It’s fun to be pleasantly surprised. I’m not sure why I previously thought that “The Road Ahead,” set in the “A Quiet Place” universe, would be bad, but it seemed terribly wrong to overlook it before, and yes, it was not exactly something that screams. Attention. But maybe I should have. After sneaking through all sorts of environments on this adventure, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. It’s not great by any means and there’s a lot here that still gives me pause, but overall it’s a reasonably entertaining game.
If you know the premise of A Quiet Place, it’s about blind aliens (the so-called Angels of Death) who come to Earth and massacre most of the population. Our protagonist Alex soon finds herself on a journey that takes her to different places and tests her survival skills. Survival becomes a big problem in many ways, because in addition to being the constant victim of these monsters that react to every sound, it is also important to keep the protagonist’s asthma at bay. This point is the biggest problem, along with keeping the noise as low as possible, otherwise Alex will suffer an asthma attack. Luckily, there are pills and inhalers everywhere in the game, and the pills are always used up quickly, while you can keep a few inhalers with you to use when needed.
In addition to getting worse over time, Alex’s asthma is also affected by Alex carrying heavy things or the stress of being around a monster. Most of the time these creatures are not visible, but you are definitely not safe even if they are not in your line of sight. As for the gameplay, it is divided into two types of presence: one where the monster lurks in the periphery but is not visible on the screen, and another where it roams around and must be avoided if you encounter one smaller area reached. It’s about staying still, very still. To help you, you have a small measuring device that shows how loud the noise from the surroundings and the noise you cause yourself are. If the latter’s meter exceeds the ambient noise for too long or you make too loud a noise like you’re bumping into something, you’re usually screwed. There is no way to defend yourself. There are no guns or escape routes. If the monster hears you, you die. For those who want to add a little gamification to the game, it is actually also possible to run the game with a microphone that picks up your own sound. I’ve been trying it out for a while, and while it’s a totally fun and unique idea, I don’t want to wear it all the time.
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The constant sneaking makes it clear that this game requires a lot of patience. It would probably be possible to beat the game in about an hour, but since you have to sneak around pretty much the whole time, progress is very slow. Personally, I think the parts where the monster is visible work better than if the game just hints that it’s there through sound, especially because the game’s death animations seem very disjointed when you’re otherwise killed.
The game’s horror effect works well overall. Tonally it’s a bit inconsistent as I died a few times without really understanding why. The metering system is unreliable and there were some frustrating moments of trial and error that didn’t quite work, but fortunately they didn’t happen very often. Additionally, the game’s survival limits are a bit too strict, as not only do you have to control your breathing, but you also have to deal with the world’s worst batteries, which drain too quickly in your flashlight. But there’s a bigger problem: you have to switch between the flashlight and the meter that displays the sound. This means you have to keep an eye on the sound level or occasionally see where you need to go.
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I really appreciate games that keep the interface clean, preferably completely blank. But in this case, the problem could have been solved by having the meter appear on a wristband or just neatly and elegantly at the bottom of the screen. Switching between these two elements is done at the touch of a button, so it’s not a cumbersome process, but when you have to rely on them so much it’s still frustrating.
The soundscape of the game is, in my opinion, one of its strongest elements. We are certainly not offered any immediately memorable music, but the reduced soundscape suits it well. It’s the sound effects and small stressful noises that create an effective atmosphere and frame everything very well. As for the visual effects, I think the game looks good outdoors and a lot of the details are impressive too. However, there is too much traveling through typically boring, factory-like facilities, which brings me to what I think is A Road Ahead’s biggest stumble in terms of the game as a whole.
Despite the title, I think that feeling of a journey disappears too quickly. The reason is simply that the game takes place in too small a space, where you’re constantly traveling from room to room, hallway to hallway, and climbing through countless vents. If the game occasionally features a street lined with vehicles, a park overlooking the water, or a forest where the path seems a little more open, it’s more fun. The game’s chapters essentially consist of small paths that lead me to the next building, which takes up most of the game, and while in terms of development it’s obviously easier to avoid a monster in a warehouse than in a larger area , you still use the concept that monsters aren’t normally visible, so it would have worked anyway. I just wish this journey took place more on the road and had houses and other buildings popping up along the way rather than being the bulk of the game. The natural environments are very well realized and although the visual effects seem a bit dated, many scenes, especially outdoors, are very beautiful. In short: there are more roads to drive and fewer spaces to cross.
That being said, there is one big thing that marred the experience. I don’t know how many times I pressed X in this game. Jumping over something, stepping onto something, stepping off something… We really had to rethink it, make it flow better and make the movement more fluid. Of course, having to press X to open a door or pick up an object is perfectly fine. But when you have to interact with the environment so much to progress, that button press followed by a short animation becomes incredibly tiring if it happens so constantly.
Although I found the journey a bit too strenuous towards the end and the game doesn’t really offer any new gameplay elements and fairly simple game mechanics, I have to conclude by saying that I had a lot of fun throughout the entire journey. It would have needed a lot of polish to make it a masterpiece, but I still have to say that despite the modest score, it’s a bit of a surprise of the year for me. Sure, in hindsight it’s one of those gaming experiences that I’ll barely remember, but I still had a surprisingly good time during this trip.
