A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead [PlayStation 5] | REVIEW

I’m a big fan of the A Quiet Place movie series, but after being stung by countless video game adaptations over the years, I was wary going into A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. Thankfully, my worries were quashed almost immediately, with this not only a wonderful interactive take on the world of A Quiet Place, but also a bloody good horror video game in its own right.

Check out some screenshots down below:

If you’re unfamiliar with the movie series, A Quiet Place sees alien creature invading Earth and hunting down humanity, though they’re only able to find them through the noise they make. If you’re quiet? Great, you’ll be fine… probably. But if you’re noisy? It won’t end well.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead puts players in the role of Alex, a young woman who has been trying to survive alongside a group of others. However, this becomes more difficult after discovering that she is pregnant, meaning there are higher stakes and greater threats to deal with. Babies aren’t quiet, after all, and whilst that doesn’t really play into the gameplay, it does mean that Alex needs to prioritising finding somewhere safe and secret to keep both herself and her unborn child safe.

The best thing to compare A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead to is Alien: Isolation, and not just because it’s based upon a movie with a vicious alien stalking you, but rather because it’s all about being careful and quiet with your actions in-game whilst evading a persistent threat. This isn’t an action-heavy experience, but rather one where you have to take your time when exploring and interacting with the world to avoid making noise. Because if you do, the alien creatures will be quick to pounce, with insta-death occurring on a regular basis if you’re not too careful.

The main way you’ll keep quiet is by simple avoiding objects in your surroundings, so you’ve always got to be careful when getting from point A to B. It’s surprising just how noisy everyday tasks can be, but when you have to carefully tiptoe around just to keep quiet, you begin to notice each and every sound you make. It’s incredibly intense, especially when you have to explore your surroundings carefully to gather items, whilst the game never fails to put ridiculous obstacles and objects in the most inappropriate of places to keep you on your toes. It might sound like a bit of a pain, but it all adds to the excitement of the experience and will leave players on edge with every step they take… I loved it.

“A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is an intense and exciting horror experience that captures the unsettling vibe of the movie series perfectly.”

Luckily, you can track the sounds you make in-game to get an idea of how aware the alien creatures will be of your presence, whilst you can also throw objects around as a means to distract them to keep them off your back. The game introduces plenty of different ideas as you progress to spice up the sneaking experience too, and whilst there are some later areas where repetition can creep in, it never feels dull.

There are other factors to consider when playing too, such as the fact that most environments are covered in darkness. Luckily, you have a torch, but guess what? It requires batteries, meaning you have to ration out its use carefully to ensure it’s available in some unfamiliar locales where you can see nothing ahead of you. It might sound frustrating, but it’s incredibly immersive and makes for some of the game’s most dramatic moments. There’s nothing more unnerving than finding your torch’s batteries run dry in the middle of a particularly intense sequence of sneaking, but it all adds to the tension of the experience.

What’s especially dramatic is Alex’s asthma, which can result in her having an attack if she strains herself too much or puts herself under stress when sneaking by one of the alien creatures. There’s a handy lung icon in place on the UI that changes colour based around her likelihood of an asthma attack so players can keep track of their actions, whilst there are also recovery items which can ease it. It’s all about finding the right balance in your actions, with players having to carefully navigate locales at an easy pace and also take care when an alien creature is on their tail.

It means that A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead can be really slowed paced at times, which might not be for everyone. Personally, I was a big fan, but there were plenty of moments where I’d have to walk really slow or take a break for Alex to recover when playing that would see my progress come to a halt. It’s perfectly befitting of the source material, but as a gameplay experience, it can be a lot slower paced than similar horror titles.

Check out some screenshots down below:

I really enjoyed my time playing A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, with the roughly six-hour campaign bringing with it a constantly unsettling sense of tension that kept me fully engrossed in the experience. The variety of locations to explore keeps things interesting, whilst each encounter with the alien creatures kept me unnerved knowing that one wrong move would see me die. And the coolest thing of all? There’s an optional feature to have your mic on when playing, meaning any real-life sound will draw the attention of the alien creatures. It technically makes life more difficult when playing, but it’s also incredibly immersive and befitting of the theme of the movie.

And that’s what the game does best – it makes you feel like you really are in the world of A Quiet Place. It captures the sense of danger and urgency of the movies perfectly, and as a fan of both those and horror games, it made the whole experience all the more tantalising for me.

Developer: Stormind Games
Publisher: Saber Interactive
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC
Website: https://aquietplace.game/