Quantum Error

Though heavy on style and creepy vibes, the scariest things going on in Quantum Error are its tepid story and characters, numerous bugs, oppressive checkpoints, and a roster of truly dumb enemies.

Quantum Error feels like a game the team had passion about. There are good ideas here wrapped in a package that is executed poorly on all fronts. It doesn’t help that the developers decided to enrage fanboy wars on Twitter leading up to the release of the game. It put it in a spotlight the game wasn’t built to take. The price tag also hurts as this is a full-priced game in a budget game build. I could be a lot more forgiving if the sticker price was around $30, but at $60 I cannot recommend anyone lay down the funds for this one. It is disappointing in almost every aspect.

This was a tough game to review as I always like to highlight a game's pros and cons, but I really struggled to find anything enjoyable here. TeamKill Media poured their heart into Quantum Error, but the game should not have been released in the state it's currently in.

Terrible visual effects, ugly animation and constant objects pop-up clearly shows how the game is simply way too good for PlayStation 5 to handle.

Quantum Error is very far from modern game standards and fails to deliver the experience promised during the promotional campaign.

Quantum Error is a flawed, frustrating and unfun slog that collapses under the weight of its lofty ambitions to blend multiple genres and mechanics on a limited budget and developing skillset.

I don’t like the idea of criticising a game so heavily, but Quantum Error is boring to play and has a lot of technical issues that need fixing. It’s clear that the small development team put a lot of heart into the game (and there are moments where it can shine), but a blend of over-ambition, poor design choices, and a lack of polish severely hold it back. There are some interesting ideas on show (especially with the firefighting) and the experience will be a lot more tolerable if the technical issues are fixed, but Quantum Error just isn’t a good game. Hopefully, TeamKill Media can take some lessons from it, rein in the ambition, and lean on the game’s strengths for future entries in this planned trilogy. But as it stands? It’s a tough title to recommend.

One of the most glaring issues with Quantum Error is that it really has no idea what kind of game it really wants to be. In some places, it tries to be a straight-up FPS that feels like a relic of a few generations ago. In other places, it tries some unique things with the firefighting elements that could have been cool if they did not feel so clunky along with the horribly designed stealth sections that would make anyone cry due to how poorly they are executed. Taking all of that and mixing in the countless bugs and glitches found in the game, Quantum Error becomes one of the worst games of not only this year but the generation thus far that you will want to avoid.

Quantum Error is too ambitious to the detriment of basic features. It wants to be a survival horror game, a first-person shooter, and a sci-fi thriller film but doesn't pull off any of these particularly well. Its most interesting aspect is its firefighting, but this is also what it spends the least of its playtime focused on. It is incredibly impressive that it was built by such a small team, but that doesn't make it any more enjoyable to play.

Quantum Error desperately wants to just be a dystopian sci-fi CGI film, without any pesky gameplay to kill its momentum. Alas, there is a clunky, antiquated, and unrefined shooter wedged between the game’s Unreal Engine 5 cinematics. Love and attention was poured into the cutscenes, but the shooter is malnourished and not very much fun. Next time, just make a movie.