I’m not the biggest fan of modern horror cinema. Sure, every so often, I watch one and I do enjoy it, like Tucker And Dale VS Evil and, surprisingly, Halloween Ends. But, most, if not all, of modern horror cinema I tend to avoid as I’m just not the biggest fan of how many horror films are going for the over the top gore and cheap, telegraphed jumpscares. In fact, I tend to gravitate towards classic horror and the more comedic ones, like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. Same goes with horror games as I usually tend to gravitate towards games like the Resident Evil series or the 2017 version of Prey, a game which I will always defend and I feel is better then the 2006 original. Anyway, this is where the 2018 movie A Quiet Place comes into the picture. Now, I have never seen any of the films yet, but I do know of them and have seen various clips of them, so I do have a bit of knowledge of them. Yet, it was also one franchise I never thought a game adaptation could work and yet? Here we are with A Quiet Place: Road Ahead, a game that is quite surprisingly one of the better horror games I played in a while.
In the effort to avoid spoilers, this review will only focus on the gameplay itself. The most I will say about the plot is that you play as Alex Taylor, who must survive against the aliens called Death Angels while dealing with her asthma condition, which is where I think this game succeeds over something like Alien: Isolation. In this game: Sound is the biggest enemy. As the Death Angels are blind, they rely on their hearing to track their prey and, as such, you need to make as little sound as possible in order to avoid becoming their next meal. Sometimes it’s as simple as walking on softer ground like sand or gently pushing the controller stick forward in and creeping along while avoiding bumping into objects. This goes double for opening doors and grates, the later I learned the hard way when I accidentally let the grate hit the wall. Actually gave me a nice jumpscare, too! If you do make enough noise, it’ll trigger a Death Angel to come look for you, leading to some tense moments as you try to hide and avoid making any more noise until it’s gone. This was something I wish was in Alien: Isolation and I’m glad it’s in this game as I always felt it was way too easy to die in Isolation, leading to a bit of an unfair game for me, personally, and this game fixes that issue ten-fold. In order to gauge how much sound you’re making, you have something called a Phonometer; a device developed by Alex which gauges how much sound she is making compared to the environment around her. If it’s in the red? Well, you might as well lay down on the floor, place some candles around you, lather yourself with gravy, and kiss your life goodbye because you’re the Death Angel’s dinner.
What helps this game greatly are the sound design and visuals. While, visually, nothing groundbreaking or on par with most games on the market, A Quiet Place still is a good looking game and I enjoy how interactable the environment is; buckets can be bumped, glass can make shattering sounds when stepped on, even the simple the act of gently bumping into a door, an act that normally wouldn’t illicit much of any reaction in most games, can have dire consequences for your character. The character models are nicely designed as well, with the Death Angels having a creepy and unsettling design. They almost have this Zdzisław Beksiński-style look to them (if you never heard of this guy, his artwork was one of the inspirations for the under-rated game SCORN), with their head reminding me of a flower, oddly, when it opens up. This praise goes equal with the sound, something that can make or break a game based on this IP and, thankfully, it succeeds here. I actually found myself holding my breath whenever I accidentally bumped into an object or walked haphazardly onto the floor, which never happens in any game, let alone horror games, so I have to praise the game for actually getting me to dread making any sort of sound. No joke, I actually audibly gasped at one point when I accidentally bumped into a bucket and how many games can you say a bucket scared you?
Speaking of holding my breath, this is where Alex’s asthma comes into play along with one other gimmick I’ll get to in a bit. See, the more physical exertion you do in the game, like climbing, or the more you see Death Angels, the more stress this is going to put on Alex, shown by a lung icon at the top of the screen, which will lead to an asthma attack. In order to combat this, you’ll need to either use an inhaler, take a pill which helps a bit, or perform a small yet very simple mini-game where if you’re successful, you’ll avoid the attack. This is actually a pretty cool gameplay mechanic and really helps elevate this game above it’s contemporaries. Normally, in horror games, you just have minor things to do to avoid enemies, but here? Having to deal with Alex’s asthma adds a layer to this game that I kind of wish more horror games would do. In fact, the whole time playing, I actually felt on edge, fearing that every step in the game would be my last and I’d have to restart. I normally hate these types of games but, shockingly, I was really getting into it here. I also like how the game actually breaks the fourth wall with its noise avoidance but I need to give a disclaimer here. See, if you have a microphone hooked up to your controller, the game will sense any noise made in real life and use that in the game, which in turn could result in your death, meaning, yes, one misjudged fart and you're dead. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, I was not able to test this feature as my mic is currently missing but, from what I saw from various streamers, this function does work as intended and I would love to check it out once I find my mic.
The game isn’t perfect and I do have some minor issues with the game. I say my biggest issue would be the controls. They work, mind you, and aren’t broken in any way, I’m just not a fan of slightly pushing the stick to do various in-game things, like slightly opening a door or slowly lowering a grate. The latter is especially a bit nerve-wracking as I feel it’s a bit too easy to make unwarranted noise with it when you’re trying to open it, even if you just tap the stick down. I did get used to it after a few grates, but it was still something I’m just not a huge fan of and I wish there was a way it could’ve been, maybe, a button prompt; like holding the triggers slightly. Another thing I had issues with was the story and, again, not going to spoil anything, but I didn’t feel as engaged with it as I did with the gameplay. It felt bland to say the least and there was one character that, when they died, I was kinda rolling my eyes as I knew it was going to happen as it did fall into the typical horror tropes. Otherwise, I don’t really have much to complain about as, again, most of the issues were minor.
I didn’t expect to enjoy this game as much as I did, let alone a horror game based on a movie series I’ve yet to see, but A Quiet Place: Road Ahead really surprised me. I walked into this game not expecting much and came out pleasantly surprised and I do recommend you guys check it out, especially as a great Halloween game.
