Remedy Entertainment has confirmed that the live-action episodes of Quantum Break will be included on the game's disc.
Upcoming Xbox One exclusive sci-fi title Quantum Break is aiming to combine beautifully rendered digital gameplay with live-action tv episodes that help to drive the narrative forward. According to the game’s developer Remedy Entertainment, players won’t require an active cable subscription to get the most out of Quantum Break since the episodes will be included right on the disc.
Unlike previous transmedia attempts such as Trion’s ambitious MMO/Sci-Fi Channel show Defiance, the live-action episodes of Quantum Break will tie in much more closely with the player’s actions and will actually change based on decisions the player makes which should help to encourage replay value. The game’s lead writer Sam Lake mentions how making the live action episodes a core part of the experience was one of the team’s chief goals from the start:
"Acts of the game are interwoven with episodes of the show so what we have as connecting tissue are these moments of choice related to the fiction of time powers. “
Lake also talks about how these diverging paths fit into the game’s story:
"Our bad guy in the game has the most powerful time powers of all, and he has this junction ability where he's able to see glimpses of different futures, different timelines. It's almost like a dynamic player-created cliffhanger at the end of each act. You get to explore these glimpses and visions of two different futures, and you make a choice as to which comes to be. And from that we shift into an episode of the show. From the first scene you'll get alternate content depending on the choice you've made.”
We’ll have to wait until Quantum Break’s release to see for ourselves how well this new design strategy works but it is admittedly a little exciting to see the gap between digital gameplay and live-action story-telling made just a little bit smaller.
