Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this explanatory review we’re covering Full Quiet by developer 8-Bit Legit:
Full Quiet: (The Explanation)
Full Quiet is an 8-bit sidescrolling adventure survival game developed by Retrortainment Games. The game is available to play on a number of platforms including the Nintendo Entertainment System. Yep, that’s right. You can get a physical cart of this game to play on the NES. However, we will be focusing on the Nintendo Switch version of the game.
In Full Quiet, you play as a survivor who has to fight his way through strangely formed creatures as he tries to find his son. Stuck out in the sticks, players must traverse through dense woodland, open plains, and damp caves to restore the radio relay grid, relying on notes left behind by someone called Paps, your maps, and your problem-solving skills.
The main objective of the game is to find the radios dotted around the large open map that are tucked away inside cabins and ranger stations. Each radio needs to be readjusted to the same frequency so that silence can return to the forest. As you venture between radio stations, you will have to plan your trips carefully and not spend too long getting lost in exploration. The game features a day/evening/night cycle that spurs players to find shelter before nightfall as the forest and the other areas become much more dangerous at night.
Your character is armed with a pistol to begin with, and you can use it to keep enemies at bay. You have infinite ammo and while enemies can be killed, they do take a fair number of shots before they will bite the dust. You should always make sure your weapon is fully cocked so you don’t get attacked with an unloaded weapon in your possesion.
You will be able to find other weapons throughout the game eventually like a shotgun, sniper rifle, burstfire gun and more. You can also find tools to make traversal a little bit easier like a grappling gun to reach higher areas, a shadow cloak to hide from certain enemies, dive reload, to be able to reload whilst diving, and lures to distract enemies. As for items, you can find nutrition bars and medkits to restore health when it is low as well as other items that can be used for crafting. There are more tools, weapons and items to be found but we shall keep them a mystery so we don’t spoil too much of the game in case you want to pick it up.
The game focuses mainly on exploration and problem solving. You should pay special attention to any notes that you may find throughout the game and should probably jot them down just in case. There is literally no handholding in the game and you will have to actively search for clues and work out how to get from one location to the next by yourself. You can read Pap’s tips and tricks and the Game Manual from the options menu by pressing L+R. Appart from that, Full Quiet prides itself on providing as close to an authentic NES style game as possible by providing plenty of challenge whilst offering as little help as possible. On the plus side, the map does have markers to show you where you need to go, but how you get there will require you to do some of the legwork.
For me personally, I couldn’t really click with the game. I appreciate what Full Quiet was trying to achieve and commend it for being very much like a 80’s 2D adventure game worthy of being played on the NES console, but I myself lack the staying power and my old grey matter is not what it used to be and the controls are a bit too fiddly for me, especially when it comes to swinging on a ring to reach a platform which i just could not get the hang of. That said, Full Quiet is sure to appeal to those that enjoy challenging metroidvania style games and are not afraid to master the controls and show the game who’s boss.
Full Quiet: (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Retrotainment Games
Publisher: 8-Bit Legit
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: Adventure, Action, Platformer, Puzzle
No. of Players: 1 player
Release Date: July 7, 2023 (EU & NA)
Price: $9.99
File Size: 84 MB
Nintendo.com Listing
