[h1]Introduction[/h1]
I can’t remain quiet when it comes to this thoroughly unfinished game, passing as something stable enough to enjoy & purchase. Early Access is an understatement in its case. I had my fair share of such games and EA stage Steam indie horror games, but never have I met or written about one which would bore and bother me at the same time. Lone developer Justin Back started off on the wrong foot with this underwhelming debut of his.
[h1]Story[/h1]
Oh, boy is there a story to this! You control a nameless, silent protagonist who’s part of the MTF. What’s that? Why it’s none other than the legendary Military Task Force, of course! It even says so on the supply crates scattered across the level. Who these guys really are or what are their motivations and objectives, don’t ask me. I never got an answer, no matter how much I tried looking for one. You don’t even receive a cutscene or some written text detailing a bare minimum context to any of this. You just wake up in front of Exibit A: “Creepily familiar house” and your army buddies have been killed by someone or something by the time you pick yourself off the lawn.
I’ll get back at why the house seems familiar in the Graphics section of the review but for now, I’d really like to know how a squad of well trained and equipped soldiers/mercenaries was murdered without any signs that they even fought back? Surely they didn’t die of boredom. It’s Act I (out of IV) and already the plot makes no sense since the creepy house is surrounded on all sides by an equally creepy forest and no roads are present, so the troops probably teleported there along with their vehicle-mounted machine gun.
What truly bothers me far more than a nonsensical scenario is the story structure, divided into Acts which are a work-in-progress. The aforementioned forest can’t be explored yet. Players can just enter the house in front of them and explore a few rooms via the “lovely” flashlight-with-rapid-battery drain gameplay mechanic. Even if I wanted to spoil to you any exciting details relating to the story, I'd have to find some in the first place. Haunted house trope was obviously not complete without the near obligatory key hunt. A few scripted events and that’s about it. I didn’t miss the jump scares one bit, yet Act I really is thin on content regardless of their inclusion or not.
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
Unity Engine in all its near standardized asset presence. It’s the third time I explore this damned house (pun not intended) in the last month. Across three separate games, naturally! At least House Party used the rooms and furniture to their advantage while both Obscure - Challenge Your Mind and now Be Quiet! suffer from inexplicable frame rate drops and barely modified textures & objects. The game I’m reviewing today runs almost as bad as it looks and it really wishes to complement the experience with flimsy object detection (even toggling open/close on doors and drawers, seems like a monumental task) and one of gaming's worst flashlights in terms of range, output and battery life. Looks like Universal Soldier John Doe was only equipped with a keychain flashlight for his crucial mission in the middle of nowhere.
[h1]Audio[/h1]
The sounds are few and annoying. Packing the soundtrack separately as DLC and demanding twice the asking price when compared to the base game, feels like rubbing salt in the wound. Not only is it subpar, but you will barely “caress your ears” with it, since the repetitive background crying & laughter of a ghost child will drive you insane long before you’ll convince yourself that this OST DLC is paramount to your collection.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
If only I’d have what to add up for the gameplay section. There really isn’t much you can do in Act I of Be Quiet! Bob keeps roaming around an asset flip house and incessantly searching for a key instead of you know, kicking the door in like Basic Training should have taught him? But perhaps he doesn’t wish to disturb the ghosts inside the place and politely seeks out the key before showing himself out. Exploring this residence once again, makes me almost miss Madison and her raunchy party.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
Steer clear of Be Quiet! unless you get it bundled somewhere or at least 90% off during a Sale. Even then, expect to be disappointed and I really can’t see a way in which this game might improve. It certainly won’t be helped at all by paid DLC (like an upcoming chapter or prequel, whatever) along with the promise of new Acts for free, in the unforeseeable future. No Trading Cards are present and given Valve’s new policy on the matter, unless this title sells well it won’t ever see them either. I think I have a better shot at the The Nobel Prize in Literature for this review, than for Be Quiet! to sell sufficient units.
[h1]Strong Points[/h1]
+ Steam Achievements.
+ Famous quotes in the Loading Screens.
+ So bad that it becomes funny to some players?
[h1]Weak Points[/h1]
- Highly unstable from the texture loading to object detection and even frame rate.
- The very concept of DLC for a broken/unfinished game is morally wrong.
- Simply dreary instead of scary.
- No Steam Trading Cards.
[b]Rating 25/100[/b]
[quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gaming_until_end]Gaming Until End[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/HellCowON] 𝓗𝗲𝓵𝓵𝕮𝓸𝔀[/url].[/quote]
