There’s something about Quantum Break that makes it special. After our hands-on with the game, I’m still not sure that I like it or not. But it’s clear that this game is like nothing we’ve seen before.
Quantum Break is a bit hard to explain. It’s basically a video game that coincides with a television show. What you do and the choices you make in the game will impact the history and future of the series. Every choice you make will affect your character in the game.
Although this idea may sound convoluted, it’s not. The plot revolves around an accident that occurs during an experiment at an American university, which gives two characters in the game super-human, almost magical powers. They have the ability to stop time with temporary “breaks” called “Junctions in Time.” These breaks allow players to modify minute details in the scene to alter the outcome of the story.
An example of these Junctions we saw in the presentation, one of the first scenes of the game, is when a helicopter crashes into the side of a building, almost killing the scientist who started this whole mess. The protagonist of the game freezes time, approaches the scientist, and pulls her out of the blast zone before the explosion kills her.
It’s speculated that these Junctions will affect how the TV series plays out. Microsoft and Remedy Studios haven’t given many details about how the Junctions will affect the TV series but you can imagine that the show will be analyzing how players play the game to alter the storyline. But these are just speculations.
Remedy Studios made an effort to point out that though Quantum Break seemed “ethereal,” the game will actually be focused on action. The game is played from the third-person perspective, much like Max Payne, but we haven’t seen actual gameplay yet.
In terms of graphics, the Xbox One definitely shows off its power with this game with extremely realistic character models. The characters look so real that it begins starts touching upon the uncanny valley.
This is undoubtedly an ambitious project for Microsoft and Remedy Studios but we’re hopeful. Remember, Remedy is behind the awesome Max Payne and Alan Wake games. Quantum Break is so crazy, it just might work…
Quantum Break is an Xbox One exclusive and there’s no announced release date yet.
Maria Baeta contributed to this report.
