Reviews
‘Quantum Error’ Video Game Review – A Frustrating Experience on Almost Every Level
Quantum Error is one of the most baffling games I’ve played this year. On one hand it’s very impressive that a dev team of only four people managed to deliver a game of this scale, on the other it has so many design flaws and technical issues that I found myself wondering if this game was even QA tested. Seriously, Quantum Error is such a frustrating experience from top to bottom that I’m having trouble putting into words how highly I cannot recommend it. Even from a curiosity point of view, Quantum Error is flawed in so many fundamental ways that it’s easily one of the worst games I’ve played this year.
So what is Quantum Error? The game tells the story of Captain Jacob Thomas, a mercenary turned firefighter in the futuristic year of 2109. Society is far more advanced and has an over reliance on the use of Artificial Intelligence for day to day functionality. Certain occupations such as fire fighting and EMT services still require the use of flesh and blood humans. When he and his crew are sent to an offshore facility for a search and rescue, things turn into a fight for their lives as strange happenings begin to unfold.
It’s admittedly a topical premise with the debate over the use of AI vs. the use of humans in various forms of work but it soon crumbles into window dressing to hit all the tropes of the survival horror genre. There was potential to explore real world fears and make a truly chilling experience but as it stands, Quantum Error fumbles this premise hard and does little to stand out from other genre counterparts. The story has weak characters and nonsensical storytelling that proves to be a hindrance to the entire experience and little motivation to see it through to the end.
Gameplay doesn’t get much better as the game’s deeper problems begin to peer out from the tutorials. From the opening mission, the shooting mechanics feels very stiff and unintuitive. At times it felt like I could aim and shoot something and my shot would miss not because of my skill but because of the physics of the game. Everything feels off and almost like the shooting mechanics could’ve spent more time in the oven. The main star of the show gameplay wise is the firefighting side of things that will see players use a variety of tools such as the jaws of life, water hoses, an ax, and various crowbars. Quantum Error is at its most interesting when it’s a firefighter simulator. It’s fascinating to me that there’s never been a game to simulate the real life work of a firefighter such as clearing out a room full of smoke before opening a door to avoid a dangerous backdraft, and carrying out a pedestrian while staying close to the floor.
Quantum Error takes these real life situations and tactics and applies them to a video game with a good degree of faithfulness but none of it is fun to play. It’s not fun to fiddle with Quantum Error’s horrendous menus to find the right tool for the job. It’s not fun to question if I have my gas mask on or am crouching due to the lack of basic UI to convey information to the player. It’s not fun to sit at a station swinging a sledgehammer repeatedly to try and hit a target at a precise angle to progress through the tutorial. None of it is fun nor makes for engaging gameplay.
Things take a turn for the worst when the game remembers that it’s a survival horror game. Over the course of the game Jacob will be put into life or death situations that require him to use stealth and combat; this is the point where Quantum Error falls apart like a tower of Jenga blocks because stealth is straight up broken to the point that every encounter turned into a mad dash to see if I could smack the enemy with a fire ax before they could see me and alert others. I expected Quantum Error to be a cosmic sci-fi horror of some sort but instead what I got was a slasher video game starring me as a crazed lunatic firefighter that would run around chopping heads off as fast as I could.
Visuals are another department where Quantum Error fumbles. The game was one of the first “Next-Generation” horror games announced before the PS5 even came out. Unfortunately the graphics are nothing to write home about and the game often looks like a late PS4 title covered in particle effects to hide all the stiff and lifeless animation and faces. Nothing about this game feels like an evolution. It’s especially funny how in the tutorial the “training” area is nothing but untextured placeholders that are disguised as environmental design. It’s absolutely baffling. While I’m on this point I need to also bring up that the game has zero subtitle options and lacks the ability to turn off a CPR mini-game where you blow into the controller’s microphone. These should be bare minimum accessibility standards and go to show that Quantum Error is lacking in vital functionality.
I do not recommend Quantum Error. It’s a lite firefighter simulator that’s disguised as a survival horror game and is a failure on nearly every level. Yeah it’s impressive that a game of this scale was made by a team of only four people but when you lack basic functionality and UI elements, decently designed encounters, a coherent story, or even some scares, something has gone horribly wrong. Save the 80+ GB hard drive space and avoid Quantum Error.
Review code provided by the publisher.
It’s a big world out there, and that alone can make it seem pretty scary for some people. The uncertainty, the unknown, the unfamiliar – while there are those among us who crave exploration, they’re seemingly outnumbered by those who prefer to close their doors, their borders, and their hearts to whomever – and whatever – sits on the other side. The temptation will be strong to label The Outer Threat as a Temu Disclosure Day, but open your heart to it (and accept its budgetary limitations), and you’ll be rewarded with an engaging, hopeful genre tale.
Daniel (Mark O’Brien) is an astrophysicist living on a remote farm with Michelle (Constance Wu) and their two children (Callista Crowe, Isaac Smelcer-Zhang). He retreats every day to an underground bunker where he monitors and searches the universe for signs of extraterrestrial life, and one morning he finds just that – clear evidence of an advanced civilization that’s successfully found a way to harvest the power of their solar system’s sun. He’s understandably ecstatic and in a hurry to tell the world, but Michelle, a retired scientist who’s nearly given up on humanity as a whole and chooses to focus solely on her family, is adamant that he keep quiet.
He goes against her wishes, obviously, and sends an email filled with data attachments to his boss at NORAD. The result is almost immediate as electrical power, internet connections, and cell service all shut off in and around their small nearby town. Soon small drones are buzzing their farm and peeping in their windows, MQ-9 Reapers are bombing their bunker, and unmarked cars are following their every move.
Writer/director William Woods makes his directorial debut with The Outer Threat, and while his ambitions dwarf his resources, the end result is a compelling family adventure that argues for opening our metaphorical doors to the unknown. A strong cast, that also includes a supporting turn from the always welcome William Fichtner, helps carry the downtime between suspense sequences and minor set pieces. It’s an undeniably small film, but its ideas and conversations are exponentially bigger.
Michelle’s beef with humankind stems from both the personal and the general state of the world at large. Her father (Oscar Hsu) is also a scientist, and like Daniel, he risked valuing his work over his family to the point that Michelle no longer speaks with him. Her bigger issue is knowing that our species is a poor steward of both this planet and each other, and when Daniel accuses her of having little faith in humanity, she replies only “not without reason.”
One of The Outer Threat’s most interesting sequences will feel like a disjointed detour to some, but it actually encapsulates one of the film’s central themes in one simple exchange. The family is on the road and heading to Michelle’s father’s place – she’s not thrilled, but his past work with the government might come in handy – when they decide to stop for food. They reach a tiny town that looks deceptively abandoned and are welcomed into a diner by the owner, Sam (Fichtner), and his young granddaughter.
He’s initially cautious and explains that soldiers had passed through, telling everyone to remain indoors, but he proceeds to feed the family in need while explaining that he’s hoping to scrounge up some fuel to reconnect with the rest of his family. Sam also shares with Michelle that he hesitated to open his door to them simply because they were different. He was fearful, and now he’s ashamed and worried that maybe he’s not the man he thought he was. “What really scares me,” he adds, “was the thought that maybe, just maybe, we’re all rotten.”
She listens. She leaves. And she never tells him about the numerous extra canisters of gas they have in the back of their pickup truck.
It’s a striking character beat as our protagonist, even halfway through the film, remains steadfast in her disconnect from others. She’s far from the only one in need of change, though, as it was Daniel’s hubris and ego that led to this situation in the first place. “Our kids should be home safe,” she tells him at one point, “but you just had to let the world know how smart you are.” Woods and his cast mine drama from this brilliant but misaligned couple, and both Wu and O’Brien are convincing in their motivations and emotions.
Somewhat less convincing are the film’s occasional swings at big visual effects. Drones and weather balloons in the sky are passable, but explosions, vast encampments, and more land with an iffy digital thud. None of them are deal breakers, though, both because they’re used sparingly and because the characters and their dilemma take center stage.
Woods, whose best and brightest accomplishment remains serving as a producer on the criminally underseen 2020 film, The Kid Detective, arguably bites off a bit more than he can chew with The Outer Threat. His big ideas on both story and humankind are inevitably under-explored in a film of this size, and you’ll be left wishing he had a bigger budget behind him. Audiences are bound to expect something more from the film’s third act, especially, so set your expectations accordingly going in that this is more a film about human connection and ideals than it is a tale of alien invasion.
There are moments here of genuine suspense and thrills, but the film’s power rests in those human beats. From Sam revealing he was concealing a gun while making them pancakes, to Michelle’s father pushing aside huge news of world-altering significance so he can instead spend time with grandchildren he’s only just met, to feuding kids combining their skills for an act of bravery, this is a movie about people who can be so much more than we believe ourselves capable of being.
“For thousands of years human beings have been the dominant species on this planet,” says a character at a certain point, “but that’s no longer the case.” The trailer teases this line, and while you can’t fault the marketing department, it might feel like a bit of a bait and switch by the time the end credits roll. You can choose to be underwhelmed, but here’s hoping you open the door to the film’s hopefulness instead.
The Outer Threat is now available on VOD and Digital.
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