, at the last section. Respawning at the checkpoint and running through the first 2/3 of that real estate without any combat was...odd.

I think I died during maybe 3-4 encounters, most of them optional. It always felt weird, running back to the fight. It seems like a better choice, at least at bosses, to have a control point right outside OR come up with a fictional contrivance to respawn you right at the boss.