Quantum League describes itself as a Time-Paradox Shooter. Now, buzzwords often get thrown because they sound cool, not because they’re all that relevant to the actual game, but in Quantum League’s case it’s hard to describe it as anything else. ‘Time-Paradox Shooter’ is the best possible description for what it’s doing. You see, Quantum League has you fighting through FPS battles across three separate timelines, all of which play out at the same time.
Timey-wimey, shooty-wooty
The way that you manage this is to play through each timeline is sequence. You’ll play through timeline one, everything rewinds, you then do timeline two, it rewinds again, and you do timeline three. Your aim in each match will be to complete an objective, which will either be to capture points or kill off the opposing team. You will then need to try and make sure that the three versions of yourself manage to come out on top.
It’s a truly fascinating idea that’s almost unique in video games – the upcoming Lemnis Gate has a similar concept – and it adds a lot of layers to your potential strategy. It’s odd to try and play as a team when you’re the only team member, but that’s what is at the core of the game. It means that the first loop, you could be focussed entirely on trying to take out the first opponent as quickly as possible, the Second might have you go and capture a couple of points before dying, and the final one you then have to try and prevent the second and first versions of yourself from dying.
It sounds incredibly complicated, and it sort of is, but you’ll never notice that when you’re actually playing, because while all of those layers are still there, you’re going to be too busy reacting to the past and future to really give it much thought. Of course, this is all assuming you’re in a 1v1. There’s also a 2v2 mode, but it’s exponentially more complicated because of all the extra moving parts/timelines.
Which pew pew is for you?
Aside from what you actually do in each match, the other main choice you’ll have comes from which weapon you choose at the beginning of a round. You’ve got a few standard weapons and a laser beam, but the one I found to be the most effective was actually the rifle. Of course, you’ll likely have your own favourites, and sometimes you’ll want each timeline running with a different weapon to keep things surprising. I like all of the weapons generally, but they can feel a little unbalanced at times, and a lot of other players seem to exclusively use the SMG.
You can do all of this with friends too, thanks to private matches, which is good when the game doesn’t seem to have a particularly busy online fanbase. It’s difficult to indulge in some of the modes without huge wait times because there aren’t enough people playing it, and it’s a shame that the game hasn’t gathered a larger player base because the gameplay is very moreish. The only option here is to make sure everyone who reads this buys it, and then everyone can all get online at the same time or something. I’ll keep my fingers crossed now, yesterday, and tomorrow.
Source: https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2021/05/20/quantum-league-review/
