Every Quantum Dream Game, Ranked
Decision-based games, while not always action-packed, really know how to play with our feelings. While shooting bad guys and claiming territories is pretty cool, deciding the outcome of your character or alts is intense and challenging. Narrative design becomes more interesting and complicated as we are able to control how the story unfolds, and each game feels more real.
Quantic Dream was one of the first studios to create decision-based games. It inspired the likes of Until Dawn from Supermassive Games. Quantic Dream has some groundbreaking story-driven games that really make your choices. Below is a list of all the games they’ve released and which of them reigns supreme.
5 Omikron: the nomadic soul
Most people won’t remember or even hear of Omikron: The Nomad Soul. It’s the only video game David Bowie was part of. He got himself a soundtrack for the game, and even lent his face for one of the characters. It’s a cyberpunk adventure game made in 2000 and launched on Dreamcast. Those lucky enough to play it back then were blown away by its story and depth. Although it is highly regarded by the few people who have played it, it is very old and impossible to get your hands on now.
In Nomad Soul, you can freely traverse a cyberpunk city, drive futuristic vehicles, and socialize with various townspeople to find clues. There are several dimensions in the game, and you’ve been asked to enter one known as Omikron in order to hunt down a serial killer. One of the game’s coolest mechanics was its vision of death. Each time you die, you return as the last NPC you spoke to.
4 Beyond two souls
It is the story of a girl with apparently supernatural powers. In reality, his dead brother in his mother’s womb is the cause of everything. Many big names are in this game, including Elliot Page and William Dafoe. This may be the first time players feel like they’re inside a movie and can control it. You decide the fate of Jodie Holmes. Will she find love, die, or end her twin brother’s witty antics?
There is an option for co-op, where one person takes control of Aiden and the other of Jodie, but it’s not the best gameplay-wise. Cooperation is pointless because Aiden can’t really do much in the grand scheme of things other than knock things over. Nonetheless, it’s a heartbreaking story that will have you wanting the best for Jodie Holmes.
3 Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy
Fahrenheit is another older game, Quantic Dream, released in 2005. This one is available on several different platforms including PlayStation 2 and 4, Xbox, and PC. The story, however, is much more captivating and entertaining. You control three different people and must find out who the murderer is. You control main character Lucas and two other detectives. Lucas is possessed to kill in this action-adventure with three different endings.
Playing with these three different characters adds a lot of fun. On the one hand, you play as the supposed murderer, but you know something is wrong. You didn’t. On the other hand, this case is up to you and all leads point to Lucas.
2 Heavy rain
Heavy Rain was released in 2010 and is Quantic Dream’s best-loved and best-known video game. You play as a troubled single dad just trying to protect his son. A serial killer is on the prowl and children are his prime target. Heavy Rain has received several awards for its innovative gameplay and narrative design.
The game is an intense, action-packed experience about a father trying to save his son. You can fail, die, find love again, and even solve the case of the Origami Killer. Or you can do neither. You can control up to four different characters and there are up to 17 different endings. The game has also become quite memorable and inescapable, even if it’s ironic. However, it took something really special to take over the top spot from Heavy Rain, and Quantic Dream did not disappoint.
1 Detroit: Become Human
Heavy Rain is widely regarded as one of the best games the company has made, but Detroit: Become Human introduced new players to the world of decision-based gaming. Nothing is more intriguing and cool than futuristic things like cyberpunk and robots. And boy, does Detroit: Become Human have robots.
There are many movies and series about what would happen if the machines decided to take over. But such media does not allow us to reverse the trend and affect the narrative as this video game does. Detroit: Become Human launched in 2018 and is the most engaging Quantic Dream game to date. Popular names like Jesse Williams also lent their voices to it. You arrive atplay as the robots in Detroit: Become Human and decide the fate of the city.