Quantum Error Review – Complete Burnout

You know the “This is fine” meme about a dog in a hat sitting in a room on fire? When playing Quantum Error, you feel like the hero of this meme – everything around is burning and collapsing, and you convince yourself that everything is fine and it’s worth continuing to play. We’ll talk about what’s wrong with this game in our review.

• Developer: TeamKill Media
• Publisher: TeamKill Media
• Platforms: PlayStation 5
• Release date: October 31, 2023

Let’s start with the good stuff. Quantum Error was released as an exclusive for PlayStation 5 , and actively uses the console’s functions. The game loads quickly – the developers even noted that they would not release the title on the Xbox Series due to the slower drive than the PS5.

The project is most focused on implementing the features of the DualSense gamepad . This involves tactile feedback, adaptive triggers that resist when you press the trigger or break into a locked door, and a speaker from which the interlocutor’s phrases can be heard during conversations on the walkie-talkie, and even a controller microphone, into which you will have to blow to pass a strange mini -a game to resuscitate the victim.

It’s just a pity that this is where the game’s advantages end. The shooter looks and feels like an indie hack somewhere below the bar of “mixed” reviews on Steam. This is understandable given that it was developed by a small team, but it’s still disappointing to see a promising project sink under the weight of its ambitions.

The plot in Quantum Error doesn’t work. History constantly jumps forward and back – months and years. The cut scenes may boast good direction, but the plastic character models and unnatural animations create an “uncanny valley” effect. The script seems interesting at first, but the drawn-out cutscenes and filler episodes begin to cause boredom, and the further you go, the more often you want to skip them.

The idea of ​​a firefighter being involved in dangerous events is fresh, referencing classics like Half-Life with a scientist in the lead role and Dead Space with an engineer protagonist. TeamKill Media even tried to add a full-fledged firefighter simulator to the game, offering to put out fires, carry people out of smoky rooms and open locked doors using a crowbar.

Meanwhile, there is no ingenuity in the gameplay implementation of this component. Special tools, such as a hydraulic claw, which allows you to open gates and shut off gas pipes, are used in strictly designated places, so there is no feeling that you are figuring out how to solve the puzzle yourself – the developers will do everything for the player.

In addition, the interface for selecting and using these tools turned out to be terribly inconvenient. You can switch between them by calling up the radial wheel and selecting the desired item. And since the game requires you to change instruments quite often, you will have to do this constantly. Moreover, the project does not allow, for example, to interact with a quest NPC while the hero is holding a saw or crowbar in his hands – you will have to put the device into your inventory, and only then will you be allowed to talk with the character. On the other hand, when approaching a door that needs to be sawed, as indicated by the icon on it, the player will not be able to do this immediately – he needs to go into his inventory, take out a saw and get to work.

This may sound like trying to get to the bottom of things, but it’s the little things that make for comfortable, smooth gameplay. In the case of Quantum Error, you are forced to spend a lot of time on trivial things, like the situations described above, or, for example, collecting ammunition, breaking into locked boxes (for which you need to take a crowbar out of your inventory each time) and other actions.

Shootouts don’t work in Quantum Error either. The enemies are absolutely uninitiative; they prefer to stand still and shoot at the main character. If you want to run around the corner in order to wait for the enemy and defeat him using simple tactics, you risk growing old in an impromptu ambush, because the opponent will remain where he stood and continue to shoot into space. The sounds of shots from various weapons are not at all impressive, and the guns feel lightweight and uninteresting.

With stealth, things are no better: firstly, it is difficult to adequately determine the enemy’s field of vision, because he can smell the protagonist even with his back, and secondly, squatting here is even more boring than shooting, so you want to jump to your feet and pick up an ax and rush at your opponents, cutting off their heads and limbs. And the latter is not always recommended, because the checkpoints in the game are placed haphazardly, and if you die from an enemy who notices you, you risk going through a huge chunk of the level all over again.

By the way, about the locations and their appearance: they are monotonous, colorless and confusing. I don’t want to explore the world, the environment is poor in detail, and it’s very difficult to find the right path in this gray-brown mess. You often find yourself wandering around hoping to find a door or passage that will lead to a story marker. At the same time, you will stumble upon invisible walls, “enjoy” ugly fire effects and ugly smoke.

The reasons for the poor quality of Quantum Error are, in general, clear: this is only the second work of the TeamKill Media studio, and the inflated ambitions of the game developers clearly did not correspond to their capabilities. It’s likely that the team’s future projects will turn out to be polished, exciting, and close to ideal, but for now we recommend saving your nerves and money.