When A Quiet Place first hit theaters in the spring of 2018, it was an immediate success. A film directed by and featuring John Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt was sure to draw numbers, but people worldwide were pleasantly surprised with how great the film was. The concept of a post-apocalyptic horror in which aliens have completely decimated most of the world, and can target and kill you with any kind of sound is brilliant.
It left theatergoers quiet and on the edge of their seats with anticipation as the Abbot family battled survival situations while having to stay silent. The film didn’t shy away from being a shocker at any point. The first scene with their young son getting killed over a toy spaceship was enough to rattle the entire audience. It told us that no one was safe.
This movie became a blossoming franchise with A Quiet Place: Part 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One. These movies have always left us with questions. What would happen if we had to survive in a world like this? How horrifying would it really be? Now with A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, we may finally have an answer.
Developed by Stormind Games and published by Saber Interactive, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a first-person survival horror game with an original story within the world of the films. You play as Alex Taylor, a college student who has found herself living through the unimaginable. Alex and her boyfriend Martin are trying to survive the hardships of this alien-controlled world. After searching for materials, Alex finds a pregnancy test and ends up telling Martin that she is pregnant. Martin is surprisingly elated given the circumstances and it offers the couple their first glimpse of hope in a long time.
Aside from the impending hardships, Alex also suffers from asthma, a recipe for the worst imaginable situation if she has an attack. This means almost certain death due to sound. After spending the night at an abandoned building, Alex gets her arm snagged while crossing a fallen tree. In a panic, she goes to grab her inhaler and drops it, causing the creature nearby to be alert. Martin decides to distract the creature from Alex and he is sadly killed. The game is now about Alex and her journey navigating being pregnant, asthmatic, and extremely afraid.
The gameplay is fairly similar to most survival-horror games. At times it feels very reminiscent of Resident Evil or the Amnesia series. There are quite a few unique things to this game too because it mostly relies on stealth. It preys on the fear of silence and the anticipation of anything happening. You must control your movements and even walking faster will make sounds. You will always have to stay aware of your levels.
Your surroundings are very important. There are pieces of glass, mud, and even cans on the ground that could give your location away. Searching for supplies will test your stealth skills, including opening doors and cabinets. When you open any door or drawer, the game will allow you to determine how fast you open it. So slow and steady always wins the race. I will say, this is not the game for the impatient player.
Alex is equipped with a couple of things that will help her survive. Flashlights are helpful, but you must always scavenge enough for batteries. You never know when you’ll be somewhere pitch black. Like I said, your surroundings matter. There were times when my flashlight died and I was mostly screwed. This element brings more fear into the game and makes you reserve your resources.
Alex has other items in her inventory such as a photometer, a device you’d probably see on a ghost-hunting show. Alex uses the device to show the noise she’s making compared to the world around her. Environmental sounds play a big role as well. For example, if it’s raining or Alex is near a waterfall, she can make more sound. The photometer will help you gauge your levels better, but you can’t get too carried away in this game.
Alex’s asthma plays a big role in this game along with her stress. If situations arise where she is in an anxious state, her heartbeat will get louder and so will her breathing. The creature can sense this, of course, so don’t think just because it’s blind you can stand right next to it. They will hear your heart and kill you. Alex takes pills to lower her stress along with her inhaler in dire situations. It is best to try and keep her levels low by finding pills and inhalers.
Once consumed, the inhaler removes Alex’s stress and gives her temporary immunity. You can see Alex’s stress levels when a symbol of lungs appears on the screen. White is low but building, yellow is getting bad, and red is immediate danger. When it goes red and her stress levels are too high, she will have an asthma attack. Press RB or R1 to try and avoid an attack. You will either see a green, yellow, or red circle. Green means reduced, yellow means you’ll avoid an attack, and red means Alex will have an asthma attack, and the creature will be alerted.
The game calls for you to be aware, not just of the creatures but everything in the environment that may help or hurt you. When face-to-face with the creature, objects can be thrown. Sometimes you may have to play a game of cat and mouse and stealthy creep around it.
The game builds anxiety and Alex’s heartbeat doesn’t help either. There are times when you’ll need to unscrew vents, which opens a mini-game of spinning the joy stick quietly. There are also many collectibles, things to read, and diary entries which give this game a lot of heart and dimension.
When the game was first announced, many people online expressed the dire need for a noise detection option. The developers listened and implemented the mic detection option perfectly. There is a growing community of noise-detection horror games gaining popularity on streaming platforms. Many fans can watch a streamer play and even add sounds to their stream so the creature can find them. It’s fun to watch, and it shows how deep the immersion of this game could be. Games like Alien: Isolation walked so that this game could run.
I have to say that I was very skeptical upon hearing about this game at first. Sometimes when they make games based on great source material things can awry. I was pleasantly surprised by the graphics and although the game is short, it’s a fairly rich story full of heart and fear at its core. The developers knew the source material and you can tell. The game makes you feel like the creature is anywhere and that the immersion is the closest you’ll ever get to living in that world. I hope they continue to grow with this series. There is a demand and I think with high-quality experiences like this the series can only continue to grow its fandom. A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is available now on Xbox X/S, PS5, and PC.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead for the PlayStation 5 provided by Stormind Games and Saber Interactive.
