A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead Review

Whisper or Die.

Watch the review or…

Read it here!

Title: A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead

Release: October 17, 2024

Platform: PS5 PC Xbox X|S

Developer: Stormind Games

Publisher: Saber Interactive

Genre: First Person Survival Horror

ESRB: M

Reviewed on: PC

Time Played: 9 Hours

Intro:

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a horror game based on the terrifying film with the same name. Following different characters during the same invasion of vicious monsters lacking sight, but having superb hearing they use to hunt and destroy. Forcing you to make your way through the game being as quiet as you possibly can, lest you be torn apart. I’ve finished the game and would love to share with you what you can expect before my final thoughts and ratings at the end.

Where it starts

One hundred days after the incident, Alex is trying to survive the frightening new world, along with a few family members and friends. But supplies are short, and tensions are high, forcing her to venture out in search of a more secure location and help. Alex must make her way through forests, cities, and other different locations, all while trying to keep her noise and asthma under control so as not to attract some unwanted attention.

Can the kids watch

While the game does have a mature rating, the only major things to watch out for was some strong language throughout the game. The monsters were very scary, especially when they attacked, but there wasn’t blood or body parts flying everywhere, graphically the game wasn’t extreme. There was an option to have your mic activity effect your game, in those cases you probably don’t want a noisy audience right next to you.

Moving Quietly

When you’re in control of Alex, there were some options on how to move. Walked slow, or a little faster, or crouching with the same options. Early on you obtained a device you can hold to track the surround sound level to compare to your own, if you didn’t make more noise you were safe. However, it wasn’t as simple as just moving forward, you would need to examine everywhere you put your feet, looking out for empty cans, broken glass, or puddles of water, all of which would cause too much excess noise.

Noisy Environments

While exploring you would find doors blocking your path or drawers hiding treasures. In those cases, you would need to delicately move your controller to slowly open them. Every moving barrier in the world is extremely squeaky, if you move to fast it would make a lot of noise, ending in your death. There were even some cases where you would need to open or close a valve, in order to be quiet while doing that, you would need to move your controller at the perfect speed within a small window, with the area changing on different valves.

Microphone Mechanics

There was an option to connect your mic to the game, taking any noise you make in the real world and bringing it into your game. If you made a loud noise or spoke too loud, the monsters would immediately track you down, making for an exciting new way to play, especially if you choose to stream the game for an audience.

Avoiding Monsters

The monsters had amazing hearing skills due to their lack of eyeballs. In most cases it wasn’t a major issue moving quietly, but the monsters would sometimes send out a radar of sorts that would detect even the slightest noise, forcing you to hold still in those situations. You would eventually get the option to throw something if the monster got too close, distracting them for you to get away. I would like to recommend paying close attention to the aiming line when throwing something, it shows you where an item could land, but not if the brick you’re throwing is going to hit the ceiling bringing a monster right on top of you.

Scattered Notes

As you explore the game you would find a lot of notes left behind by fellow survivors, most notes would help to understand some of the issues people suffered during the event, while others would give you clues on what you would need to do to move forward. Naturally the game is quiet, with a few cut scenes of talking, it would have been quite lonely without the option to read letters left behind.

Collectibles

If you found yourself exploring off the beaten path, you may find yourself a neat little rocket toy, very familiar to those who have seen the movie. If you manage to collect a rocket ship you were rewarded with some CR, credits used to purchase artwork of the game from the main menu screen. There were character designs and concept art. Once purchased you could get a closer look at the characters, spinning them around.

Outro:

Have you played the game or seen the movie? Or perhaps this is your first time seeing anything about A Quiet Place, either way I would love to hear any thoughts or questions you may have in the comments below, while you do that let’s move forward with my final thoughts before rating this game.

A Quiet Place did an excellent job placing you in a terrifying world full of sightless monsters hunting down anything that made noise. I started the game fully prepared to be scared and unable to move, however, shortly in it mostly became a stressful game trying to avoid monsters so I could move forward, rather than being afraid of them getting me. The biggest issue I had with the monsters was their constant movement near me, almost like the enemy always knew where I was, not allowing me to move anywhere, constantly stressing Alex out until her asthmatic lungs started to act up. That was a big problem at the start, I eventually got the ability to throw things to distract the monsters from my location, making progression a lot nicer. And there were some instances where I had to move fast because the monsters path was set, always moving forward into me. If I didn’t realize it was one of those situations I wouldn’t act fast enough and get got. The design may have been one to add a fear fueled timed event, but I found it more annoying when I couldn’t figure out a different path.

I loved the option to attach my mic to the game, adding a new layer of complication while I played. I don’t imagine it would be much fun if I was playing by myself, but while streaming I was forced to whisper to my community if I wanted to talk to them. More than once, I spoke a little too loud and brought the monsters right on top of me.

I feel like the game, although entertaining, wasn’t as full as it could have been, between annoying enemy AI and lackluster collectibles, it was a quick stressful game to get through. I was able to finish around nine hours on standard difficulty, I imagine if I tried a higher difficulty it would create a more infuriating experience, not a more rewarding challenge.

And now for the final ratings.

The visuals weren’t out of this world, nor were they absolutely terrible, very middle of the road, I’ll give it a 3

The story fit well within the game, Alex had real world problems that created relatable experience through a terrifying world, it’s a 3

The gameplay wasn’t great, the staying quiet mechanics were excellent, easy to understand and fun to play, however, the enemy AI could use some work while stalking, I’m giving it a 2

Not a lot of replayability for the game, unless you want to challenge yourself and try harder difficulties, I don’t feel it’s rewarding enough for a follow up playthrough, that’s a 1

I enjoyed moving quietly and whispering to my audience while playing. And a lot of the time it was ok while being stalked, overall I’m feeling a 3

Earning a 2.4 out of 5 for A Quiet Place: The road ahead. Placing it on the MidShelf. I couldn’t fully immerse myself into the game when the monsters started to become more annoying than scary, but if you can avoid that, this is an excellent game to try out for a frightful night or two. It’s worth the asking price, so you definitely couldn’t go wrong if you wanted to wait for a sale.