A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt, I must say that the upcoming title “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead” has certainly piqued my interest. The core gameplay loop of survival and environmental puzzle-solving is right up my alley, but it’s the sound design that truly sets this game apart.


A good horror game is always hard to say no to, and based on what we’ve seen of A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead so far, that’s certainly what it’s looking like it’s going to deliver. Based on the Quiet Place movies, developer Stormind Games and publisher Saber Interactive’s upcoming first person horror title has made quite a compelling case for itself with each of its showings, and has actually managed to generate a fair bit of buzz in the lead-up to its release. As such, as we count the days down to its launch on October 17, here, we’re going to go over a few key tidbits that you should know before you dive into A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead.

STORY

In our previous discussion, we mentioned “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead” takes place within the universe of “A Quiet Place”, which is a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by extraterrestrial predators that are blind but possess extraordinary hearing to track and kill. Despite sharing the same continuity, this game offers an independent narrative. You assume the role of Alex Taylor (voiced by Anairis Quiñones), a former student, who along with her boyfriend Martin, must navigate through a perilous world and find means to survive. Interestingly, Alex is asthmatic, adding another layer of challenge to her survival in this dangerous new reality.

STEALTH

In the vein of the fundamental concept underlying the universe of “A Quiet Place”, “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead” promises a predominantly stealth-based journey, implying minimal to no direct confrontations. Your principal strategy for encountering the dreadful aliens will revolve around evading their detection and slipping past them unnoticed. Essential stealth techniques will encompass hiding behind obstacles or concealing yourself within cardboard boxes. However, since your primary objective is maintaining silence, the emphasis of stealth will be on sound management rather than visual aspects.

FLASHLIGHT

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

A Quiet Place: The Journey Forward

PHONOMETER

In this game, a useful gadget players will frequently employ is the Phonometer, which essentially gauges sound levels. The Phonometer alerts you not only about the volume of sounds you produce with your footsteps or actions, but also about the background noise in your environment. Monitoring both is crucial; for example, if you find yourself in a spot where equipment malfunctions or water puddles are causing a lot of ambient noise, it will function as a disguise, allowing you to make noises at least as loud as the surrounding sounds without being detected. Therefore, when you need to enter a room and the only way is breaking a window with a brick, it would be wise to check your Phonometer first and ensure there’s enough ambient noise present before you proceed.

ENVIRONMENTAL STEALTH

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

In “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead”, you’ll have the opportunity to employ various strategies for your covert activities. You can take advantage of your surroundings and items within them to meet your objectives. For example, the fundamental method involves hurling glass bottles to divert or attract the attention of adversaries. However, there are more imaginative approaches as well. Suppose you come across scattered sandbags. By spreading sand ahead of you while walking on it and only stepping on the sand, you can reduce the noise of your footsteps, making it safer to move even when an alien creature is nearby. In certain circumstances, you’ll also be able to generate loud enough environmental sounds that can momentarily stun enemies.

PUZZLES

Besides stealth being a significant focus (forming the main essence of the gameplay), The Road Ahead will also heavily incorporate puzzle elements. While Stormind Games and Saber Interactive haven’t shared much about the specifics of the game’s puzzle mechanics, navigating through environments using clues left by other survivors or solving environmental puzzles will play a crucial role in the core gameplay loop.

SOUND DESIGN

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

Sound design is always a crucial part of any horror game, but that’s clearly going to be doubly true in A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead, with sound being such a vital part of the gameplay experience itself. Stormind Games is, sure enough, promising a great level of fidelity on that front, with different kinds of surfaces producing different types of noises, and also producing different levels of loudness. That means players will always have to pay close attention to what would otherwise be even the most mundane details and actions- like what sort of surface you’re walking on.

MORE SOUND DESIGN DETAILS

Let’s explore the varying effects of different surfaces on footstep noise. Walking on sand may muffle your steps, but how about other terrains? On compacted dirt, your footsteps will be noticeably louder. If you happen to tread on rusty metal, that surface poses a significant risk and demands utmost focus and caution. Additionally, other elements such as leaves, broken glass, water, and more contribute unique challenges, each causing distinct sounds.

SOUND DETECTION SYSTEM

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

The core element of “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead” will be its sophisticated sound detection system. According to Stormind Games, this game will continuously monitor the volume and length of every action you take, as well as each sound you make. Moreover, it will set a certain limit for these factors, and if that limit is exceeded, the fearsome creatures stalking you will be alerted to your whereabouts, even if they’re not close by – which is certainly less than desirable, to put it mildly.

DIFFICULTY OPTIONS

As a fervent enthusiast, I’m eagerly anticipating “A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead” and its promise of adjustable difficulty settings. While specifics are yet to be revealed, Stormind Games hinted that varying environments could influence the game’s sound detection system severity. This means that depending on your preference for intensity, you’ll have the freedom to shape your gaming experience – whether you opt for a more relaxed or heart-pounding adventure!

PC REQUIREMENTS

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead – Everything You Need to Know

It’s no shock that the system requirements for ‘A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead’ on PC aren’t particularly high. To run the game at its lowest settings, you’ll need a Ryzen 3 1200 or an i5-4690, accompanied by either a GeForce GTX 1660 or a Radeon RX Vega 64 graphics card, and 8 GB of RAM. For better performance on recommended settings, you’ll need a Ryzen 5 1500X or an i5-6600, along with a GeForce RTX 3070 or a Radeon RX 6700 XT graphics card and 16 GB of RAM. The game will also require approximately 50 GB of available storage space.

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2024-10-07 16:11