‘A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead’ review: not much fun at the end of the world

Silence is golden, especially when it comes to horror. It doesn’t matter if you’re being pursued by a knife-wielding maniac or a demonic beastie straight from hell, the trick to staying alive is avoiding creaky floorboards, trying not to sneeze while hiding under the bed and never running towards the scary noises.

• READ MORE:  ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ review: back-to-basics prequel feels smaller but still scream-worthy

A Quiet Place (2018) went even further with hushed survival. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where bulletproof aliens have butchered most of civilisation after crash-landing on Earth, the film follows The Abbott Family as they try and keep the volume down. See, the invading Death Angels don’t actually have a motive – just a knee-jerk desire to viciously destroy any living thing that makes a sound. The Quiet Place universe has expanded in both directions with a 2020 sequel and 2024’s Day One prequel but the threat has always remained the same.

And now the Death Angels are expanding their killing spree to include video games, with Stormind Games’ survival thriller A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead. Clinging tightly to the rules established by the films, it’s a frustratingly faithful addition to one of modern horror’s most exciting new franchises.

After a brief, pre-disaster introduction to our hero Alex and her goofy boyfriend Martin, we flash forward 44 days to find the pair nervously searching an abandoned building, desperate for food and supplies. This gentle introduction to the dangerous world of The Road Ahead soon takes a heartbreaking turn and, one more time jump later, the game’s main narrative kicks off 119 days after an Angel skewered its first human.

Alone, pregnant and fleeing the controlling leadership of the hospital that had been her sanctuary, it’s up to you to guide Alex to safety. Cue a lot of slow walking through environments littered with broken glass, noisy twigs and rubble. Patience is very much the name of the game here, as you control the urgency of Alex’s footsteps by the amount of pressure you put on the controller. There’s no way to hurt the Death Angels so one wrong move and it’s game over. The constant mortal danger makes for a nervy, intense experience that even the charitable auto-save mechanic can’t ruin.

To break up all of that creeping around, some letters, muddy photos and adorable crayon drawings of the Death Angles are scattered throughout the abandoned wasteland, which helps create a better idea of the tragic stories that have come before you. Add in Alex’s own emotional journey, shared via diary entries, and it’s hard not to get sucked into The Road Ahead’s quiet drama.

Feel free to take the immersion to another level by using the game’s sound detection system. With the press of a button, any noises made in the real world (by you) can be heard in-game by any passing Death Angels. This double jeopardy is great for players who want an authentic experience but not so good if you’ve got the sniffles.

The Road Ahead is a deliberately claustrophobic game. You’re meant to feel trapped and a bit helpless, but sometimes those restrictions feel oppressive. Despite the reactive environments, the story keeps you glued to the right path and you can never leave it to explore. At the same time, a convoluted asthma mechanic means you must keep searching out pills and inhalers to stop Alex loudly collapsing if she experiences too much physical or emotional stress. Turns out there’s plenty of that post-apocalypse.

What there isn’t much of is level variety. Puzzle-solving doesn’t go beyond unscrewing vents or following a basic series of button pushes. One arcade-style level sees you in the back of a van on the day of the invasion, blasting aliens with a shotgun and there’s a brief section where you can actually outrun your imminent demise. Neither provide the release you crave in a game like this though. For the most part, every objective in The Road Ahead is a version of getting from point a to point b via the squeakiest doors imaginable while avoiding an ever-growing number of Death Angels.

And you do see a lot of the monsters in The Road Ahead, which takes away some of their menace. The toothy beasts are genuinely terrifying when they suddenly come crashing through a wall and the POV cutscenes that play out after you’ve accidentally kicked a paint can are disgustingly brutal – but watching a herd of the spindly bastards patrol a dam makes them seem like bumbling henchmen from a Bond film. Apart from a mid-game upgrade that boosts their ability to sense you, they never evolve either.

After a few hours of slowly strolling through grimey environments, the initial hit of intensity wears off and you’re left with an uneasy, monotonous feeling. The emotionally-charged narrative also loses steam towards the end as The Road Ahead breaks horror’s golden rule – putting realism ahead of entertainment. This is one chapter of A Quiet Place’s story that doesn’t give you much to shout about.

‘A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead’ is out now for PlayStation, Xbox and PC

The post ‘A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead’ review: not much fun at the end of the world appeared first on NME.