Parents' Guide to

Quantum Break

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Time-bending action loaded with gun violence, profanity.

Game Xbox One 2016
Quantum Break Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 5 parent reviews

age 13+

Great mix of shooting and storytelling

Quantum Break could’ve been rated Teen if it weren’t for the language. The violence includes small, almost invisible spurts of blood when shooting enemies and that’s it. The only other violence is in one cutscene when a man’s head is slammed into the ground and blood explodes beneath it, but this is very brief. Language can be pretty bad including the f bomb, but it is used fairly sparingly.

This title has:

Easy to play/use
age 14+

Please read my review

I rated this game 14+ for violence, bad violence and bad influences. Violence 3/5 you shoot people with realistic guns and see dark red squirts of blood. Bad language 4/5 frequent use of f**k, s**t and other variations of those words. Bad influences 3.5/5 you play as Paul, the bad guy, and have to choose whether to make innocent people suffer and make the game easier or make innocent people turn against the main character, making the game harder.

This title has:

Too much swearing

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (5):
Kids say (11):

This action game is nothing if not daring. The manner in which it melds traditional third-person shooter action with its four-episode TV series is inspired; it's surprising how well the two seemingly disparate mediums go together. And while the show isn't HBO-quality, it's certainly watchable -- thanks largely to appearances by several recognizable Hollywood talents, including Shawn Ashmore (X-Men's Iceman), Lance Reddick (from John Wick), and Aiden Gillen (Game of Thrones). Plus, Jack's time-shifting powers are pretty spectacular. He can create local bubbles where time stops for everyone but him, dodge past enemies without them even knowing, and occasionally even rewind time to, say, undo the collapse of an object he needs to cross over.

Unfortunately, the action starts to feel a bit same-y after a while. Use time power, shoot bad guys, take cover, and wait to recharge, repeat. It's also unevenly paced. Lengthy sections -- sometimes 10 or 20 minutes -- see players doing little more than tracking down and reading optional narrative notes that flesh out certain characters and concepts to do with time travel. Add to this an annoying visual effect associated with time stutters -- little blobs of pulsing light that flash so brightly they frequently completely white out the screen, blinding the player -- that appears midway through the game and only grows in intensity, and there's still clearly some work that needs to be done for any potential sequel. Quantum Break is worth investigating if only for its unique and effective blending of two very different storytelling mediums, but players looking first and foremost for a refined action game experience might wish Remedy Entertainment spent a little less time developing a TV show and more time focused on what players get up to in the game.

Game Details

  • Platform: Xbox One
  • Pricing structure: Paid
  • Available online?: Available online
  • Publisher: Microsoft Studios
  • Release date: April 5, 2016
  • Genre: Third-Person Shooter
  • Topics: Adventures
  • ESRB rating: M for Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language
  • Last updated: October 30, 2019

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