The Quiet Man Reviews
The Quiet Man should have stayed that way.
It's not without its issues, but these are the kinds of experiences that really stick in the mind, and I'd rather that that yet another stock-standard action game that neatly fits within structures that we've already seen dozens of times before.
The Quiet Man near-instantly derails a compelling concept with its most horrid execution and thigh-slapping self-seriousness, and is sure to go down as one of the worst games of 2018.
The Quiet Man is an absolute disaster of ideas that don't work, bad design decisions, boring combat, ugly graphics, and attempting to use a real disability as a gimmick in a way that feels borderline insulting.
A unique experience, something we don't usually expect from risk averse major publishers, but its strangeness is let down by poor execution and repetition.
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Overall, this is a weird game that shouldn't have been released. Even at around 15 dollars I feel ripped off. The plot is an incoherent mess and the combat is buggy and broken and worst of all, it's just not fun.
Since its reveal, The Quiet Man relied on its enigmatic nature to generate enthusiasm. However, the final game is a messy combination of lengthy cutscenes, an obscure story, and dull combat. The Quiet Man fails to deliver anything worth experiencing and by the end, you'll be left wondering what exactly happened.
Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Quiet Man is that it presents a world I want to know more about. I like the idea of a deaf vigilante-esque antihero doing his best to find the good in a world of darkness and violence, even if it means having to become a force of darkness and violence himself. However, in the case of The Quiet Man, that strong premise is squandered by lazy development decisions and incredibly odd artistic choices.
"Roughly one week after launch" The Quiet Man is getting an update that will add audio into the mix, and thus, context. Maybe it'll be the most subversive, Molyneux-esque patch in the history of gaming. For now, Square Enix is charging $14.99 for a ticket to ride and I can safely say that you can miss this train.
There's nothing else quite like The Quiet Man, and there's a reason for that. The blend of FMV and interactive combat sequences fails on every level with an unfathomable plot that raises far more questions than it answers, and encounters that fail to explain themselves and do little to engage. The Quiet Man is the most baffling release of 2018, to the point where a post-mortem investigation into its sheer existence sounds so much more exciting than this bizarre and convoluted comedy sketch.
While it misses the mark in general and douses the hopes I had when I first saw the E3 2018 trailer, The Quiet Man does have some value. It’s reasonably priced despite its issues and brevity, and if you’re looking for something a little different, it’s worth a look, just keep your expectations considerably tempered.