Tension Filled Quietness.
I’m a big fan of The Quiet Place movies, but when I found out that a game was in the works I had massive apprehension. I thought, “Does this franchise have the ability to translate across from screen to controller?”. The answer to that question is a resounding yes! Stormind Games and Saber Interactive have delivered one of my favorite licensed games in a long time with A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, even with some bumps along the road.
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a first-person survival-horror title but not in the same style as Resident Evil or others of its ilk. This is much more like Alien: Isolation with the main focus of gameplay being on stealth. That stealth focus helps to create a more unique experience than the majority of other survival-horror games.
In the world of the Quiet Place, earth has been invaded by aliens who while blind, have excellent hearing. This is what makes the title’s gameplay the most interesting. As you move around the world you’ll have to watch where you walk and how fast you move. Step in a puddle or kick an empty paint can for example, and you will be found. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead can also be very punishing as once found it is basically instant death for you. Thankfully, there is a generous auto-saving system which means you’ll never lose that much progress upon death.
This need to be quiet means that you will spend the majority of the game moving very slowly, and while that will put some players off, I personally found it very authentic to the universe. Of course, things do get a bit complicated here as your character Alex has asthma so any physical over-exertion or mental stress can lead to asthma attacks. Alex’s asthma condition is shown in-game through a pair of lungs in the top left which go from white (low stress), yellow (medium stress) to red (high stress that likely will cause an asthma attack). The game does give you several ways to avoid this condition, for example, when an attack starts a mini-game pops up requiring you to time a button press to avoid the asthma attack. Failing this mini-game will almost always mean that you are found and killed by your alien foes. However, things don’t have to get to that point. While exploring you will find pills that can be instantly used to slightly improve Alex’s asthma condition. You will also find inhalers that are single-use but can be stored away for when they are most needed. Inhalers will reset Alex’s condition to very low even when having an asthma attack. I would suggest always having one stored as it can be lifesaving.
A little bit into the game, Alex creates the phonometer which allows you to measure the sound you’re making compared to the ambient sound in the environment. It comes in very handy, but it can only be held in your left hand which is the same hand Alex uses to hold a torch. Obviously, this is a problem, meaning at times you have to choose between monitoring your noise level and seeing where you are walking. Your torch can also run out of batteries quicker than a dualsense controller so make sure you pick those up as you explore.
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead has three difficulty settings; easy, normal, and hard. I played on normal which can be a challenge at times but never felt too punishing. On hard, aliens will hear you more easily and resources will be more limited. If you want an extra challenge you could also turn on mic detection, that way any noise you make while playing will be like Alex made the noise in game. Sure we have seen this in games like Alien: Isolation before, but it is not commonly used given how much it can add to horror experiences like this.
I have yet to speak about the story but that is because in truth it is the weakest part of the game. It starts strong with the reveal that Alex is pregnant and tensions following a loss in the community of survivors but after this, it doesn’t really go much further with the focus being on survival. Just like in the movies, there is not really any combat in A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead outside of the odd flashback, you never hold a weapon unless you count a glass bottle or brick as a weapon. Even then, bricks and bottles can only be thrown to distract the aliens and not to harm them.
Speaking of the movies, one area where A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead really shines is in its authenticity to the IP. From the collectibles you find being items from the movies, to the environmental storytelling through notes and graffiti or to cutscenes that communicate lots of emotion with little to no speaking. Everything felt exactly as I would expect from a Quiet Place game and it had that same constant unnerving tension throughout the experience.
In terms of presentation, the environments looks fantastic, especially on a high-end PC such as mine via the game’s highest available graphics settings. Unfortunately, while character models look ok, they did stand out as significantly lesser quality compared to the rest of the game. Audio on the other hand, is phenomenal across the board, and with it being so crucial to the gameplay experience I would expect no less. From the quietly tense background music, to the crunch on leaves under your feet, or the rattle of a kicked paint can, everything just sounds right. The aliens also sound just as terrifying as they do in the movies with their clicks and screeches.
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead might not be an action game and definitely doesn’t have the best story, but it is authentic, and as a lover of the movie universe that certainly made this a special experience. If you haven’t watched the movies then the closest game comparison is Alien: Isolation, if you enjoyed that you would likely enjoy A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. This game left me with a tension-filled quietness even when not playing it and that’s all you can really ask for from a good horror game. As a fan of the movie series, I certainly recommend this as a must play.
Developer - Stormind Games.
Publisher - Saber Interactive. Released - October 17th, 2024. Available On - PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC. Rated - (M) - Blood, Strong Language, Violence. Platform Reviewed - PC. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
I’m Jordan I have a background in game design and am deeply passionate about accessibility in gaming. My favourite games/franchises include Shenmue, Red Dead Redemption 2, Plague Tale: Requiem, Metal Gear Solid 3, Yakuza, Splinter Cell, and Assassin’s Creed.