Quantum Break at 10: Remedy’s underrated sci-fi game was years ahead of its time

Follow Followed Like Thread 4 Link copied to clipboard Add us on By Ari Notis Published Apr 28, 2026, 11:45 AM EDT Opinion Remedy's unsung time travel game was too innovative for its own good { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": "1", "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position":"2", "name": "Opinion", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/opinion/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position":"3", "name": "Sorry Control, Quantum Break is secretly Remedy\u2019s best game", "item": "https://www.polygon.com/quantum-break-10-years-retrospective/" } ] } Related Quantum Break is full of Alan Wake easter eggs 7 movie roles Michael Jackson wanted to play (but thankfully didn’t) Logan Paul doesn’t understand manga Sorry Control, Quantum Break is secretly Remedy’s best game Image: Remedy Entertainment/Microsoft Studios Quantum Break Sign in to your Polygon.com account Remedy Entertainment has had one hell of a decade. 2019’s Control was popular enough to spawn an expanded universe. The 2023 action-horror game Alan Wake 2 picked up eight Game of the Year nominations, including one for the top prize. But the studio’s most innovative game of the past ten years was an underappreciated gem from the Obama years: Quantum Break. Quantum Break, released ten years ago this month for Windows PC and Xbox One, was a boundary-breaking (heh) experiment in multimedia gaming. Part video game, part TV show, it mixed third-person shooting with an episodic narrative about time travel and evil corporations. The gimmick was, after every act break in the game, you’d briefly assume control of the game’s villain, and make a critical choice about the story. Your decision would then play out in the subsequent live-action episode. It was a gambit, especially for the era; visual fidelity was sharp in 2016 but not exactly photorealistic, leading to some jarring transitions between gameplay and live-action. But the gimmick largely worked thanks to Quantum Break’s stacked cast. Shawn Ashmore (X-Men, The Rookie) portrayed protagonist Jack Joyce, estranged from his brother Will Joyce, played by Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings). Aiden Gillen (at the height of his Game of Thrones fame) played Jack’s friend Paul Serene, who established Monarch Solutions, which, yes, is one of those evil corporations. The late Lance Reddick (The Wire, John Wick) turns in a masterfully cunning performance as Martin Hatch, Monarch’s CEO. window.arrayOfGalleries["article-gallery-1-1324066173"] = '"<div class=\"w-gallery-carousel\"><section id=\"main-carousel-1-1324066173\" class=\"splide splide-gallery\" data-gallery-expanded-id=\"main-expanable-carousel-1-1324066173\" data-gallery-expanded-thumbnail-id=\"expanded-gallery-thumbnails-1-1324066173\"><button class=\"expand icon i-expand\" type=\"button\"><\/button><div class=\"splide__track\"><ul class=\"splide__list\" style=\"--gallery-aspect-sm: 1.7777777777778 \/ 1; --gallery-aspect-md: 1.7777777777778 \/ 1; --gallery-aspect-lg: 1.7777777777778 \/ 1;\" ><li class=\"splide__slide gallery-main-img\"><figure><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 480px)\"…

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