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You’ve heard of slow burn horror movies, but have you heard of slow burn horror games? Because it’s…slooooooow…slooooooow…molasses slow burn horror game. That’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that. This isn’t a quick game, but the story only takes a few hours to complete. You won’t feel rushed while playing, as the added tension of getting ripped apart with one wrong move is always present.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead was developed by Stormind Games and published by Saber Interactive. Saber Interactive were the developers of Evil Dead: The Game, the first game I reviewed in 2022. It was a great live service game until they stopped working on it. But we’re not here to talk about the past. Time moves forward and times change as death approaches all of us. If you don’t know, A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is adapted from the A Quiet Place film series and offers its own original story in the universe. Voracious alien creatures rained down from the sky and wiped out most life on Earth in a matter of months. The creatures have no eyes, but they hear extremely well. The film series is known for showing the emotional bonds between the surviving characters as they struggle to become even more persistent in this new teary existence. I’m Levi from Hardwired and today we’re going to discuss how this game fits into the movie series.

First, let’s talk about the sound design of the game. It was nothing but intensity. Every time you made a sound that was too loud for the surroundings to bear, the pain of the music would give me goosebumps. The slight squeak heard when trying to open a door, a drawer or a cabinet would cause me to freeze in place in anger and listen to my surroundings. Creatures make little clicking noises when nearby, if stress ever had a sound this is it. When you warned any of the monsters, this intense music would come into play, letting you know that you were about to die. There is also a feature in the game where you can keep your microphone on. Basically any sound you make on your microphone can alert the critters. My house is noisy so I tried this feature and died immediately. I’m sure if you live alone and play in a quiet room, this feature will be a lot of fun.

Monsters are recreated authentically from the movies. This gives you the chance to examine the full anatomy of the creatures, as they almost always move very quickly in the movies. The art style of the game is great. Environments are impeccably detailed. The dense vegetation created a claustrophobic atmosphere that gave the impression of being ready for predatory attacks. With many of the most tense scenes taking place in oppressively dark areas, lighting adds to the game’s story, making your flashlight a literal life-saving tool. Unfortunately, the alien monsters aren’t the only things that get greedy, as you have to re-charge your flashlight batteries over and over again as the game progresses. Like most survival horror games, this resource management thriller gets a little boring.

As I said, the world of the game is magnificent to see. I have just one problem with the design of the world. From where? Why are there so many empty boxes everywhere? Who walks around putting out cans of Chef Boyardee, then immediately turns around, grabs a can of Wolf Brand Chili, gulps it down, and then leaves the cans in the middle of the woods? I have to assume we invented silencers for can openers because there’s no way someone could quietly open a can of dumplings in the woods. Also, have you ever heard of someone eating something straight from the can? We have two scenarios here. Either someone slurps the food out of the can, or they use some sort of tool and scrape the inside of the can, creating a literal dinner bell for the monsters in this scenario. In fact, there are so many cans in this game that I assume no one shut down the production lines at the cannery and they overflow and roll into the forest. I can definitely say that this is not an environmentalist message; but through the volume of tin cans in the world, they have unwittingly painted a vivid depiction of the monsters that man has visited on this planet. The monsters may be literal monsters, but it’s clear that humanity is creating its own destruction.

The character designs were pretty good. Their facial expressions reflected the emotions they felt. The hero’s hands, seen extensively throughout the game, are extremely detailed. It’s a great looking game, considering it was developed by a game studio I’ve never heard of before. Especially the voice performances of the woman who plays the main character of the game, Alex Taylor, are quite good. The overall story is neatly written, but some of the pacing of the story seems rushed or convenient, which diminishes the emotional tone.

Alex dies of lung cancer throughout the game (he doesn’t actually, he just has asthma but oh my goodness his asthma plays such a role in the overall game). But just like the movies, they gave us a character you wouldn’t believe is one of the last humans standing in a world overrun by super-hearing creatures. It would be like finding out that the person leading the revolt against the robot uprising is allergic to peanuts. Every move you make in the game reduces your lung health. When your lung meter turns red, it can trigger an asthma attack, causing you to cough and then get mauled by a creature. To keep your lung health in check, you must take a variety of medications scattered around the world. There are also several disposable inhalers that can completely refill your lung meter and give you temporary immunity against meter failure. All of this adds extra flavor to the stealth mechanics.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead is a solid first game from Stormind Games. While I’m still not sure who watched A Quiet Place and thought “this would be a fun game”, the developers really executed on this premise in the best way possible. It’s a slow play, but it’s also a masterclass in anxiety. It’s worth checking out. I give A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead seven out of ten empty boxes. I was Levi Barner in Hardwired. If you want to see more content like this, be sure to like this video and subscribe to Hardwired for more gaming news, reviews and more. Now make sure you stock up on batteries and inhalers, and don’t forget the wontons and cans of chili.

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