Quantum Replica

Review

It’s finally happened! In 2084, larger corporations have gathered together to create a major force in this world. They call themselves “The Syndicate!” They are ruthless and have an army of mercenaries who going around and terrifying citizens. A small group of individuals, better known as “The Resistance” have stood up against this massive oppressor for quite some time and today they are going to end this war, in Quantum Replica!

Quantum Replica is an isometric cyberpunk action / stealth game where you take control of a character named Alpha who has no recollection of who he is or for whom is he working.

At the start of the game, you’ll be enticed with an intriguing introduction. Your character, named Alpha, has amnesia and can’t recall who he is at all. One thing is clear, that he managed to escape from somewhere, or from someone. From here, he will be contacted by the head of the resistance, a certain Althus, who seems to know him extremely well and will guide him towards his challenging journey. 

Alpha will have to reach specific goals in order to move on to his next point. He is equipped with a few weapons, such as lethal or no lethal projectiles.  The no lethal projectile will put enemies to sleep, and the lethal one will kill an enemy (although it might take several shots), but will likely trigger a general alarm which will bring all the enemies out from their surroundings towards him, and probably kill him. To be honest, Alpha’s forte is based more on stealth, and can either put enemies to sleep, or eliminate them by slowly moving behind them without being seen by the enemy troopers or drones. There are a few types of troopers; the conventional troopers will be armed with a machine gun and will carry a flashlight, while the second type of troopers will be equipped with a flashlight and a device that can scan through walls, which will make it tricky when the time comes to face them. Remember, if Alpha is exposed and enters a gun fight he will probably lose that fight, therefore it is imperative that you find a way to distract your opponents so that you can eliminate them without being seen. There are a couple of ways to this. The first way is to shoot the enemy with a no lethal projectile, which will put them into a deep sleep (they can, however, be woken by one of their colleagues if they are nearby). The second way is to throw a bottle close to a guard, but in a direction which attracts a specific soldier away from the others so that Alpha can kill  him without being noticed. Another point you must be aware of is that all the items that Alpha has at his disposal are limited, and he can find additional ammunition for each of them by searching illuminated cars, bins, ATMs and containers. There are blue and red spheres within each of the levels and by reaching them, Alpha will randomly be given a few items (medic packs, energy juice, bottles, no lethal weapons, lethal weapons) when he hovers over these spheres.

Hacking is one of Alpha’s big abilities; he can hack camera and alarm systems. In some instances it will take him up to three attemps to hack a terminal. The hack system is pretty easy to do in my opinion; you have to match the first, second or third symbols to successfully break the code. The other abilities Alpha has under his belt are the Dashing Move and Shadow Time. Shadow Time is a combination of being invisible and slowing down time so that Alpha can move safely through rooms protected by laser beams and reach alarms or drone terminals. What you need to be careful of here is that each time you use this ability, your stamina will decrease rapidly. The dash ability will give Alpha the opportunity to move faster from one point to another, but you need to be careful not to overdo it all in one go as the system will overheat and can be lead to Alpha’s death.

I really like the stealth gameplay in Quantum Replica as it has a good variation between missions. You’ll also face bosses who are not easy to kill at all, and this can occasionally create some frustration.

I really like the graphics in this game. The soundtrack and voice over are pretty good, too, in my opinion. In regards to the controls, they are ok - either you use the gamepad, or the mouse and keyboard.  The reason I mention this is because regardless of which one you use, you might find it a bit difficult to line up a target.  I did encounter a few issues with my save games, which is something that got up my nose a little bit.