Remedy Entertainment has had one hell of a decade. 2019’s Control was popular enough to spawn an expanded universe. The 2023 action-horror game Alan Wake 2 picked up eight Game of the Year nominations, including one for the top prize. But the studio’s most innovative game of the past ten years was an underappreciated gem from the Obama years: Quantum Break.
Quantum Break, released ten years ago this month for Windows PC and Xbox One, was a boundary-breaking (heh) experiment in multimedia gaming. Part video game, part TV show, it mixed third-person shooting with an episodic narrative about time travel and evil corporations. The gimmick was, after every act break in the game, you’d briefly assume control of the game’s villain, and make a critical choice about the story. Your decision would then play out in the subsequent live-action episode.
It was a gambit, especially for the era; visual fidelity was sharp in 2016 but not exactly photorealistic, leading to some jarring transitions between gameplay and live-action. But the gimmick largely worked thanks to Quantum Break’s stacked cast. Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, The Rookie) portrayed protagonist Jack Joyce, estranged from his brother Will Joyce, played by Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings). Aiden Gillen (at the height of his Game of Thrones fame) played Jack’s friend Paul Serene, who established Monarch Solutions, which, yes, is one of those evil corporations. The late Lance Reddick (The Wire, John Wick) turns in a masterfully cunning performance as Martin Hatch, Monarch’s CEO.
In one early choice, following a disaster at Monarch, Paul has to choose whether to use force or manipulation to cover it up. If you choose force, Monarch protesters are killed. But if you choose a manipulative approach, the protestors are let free — under legal condition that they can’t speak about events they witnessed. Later in the game, Paul has to choose to side with or against Martin; the consequences of that choice ultimately determine whether or not Paul ends up murdering another key Monarch employee in cold blood. Every choice features stakes this high, leading to a web of potential TV episodes so byzantine it makes one’s head spin. (For those curious: the Quantum Break wiki has an exhaustive rundown of every possible outcome.)
