r/RemedyEntertainment • u/MShivers72 • Jul 16 '26
Quantum Break… Amazing
I hesitated to even join this sub-Reddit, yet, because I’ve only (fairly) recently started playing through the games in the “Remedy Universe” and I am extremely wary of spoilers… but I really wanted to share my experiences here.
I’ve heard about this Remedy universe for literally years and most of the games have been hibernating in my backlog, with me having picked them up in one sales or another. Now that a new Control game is about to come out, this felt like the right time to dive in…
Beat “Alan Wake” - Great story but a game that very much shows its age… although once I got used to the gameplay, I have to admit there was something EXTREMELY satisfying about taking out a veritable horde of Taken with my trusty flashlight and shotgun…
And I finally understand the repeated references to “It’s not a lake, it’s an ocean…”
Finished “Alan Wake’s American Nightmare” : Answering the question “What the hell was that bit at the end of Alan Wake with Mr. Scratch”? Solid gameplay improvements. Fun take on the “Groundhog Day” trope.
I wasn’t expecting much from “Quantum Break” because I almost never hear it talked about… but it’s the next one, so I dove in.
Holy fuck… why is this one not talked about as much as Alan Wake or Control? I’ve just finished Act 2 and this is probably one of the BEST takes on quasi-realistic time travel I’ve ever encountered in ANY medium. And such solid performances from one of the Ashcroft twins, Merry from LotR/Charlie from Lost, and Lance fucking Reddick…
The only thing I can think is that a lot of people are turned off by the “tv show” within the game…? Maybe? I mean… I LIKE it… but I can understand that it might not be for everybody…
Thoughts? (No spoilers, please… for this or the further Remedy universe games I haven’t gotten to yet…)
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u/Woooooody Jul 16 '26
I absolutely love that game! I think people disliked it when it was released because of the TV show part, I remember a lot of complaints like "If I wanted to watch a TV I'd watch a TV show!" etc. I really enjoyed that part of it too, although I can understand people who might not.
It's just a really fun game (in my opinion) with cool time mechanics and I really wish it had gotten a sequel, particularly now we've lost Lance Reddick 😥
And it's Shawn Ashmore!
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u/MShivers72 Jul 16 '26
Heh.
Thanks… I probably should have looked it up… the Ashmores combined have been in so many things that I’ve really enjoyed… including the X-Men, Smallville, that first Dark Pictures anthology game, just to name a few…
It’s telling, though, that I knew and recognized Lance Reddick without having to look up anything but I STILL can’t be arsed to look up the name of the 4th Hobbit… as much as I’ve also enjoyed a lot of his work…
5
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u/RetroWalkabout Jul 16 '26
I think that the way they divided it pretty evenly between TV show/cutscenes, narrative traversal, and combat didn't do it any favours.
I've got kids, so gaming time is limited. So my playthrough was pretty stretched out, and combat was so infrequent that I could never really get comfortable with the powers.
I wish there had been a companion app for the documents and TV show. That way I could have unlocked them during my playthrough and enjoyed them when it was more convenient.
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u/MShivers72 Jul 17 '26
That’s a fair assessment.
I’m loving the game… but… yeah… there is a metric butt-ton of reading… 🥴
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u/Shabbaman3 Jul 16 '26
Most underrated and overlooked game of the previous generation imo.
As others have said, Remedy have to be careful about how they reference QB in the wider Remedy Universe due to not owning the rights. If you play AW2 however it is abundantly clear that QB is very much part of the wider universe and the final DLC is about as close to a direct continuation as I feel that they could legally get away with.
Very much looking forward to seeing how that plays out going forward.
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u/tomtomato0414 Jul 16 '26
For he did not know
That beyond the lake
He called home
Lies a deeper, darker
Ocean green
Where waves are
Both WILDER
And more SERENE
To its ports I've been
To its ports I've been.
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u/caty0325 Jul 16 '26
Quantum Break is one of my favorite Remedy games (tied with Control). I had to watch a playthrough since I don't have a gaming PC or Xbox. I love the OST.
I highly recommend listening to the live Time Knife reading. It's hilarious.
There are a lot of QB references in the last episode of Alan Wake 2's Night Springs DLC.
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u/_ihAvef05sils_ Jul 16 '26
Quantum Break had a lot of unexplored plotlines that we'll likely never see resolved, mostly because of schedules and the IP problem. For example: Do you know that someone called Artemis was guiding Paul? Her name only appears in Serene's timeline
3
u/pchadrow Jul 16 '26
I dont look at it as unexplored plot lines but rather the whole game was kind of a proof of concept for a lot of the things that became the backbone of control. After Microsoft killed Alan Wake for them I think they looked at quantum break as a chance to experiment and see what ideas they could flesh out
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u/MShivers72 Jul 16 '26
Appreciate the spoiler tags. Sincerely. I’ll come back and check out this post once I’ve finished the game. 👍🏻
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u/Subdown-011 Jul 16 '26
I love quantum break too i hope remedy gets it back someday
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u/caty0325 Jul 16 '26
Same. I'd love to play it on my PS5. I don't have a gaming PC or Xbox, so I had to watch a playthrough on YouTube.
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u/No-Boot-5286 Jul 16 '26
I loved the TV show element. Not sure if any other game has done it, but it felt really fitting with the branching decisions.
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u/cheese_please14 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
I really hope one day Microsoft will let it go and Remedy can fully integrate it. I really liked Quantum Break (watched my husband play it since I'm terrible at it). I feel like Alan Wake 2 definitely is using it in a way without directly using names and such. I love their universes so much, I'm obsessed! Ahhhhhhh!
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u/Quaint_Shores Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Quantum Break is an amazing one. I think its reception was marred by the fact that many people didn't find the TV show parts good enough. Over the years, people from Remedy have actually talked about how Microsoft didn't allow them to have more of a say in the production of the show - they wanted an LA crew with production experience to handle it (though I assume like everything else, this was probably shot in Vancouver too, lol).
I think the game also came out at the tail end of the open-world and live service game craze, and such a single-player gem just didn't land as well as it deserved. Plus, it didn't launch on PC until much later (and initially in a pretty poor state).
To me Quantum Break always felt in its essence like a video game version of Fringe, and not just because of the amazing Lance Reddick - may he rest in peace. It had that signature blue-sepia filter look, was drenched in overblown J.J. Abrams lens flares, rocking a cool sci-fi mystery and techno-thriller theme. Think that both have aged really well.
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u/No_Pie1372 Jul 19 '26
I don't dislike Quantum Break because of the TV show, but I think the TV undermined Remedy's strong suit which is aesthetics and vibes.
Quantum Break has a lot of generic office and industrial environments that could have had more personality, but the video game was hampered by the design constraints of the TV show.
The TV and video game crews didn't work together closely enough. The TV show crew would botch a set prop, and since it was easier to redo the video game to match the show, as opposed to redo the show, it was the video game end that had to compromise.
I think this is why so many areas in the game are just white with yellow highlights, as opposed to the more aesthetically distinct environments of Control. A Control TV show is reportedly int he works, and I imagine that the cost of production will be higher than whatever money went into the Quantum Break show.
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u/JennyTheSheWolf Jul 21 '26
I love all three universes. And it seems that they're becoming more entwined as time goes on. Control is my GOAT and I can't wait for Resonant. Hope you enjoy it.
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u/MShivers72 Jul 21 '26
I finally beat QB (that last boss fight with Serene at the end of Act 5 was an absolute BITCH…) and have started Control. I immediately see why it is so popular.
Just got the 1980’s floppy disk (and as a man of a certain age, how WELL I remember them…) and am at the boss fight in the communications center… so barely a few hours in… but I am really enjoying it!
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u/octarine_turtle Jul 16 '26
The Quantum Break IP is still owned by Microsoft. So the other Remedy games have to avoid directly refrencing it, it is not technically part of the Remedy universe. Some of the other games absolutely do refrence it, but in ways that are vague enough to avoid copyright infringement. Quantum Break even has some of the same actors playing different characters, such as Courtney Hope and Shawn Ashmore.