the quiet man is another in the list of "square enix bombs" that is nowhere near as bad as gamers make it out to be, i find square is very often at the brunt of a lot of very unfair hate for their games compared to a lot of studios and i think part of this is that square is willing to take risks and put out more experimental AA games that must publishers would never even consider putting out, games like balan wonderworld, babylons fall, left alive and this, the quiet man. square for all their issues will put out unique games year after year and i want to give the quiet man the spotlight because it is something unique and interesting and i think a lot of it's hate is unwarrented. the game is a FMV/beatemup hybrid, a seriously cool combo and it has the gimmick that you play as a deaf mc, which is what sold me on the game. this manifests in that by having your first playthrough being mute for almost all of the games 3 hour runtime, i love this gimmick, being able to see a story from this POV is cool and it's not something i think ive seen any other game really try and tackle and i think more games should try and tackle disabilty from a gameplay perspective, it's cool representation and it really makes for an experiance that i think can deepen empathy. you do unlock sound for a postgame playthrough and it's cool because being able to actually hear the dialogue makes you see the story in a whole new light, and it's a good story! the characters may not be all that memoerable (vuagly racist characature of a gang member aside) but they're all at least a little interesting and the actors seem to be having fun portraying them in the fmvs which you just love to see. the FMV's will delight anyone into the classics of the genre, it's no sewer shark or corpse killer but it's silly and has some very funny moments like when a character kicks a gun into their hands with their shoe and that's what you want out of an fmv game, something silly and charming. the story even takes a lot of turns i didn't see coming, a lategame supernatural twist is wild and really made that last hour a blast to watch, it goes very square in a very :) way, i love it.

the gameplay isn't all that bad either! the focus on brevety and crowd combat reminds me a little of a less-physics based bouncer and while it's not as good as that game (though what is) it's still fun and a fairly fast combat system with dodges, counters and a simple style that's easy to play, with a few caviats, first of all the game is just far too difficult in a lot of its later segments, it's doable especially if you learn how to do the dodge counter move that can two-shot enemies but i never really managed to master it and it made a bar fight near the end absolutely brutal for me, i almost had to give up there and then my first playthrough, but i stuck through and it was worth it, and this was on easy mode at that, so i'd reccomend staying to easy on a first playthrough unless you feel very confidant in your skills here, though the difficulty can be changed any time from the pause menu so its not all bad. the combat animations are also very jank, one boss had a very funny goblin walk that i wish i had a gif of and you'll often find yourself teleporting across the map randomly to perform hits, though this usually works to your advantage (unless the games bad targeting sends you to the wrong enemy which did happen a few times in crowd fights) . the animations are the worst looking part of the game though, the environments look fantastic, detailed and really high quality and the character models match the actors super well, it looks good for the budget the game probably had and i think people are being very unfair to it in that way. the music is good too! which is a nice surprise since most players won't even hear it, some boss tracks really stand out on repeat plays and the credits song is nice as well, it's a well done ost by Steven Argila and worth listening to if you can even find it online.

the game itself was developed by humanhead studios, the unfortunate people behind a game i'm still sad about not being able to play, prey 2, they were also involved with some other really cool games too though like the original prey, the rune games and the HIT MMO BASED ON THE HIT SCI-FI CHANNEL SHOW defiance. they make some great games that don't always get their dues and this one is another of those, it's not a perfect game, the animations can be bad, the gimmick may not vibe with everyone and the short length could put off some, but for me those flaws helped make it a more fun experiance, the janky animations have charm, the length is perfect for me and it encourages replays amazingly and i love its gimmick to death, it's not my favourite of the SE's AA output, but its still a fun game that's worth anyones time, though i do wish it had a physical copy, i'd have bought it.