Quantum Break on Xbox One Looks to Blur Lines Between Games and TV

Xbox One exclusive Quantum Break wants to shake things up.

Developer Remedy's third-person action title will be released with an on-disc live-action television series which will change in reaction to the decisions you make within the game.

Remedy CEO Matias Myllyrinne and head of franchise development Oskari Hakkinen have talked to Edge magazine about the game, talking openly about their ambition to blur the line between two mediums.

"You'll unlock the live-action episode at the end of the [gameplay] episode. But you can choose when you jump into that," says Hakkinen. "The best experience would be to play the game, watch the live action, then play the game some more, but if you've chosen to dedicate your two-hour slot to gaming and you don't want to watch live action straight away, you can continue on with the game and pick up on the live action from your iPad or phone at a later date.

Beer or coffee

"My gut tells me they'll play a section of the game, they'll watch the live action with a beer or a coffee, and then jump back into the game," Myllyrinne adds. "Or they'll stop and do the double-barrel thing the next night – play the episode and watch the live action."

Giving an example of how players will be able to influence the show, Myllyrinne said: "At the end of the episode, you get to play the bad guy, who has the most powerful time-manipulation powers of all.

"So he gets to choose which future comes to pass. You play that bad guy; you choose the moment. Then, once you've made your choice, you can enjoy a high-quality TV episode where you'll see how your choices impacted certain things

Time-travel

Quantum Break takes place in a fictional north eastern US town called Riverport, where a time-travel experiment at the local university goes awry and gives three people the ability to manipulate time.

Those characters will be played by human counterparts in the accompanying TV series – the details of which are under lock and key at Microsoft.

Even details of the game itself are being kept something of a secret. We know its third-person and has some impressive tech that will simulate environmental destruction as time slows and stops, but beyond that, not much.

"This is a Remedy game," says Hakkinen , "and not only a Remedy game, but the ultimate Remedy game."

Live-action drama has been part of gaming for decades. In the 90s videogames were strewn with shoddy live action cut scenes in lieu of the graphical fidelity that exists today to render faces.

Last year Trion Worlds released Defiance, a MMO released side by side with a television show made by the Sci-Fi channel. The idea was that each would feed into the other, and it's done well enough to warrant a second season this year. However it disappointed some gamers with its low level of genuine interactivity, making the game feel like more of a companion piece.

Quantum Break promises to be different. "Life's too short to do small increments. We want to do what we can to improve the art form," Myllyrinne said.