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5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1020 Ratings

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  1. Oct 30, 2018
    4
    Made by the same studio as Alan Wake, Quantum Break is very much something which follows in the footsteps of that game – a game that focuses very heavily on narrative, with weak gameplay stringing the game along between sections. And much like Alan Wake – indeed, perhaps even more so than that game – it ended up falling short of its potential as a result.

    Quantum Break seems like a
    Made by the same studio as Alan Wake, Quantum Break is very much something which follows in the footsteps of that game – a game that focuses very heavily on narrative, with weak gameplay stringing the game along between sections. And much like Alan Wake – indeed, perhaps even more so than that game – it ended up falling short of its potential as a result.

    Quantum Break seems like a really cool idea for a game – you play as Jack Joyce, a man who is involved in the activation of the first time machine, alongside his friend, Paul Serene, and his brother, William Joyce. But something goes terribly wrong – time breaks, and a villainous, much older version of Paul, aged many years, appears shortly after and sics a bunch of corporate goons from his ominous Monarch Corporation on Jack and his brother. It seems the older Paul believes that things cannot be fixed – the end of time is inevitable, nothing can be changed, and he needs some things to ensure that at least some people survive when time stops forever.

    But Jack Joyce isn’t willing to accept that. He has new powers – powers that allow him to manipulate time, to slow it down, to freeze it in certain places, to even rewind it at times. Surely these powers will allow him to change things, to fix it.

    Right?

    This is a really cool premise for a game – the idea of playing a hero with time manipulation powers is inherently really cool, there’s a neat stylization to the time breaks in the game, and the idea of playing around with these powers and beating enemies in cool time-control powered gunfights seems like it would be hard to mess up.

    They messed it up.

    This game’s actual gameplay is quite poor. And it all ultimately comes down to a matter of fluidity – this is a rather clunky third-person shooter. Jack Joyce does not control very fluidly – indeed, many of his powers have a bit of wind-up time, and not only that, transitioning into their use just doesn’t feel nearly as awesome as it should. Running around the battlefield at super speed is represented by freezing time for everyone else, which works okay, but at the same time, you don’t really feel like you’re moving super fast. A flash step sort of dodge is probably the best bit of the game, but the slightly awkward movement sometimes results in you getting snagged on something. Freezing time around someone allows you to pepper them with bullets, but after the first few times, it just doesn’t feel that satisfying – doubly so as many enemies later in the game seem to be immune to the power.

    The other powers, however, are even less reasonable. You’ve got a vision power, which serves as a sort of detective vision, highlighting enemies or interesting objects in the environment, which not only feels like it has been in many games, but also feels like it is not even reflavored or retextured to make it feel more “timey”. You’ve got a shield power that just seems to deflect bullets somehow. And you’ve got a time explosion, letting you blow people up… with time?

    How did they mess up this theming?

    And the whole game sort of feels this way – the gunplay is never all that satisfying, the enemies are pretty much bullet sponges, and only a couple enemy types feel all that interesting to fight (a juggernaut foe who you have to teleport around behind to shoot their backpack out to take them out, and a foe with a version of your own flash step powers). Mostly, the fights are pretty much just swarms of foes circling around you, and while they actually act reasonably dangerous, trying to flank you, your powers make them pretty easy to defeat.

    What should rescue this game is the story, and the people who made it really thought they had that nailed. Every character in the game is based on an actor, and the game is interspersed with four live action segments, each about the length of a TV show episode, which fill in what is going on with the various other characters in the game while Jack Joyce is doing his thing. Moreover, these segments are affected by your actions – picking up certain items in the environment causes “quantum ripples” which affect these segments. But it just doesn't; they tried, but it just doesn't come together, and a lot of the live action stuff feels totally extraneous to the main plot, even if it does help fill in some details.

    In the end, Quantum Break is a disappointment. It takes what should have been a really, really cool idea, and ends up failing to deliver on it. It feels like it made the promise of being a much better game than it actually was, and broke it. It’s hard to say whether that makes it better or worse – better, because at least it has some interesting ideas, or worse, because it fails to actually deliver on most of them.
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  2. May 22, 2016
    4
    Terrable port, runs really badly on PC even with decent Specs, avoid the PC version its rubbish.

    The story is decent and the episodes are very good but this doesnt make up for that fact that is over-priced and over-hyped rubbish.

    Game play is decent but their just isnt enough of it, with the game being very short and poor value for money.
  3. Apr 13, 2016
    4
    I'll not go into technical details, i'm not an expert here. But for me graphics looked too blurry and grained. Maybe that because they wanted it to look like TV series or maybe it just not great. Anyway i found it not that great at all.
    But most thing i hate about this game is story. It's so awful. Not going into details, but i felt like i played most egocentric, stupid and self-righteous
    I'll not go into technical details, i'm not an expert here. But for me graphics looked too blurry and grained. Maybe that because they wanted it to look like TV series or maybe it just not great. Anyway i found it not that great at all.
    But most thing i hate about this game is story. It's so awful. Not going into details, but i felt like i played most egocentric, stupid and self-righteous main hero in history of computer games. While main "villain" was more like normal hero - trying to save humanity while making some sacrifices. WTF Remedy?! I thought Max Payne 2 had an awful story but this... this is much worse. After scene with Liam in Monarch Tower i just like "f*ck, i'm done. I can't play any more like this peace of **** And all this **** just to find that Jack had absolutely no plan at all from the very beginning. If you don't count "i'll go back in time and ask my brother what to do" as a solid plan to save the world.
    Plus all this pseudo science sh*t. Just go with elves and dragons if you can't think of something even remotely coherent. So believe me, story is awful and had a lot of loose ends. Maybe they will be explained if you choose other ways on time crossroads but no sane person will do multiple walkthroughs just for that (remember there is no saves here).
    So i don't recommend this game for it story and other elements are sub par as well - as a TPS resent Rise of the Tomb Rider is a better game and this TV series wannabe elements just meh.
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  4. Apr 12, 2016
    4
    Unbelievable. First of all, I played this game on the Xbox One and loved it. But on the Xbox One you can actually forget the game is running on a piece of hardware and just enjoy the experience. Perhaps this is Microsoft way of pushing PC gamers to consoles. I don't know. The one thing I know is that there is simply no way this game could have passed quality control on PC. I've played betaUnbelievable. First of all, I played this game on the Xbox One and loved it. But on the Xbox One you can actually forget the game is running on a piece of hardware and just enjoy the experience. Perhaps this is Microsoft way of pushing PC gamers to consoles. I don't know. The one thing I know is that there is simply no way this game could have passed quality control on PC. I've played beta tests that are more "stable" than this. Anyway. I give a 4 for one reason. The game from the perspective of someone that enjoys games with cinematic storytelling is good. Not the best but a decent 8. But as AAA games require computers and consoles to run, we can't simply review how "good" the story is. No matter how groundbreaking a game may be, if it simply doesn't run well, it.....SUCKS. So there you have it. Thankfully I got the game for free with console version (somehow I felt Microsoft was going to use my PC for beta testing UWP). Had I payed $60 for THIS, I think I would be so upset that the score of this review would probably be a "1". Only one other game in recently memory managed to mess things up as bad as this. AC Unity. And back then I pre-ordered the freaking Collectors edition. I have to thank Ubi for making me consider my buying options carefully. If it wasn't for them, I would probably had bought Quantum Break on PC thinking it would just "run fine". Thinking. No way Microsoft is going to screw up the release of their exclusive in their Windows 10 platform. uff. Expand
  5. Dec 1, 2016
    4
    There's just too many scars on the face of what should be a beautiful game.

    Visually it's great, even if it is optimized awfully and the graphics can suffer from this even on a good machine. But even on lowered settings the game looks pretty cool. The storyline is also interesting. Granted time travel is a plot device that is intrinsically interesting, all you have to do is not be
    There's just too many scars on the face of what should be a beautiful game.

    Visually it's great, even if it is optimized awfully and the graphics can suffer from this even on a good machine. But even on lowered settings the game looks pretty cool.

    The storyline is also interesting. Granted time travel is a plot device that is intrinsically interesting, all you have to do is not be awful from that point. The branching storyline and your actions effecting is a cool concept, but ultimately feels forced and inconsequential. By the end of the first act I was already done hunting for extras.

    Exploring and finding the little tidbits wouldn't be so bad if the movement and parkour weren't god awful. Seriously, in a game with awesomely cool time physics and stuff exploding and moving around...why do people move so awfully? I wish they spent a fraction of the time on player movement that they did on the environment, the juxtaposition is annoying.

    The shooting is pretty standard, not a lot of gun choices and your powers are pretty standard.

    The motion capture is good at faces, I started the game going "Hey that's Iceman!" "Hey that's Littlefinger!" "Hey that's the junkie guitar player from LOST!"
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  6. Nov 27, 2022
    4
    The story is nice, but missing the "special something". I can't say anything on the often criticized bad performance of the game since I ran it on an i9-10900k and a GTX 1080TI so more than enough power to run even a badly optimized game.
  7. Apr 13, 2016
    4
    Stay away from the PC version its garbage. You've been warned! ;o When a company asks for everyone to pre-order so they can get special crap for the game or along with the game you know that it will have a bad apple somewhere. Now that being said the Console versions are ok but I'd recommend to just rent it do not buy this game heavily not worth the purchase. I'd put up this port right upStay away from the PC version its garbage. You've been warned! ;o When a company asks for everyone to pre-order so they can get special crap for the game or along with the game you know that it will have a bad apple somewhere. Now that being said the Console versions are ok but I'd recommend to just rent it do not buy this game heavily not worth the purchase. I'd put up this port right up there with that **** Batman game least WB were willing to give everyone there money back for them **** up. Where is our refunds..... Expand
  8. Apr 10, 2020
    4
    Terrible, terrible gameplay...This had so much potential but just got utterly butchered.
  9. Feb 17, 2019
    4
    This game could have been a masterpiece but the optimization is not only terrible: it's gamebreaking! The games runs inconsistently and is terrible for tinkering with the game options.
    It's also too expensive for what it delivers (not even taking the account the gigantic amount of time you'll have to waste fixing this game's problem and bad performance). - It doesn't matter if you're
    This game could have been a masterpiece but the optimization is not only terrible: it's gamebreaking! The games runs inconsistently and is terrible for tinkering with the game options.
    It's also too expensive for what it delivers (not even taking the account the gigantic amount of time you'll have to waste fixing this game's problem and bad performance). - It doesn't matter if you're using 980, 1080ti or 2080 rtx, this game will play badly on your PC (unless you're reading this in the waaayy future and they have fixes those terrible problems).
    Not recommended
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  10. Apr 9, 2016
    4
    The game is far from optimised, I run a OC i7 4770K with 16GB RAM and a 6GB VRAM Titan Black and the game is installed on an SSD, this rig should be more than enough to run this game at 1080p/ultra at 60fps. I'm reaching 45fps tops with stutters. And yes the dynamic resolution upscaled from 720, just like the potatobox one is here along with the motionblur and no option to turn it off.
    In
    The game is far from optimised, I run a OC i7 4770K with 16GB RAM and a 6GB VRAM Titan Black and the game is installed on an SSD, this rig should be more than enough to run this game at 1080p/ultra at 60fps. I'm reaching 45fps tops with stutters. And yes the dynamic resolution upscaled from 720, just like the potatobox one is here along with the motionblur and no option to turn it off.
    In fact a whole lot of standard pc options are gone and the whole UWP system prevents the community or yourself to remedy (no pun intended) alot of it's faults.
    If Microsoft is serious about getting back into pc gaming, they need to get their act together. This is an unacceptable pc port.
    As for the game itself it is mediocre at best. You spend about a third of the time doing the standard console actiongame slow walk looking at things and talking, a third watching live action cutscenes and a third using some powers and shooting the same 5 or so different enemies the entire game. The Powers you have are cool but are pretty similar to eachother and the action turns bland pretty fast. You do have some choices to make but none of them matter in the end. Add to that the bland and boring gameplay, a replay is out of the question.
    If you really want to see the cutscenes from the other choice you are better off watching it on youtube than playing through this game again.
    The story is not bad but it's pretty "meh".
    As for any good words about this game all I can say is the game does have some nice lighting and it looks pretty good despite an upscaled 720p (although not as good as it could), also the acting is top notch.
    It's definately not a buy imo at full price.
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  11. May 14, 2016
    4
    Ужасно! Очень низкое разрешение в Xbox One версии на уровне 2005 года. Неоправданно высокие системные требование для ПК. Куча ошибок в Windows Store. Слишком коридорною игру создали Ремеди. Никакого разнообразия. Единственно, порадовало ролики, очень качественно снятые. И да, MIcrosoft слишком переборщили с рекламой собственной продукции в этих роликах.

    Итог: игра на уровне паст-гена,
    Ужасно! Очень низкое разрешение в Xbox One версии на уровне 2005 года. Неоправданно высокие системные требование для ПК. Куча ошибок в Windows Store. Слишком коридорною игру создали Ремеди. Никакого разнообразия. Единственно, порадовало ролики, очень качественно снятые. И да, MIcrosoft слишком переборщили с рекламой собственной продукции в этих роликах.

    Итог: игра на уровне паст-гена, что по геймплею, что и по общей концепции игры.
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  12. Oct 20, 2016
    4
    It does not look amazing. It does not feel amazing. Combat is medicore. I like consoles and own, but their influence on PC gaming is not OK. Many games today are dumbed down in gameplay and in graphics. I do not want that.
  13. Jan 29, 2020
    4
    The only good thing about this game is the actors, but not the graphics, not the music, etc. Did not like
  14. Oct 16, 2022
    4
    Great checkpoints system. Yeah i want to watch this video again before you let me skip it. Great job.
    Great gunplay. Playing against blind mobs so interesting.
    Millions of collectables. Yeah collecting **** - this is why i playing games. Woody cheap syfy series script. It's same as the Lost series situation. First episode is nice but after it's turns into miserable experience. I
    Great checkpoints system. Yeah i want to watch this video again before you let me skip it. Great job.
    Great gunplay. Playing against blind mobs so interesting.
    Millions of collectables. Yeah collecting **** - this is why i playing games.
    Woody cheap syfy series script. It's same as the Lost series situation. First episode is nice but after it's turns into miserable experience.

    I can't even finish the game. It's crashed three times during finale battle. So what ever.
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  15. Apr 5, 2022
    4
    Поиграл 2 часа. Геймплей не является уникальным, тупо шутер от третьего лица. Управление ужасное, персонаж неповоротливый. Видно, что игра была расчитана именно для консолей и пк порт был сделан для галочки, чтобы тупо срезать бабла. Наблюдаются просадки кадров на мощной машине, хоть и в редких случаях. Также бывают подсказки в управлении с кнопками геймпада, хоть я играю на клавиатуре иПоиграл 2 часа. Геймплей не является уникальным, тупо шутер от третьего лица. Управление ужасное, персонаж неповоротливый. Видно, что игра была расчитана именно для консолей и пк порт был сделан для галочки, чтобы тупо срезать бабла. Наблюдаются просадки кадров на мощной машине, хоть и в редких случаях. Также бывают подсказки в управлении с кнопками геймпада, хоть я играю на клавиатуре и мышке. В самом начале написано "когда появляется значок сохранения, не выключайте КОНСОЛЬ". Так трудно было 1 слово поменять? Также графон очень мыльный, будто наложили какой-то специальный эффект. Сглаживания будто вообще нет. Видно, что специально для пк они не стали сильно улучшать графон. Expand
  16. Nov 6, 2016
    3
    Unplayable, lag and stuttering everywhere, and sometimes the frame rate drops to a single digit number. And even if i tried to like the gameplay i can't really stand the hour long live action cutscene.
  17. dnm
    Aug 31, 2016
    3
    This game is unplayable for me. The only way it is even remotely playable is if you go down to 1080p, although still really bad performance. I have a recent i7, a Geforce 1080, 144Hz IPS 2560x1440 with G-SYNC, OS on an m.2 , game on a SATA SSD. No response from developer and no fix in sight. Just vague promises that never panned out.
  18. May 8, 2016
    3
    Do you want a game that is more broken on PC than Watch Dogs and shorter than The Order: 1886? Then, this is the game for you! A very ambitious title with interesting tech, but you play so little. Most of the time you are watching cutscenes or episodes. Even when you are playing, a lot of it is just walking and pressing X to open doors. The actual fights are interesting, but they are soDo you want a game that is more broken on PC than Watch Dogs and shorter than The Order: 1886? Then, this is the game for you! A very ambitious title with interesting tech, but you play so little. Most of the time you are watching cutscenes or episodes. Even when you are playing, a lot of it is just walking and pressing X to open doors. The actual fights are interesting, but they are so few and far apart that you never get engaged. After finishing the game, I still didn't get the plot. If you want to understand it, you better stop and read all the emails on random screens in the game (as if this game wasn't making you sit and passively look at stuff enough already). In the final boss fight, no matter how many times you lost, you had to watch the same unskippable cutscene again and again and again and again. I was about to throw the controller at the screen at that point from frustration after hearing the same unskippable dialogue for the 10th time. This game doesn't know if it wants to be a movie, an actual game or a novel (all the emails you have to read). It ends up being a short, scrambled mess that could have been much more. Also, the PC port was inexcusably poor. Unless you have a 980ti (or something like that) and an SSD, you can forget smooth fps and expect endless stuttering and even freezing. I wish they'd never released it on PC. F*** this game. Expand
  19. Jan 9, 2019
    3
    I can't believe this... but I'm giving this game a thumbs down because of bad acting/poor quality filming...You might expect the filming part to be similar with the lighting and feeling imposed by de games graphics (which I found kinda cool, although not that optimised)...but no. It's like a cheap action movie.

    And I'll stop playing even though I found it almost interesting -it made me
    I can't believe this... but I'm giving this game a thumbs down because of bad acting/poor quality filming...You might expect the filming part to be similar with the lighting and feeling imposed by de games graphics (which I found kinda cool, although not that optimised)...but no. It's like a cheap action movie.

    And I'll stop playing even though I found it almost interesting -it made me curious- until the first "movie" scene. You might say..why don't you just skip the scenes you don't like?! Well, because it's part of the story and vision. I usually play games because of their story and capability to transport me into their world; skipping over the console style of level design...I can't stand a bad movie.
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  20. Apr 6, 2016
    2
    Performance is a trainwreck. Where both trains carry nuclear warheads. Choppy and horrible on my 4790k, gtx 980. Seems like Remedy developed this on workstations with the new Tesla P100, and then just uploaded it to the Windows Store. I think they skipped a step.
  21. Apr 9, 2016
    2
    Terrible port, Totally messed up FPS model that you can't fix because it's locked into the UWL model. I think they are embarrassed that gamers can do a better job optomising this than the programmers is UWL locks you out. Horrible price for this too.
  22. Apr 7, 2016
    2
    Unplayable with 970 and i5 4690k (10-15 frame drop in 1080p and medium settings).
    Thank you microsoft, you'll never see my money.
    Don't buy this game, waste of money.
  23. Apr 5, 2016
    2
    Runs like complete dog slob on my 970 system.
    Never thought i would be this dissapointed with Remedy to be honest.

    Also, Microsoft charges more for the pc version?? Heck, they give it away for free on pc if you get the Xbox version. Jeez, they dont even try and hide it anymore.

    2 out of 10, because pretty graphics. Avoid.
  24. Nov 25, 2016
    2
    This game plays like rubbish on PC, if I had wanted a console game I would have bought one. Very little in customization... especially if your left handed, actual action gameplay is terrible, I feel like I am playing a game 10yrs old not just released. Has nothing on Remember Me or Tomb Raider... worst port to PC ever... not recommended
  25. Apr 28, 2023
    2
    controls bad. graphics bad(except that time distort shader), shoot feeling non existent. 2 points only for the game idea and the littlefinger. anyway, what is that "end of act 1" cr*p. I rage quited the game right there.
  26. Apr 5, 2016
    1
    The PC version runs incredibly slowly, the framerate is terrible. Its also twice as expensive as most games at launch, £50 from the windows store when usually games I buy at release are £25-26. This should be recalled until its fixed, what a rip off.

    Sssllllooowwwww juddery framerates are unacceptable on a high end PC.
  27. Jun 15, 2021
    1
    A decent concept hamstrung by poor game design that robs the user of control over the character and makes combat much harder than it needs to be. A situation made worse by cut scene overload and shoddy optimisation.

    The result is a irritating, frustrating experience, that feels linear in the worst way possible.
  28. Dec 16, 2017
    1
    Просто супер-ультра-говно тысячелетия. На его фоне даже No Man's Sky смотрится очень неплохой игрой.
    Я не могу найти в этом высере просто ни одного положительного момента, как бы я не старался.
    -Геймплей - унылый кал. Ты либо ходишь слушаешь персонажей и собираешь филлерные записки, либо перестреливаешься с однотипными врагами. -Перестрелки - параша, где оружие выпускает какие-то струи
    Просто супер-ультра-говно тысячелетия. На его фоне даже No Man's Sky смотрится очень неплохой игрой.
    Я не могу найти в этом высере просто ни одного положительного момента, как бы я не старался.
    -Геймплей - унылый кал. Ты либо ходишь слушаешь персонажей и собираешь филлерные записки, либо перестреливаешься с однотипными врагами.
    -Перестрелки - параша, где оружие выпускает какие-то струи мочи.
    -Сюжет - непонятное гавно про перемещения во времени, с кучей штампов и несостыковок уровня Терминатор Генезис.
    Графика - даже на максималках это блевотное мыло, вызывающее эпилептические припадки, меня реально укачивало.
    Музыка - техно-пердёж их двух нот.
    Добавим к этому всему ультра-клише-дженерик сериальчик. Настолько скучный, что я чуть челюсти от зевоты не сломал.
    На озвучку и motion-capture персонажей пригласили реальных актёров, но ни один из них не выступил хорошо. Шон Эшмор aka Икс-мен, который типо морозит,(протагонист) - просто ходит в шатанах с подворотами и как даун вечно тупит; Эйдан Гиллен, играющий антагониста, - постоянно ухмыляется, как будто задумал гениальный план, а не деле полный мудак; Доминик Монаган(брат протагониста) - это ебаный гиперактивный бурундук, жаль что он не здох; Ленс Реддик - непонятный персонаж, просто лупоглазый негр, который на всех пырит и пугает до усрачки.
    Ставлю один бал за песню Trainwreck в финальных титрах, а так это, без сомнений, полный ноль.
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  29. May 8, 2016
    1
    Terrible port. Period. This game can't be fixed i guess. I tried my best to stay positive, waited for the patch and the erros are still there. My rig is FINE and should handle this game easily. I bought it for the sake of supporting new game ideas. It failed but i'm still passionate and i hope the game industry put it's sh*t together anytime soon. This generation was a pure disaster.
  30. Apr 6, 2016
    1
    bad, bad port, to much system requirements and are the same graphics from xbox one, this game needs a patch to fix all of these problems, not recommended until remedy fix those problems.
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 14
  2. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Nov 9, 2016
    84
    Yet another well done Remedy shooter, but I rather play the game than watch looong videos, even though they are pretty well done. [Oct 2016]
  2. Oct 26, 2016
    95
    Quantum Break is a great game from start to finish, and playing it with all the benefits of being on PC just make it that much better. Given that this game is coming out at a lower price point on PC as well, there's just not excuse not to get it.
  3. Oct 26, 2016
    78
    Quantum Break arrives to PC completely unaltered, with all its lights and shadows, but offers an improved visual experience by exploiting the highest hardware configurations and an enhanced control system thanks to the inclusion of the mouse.