Back when E3 2018 was taking place, Square Enix teased a game called The Quiet Man and it stood out because the protagonist was deaf, utilizing American Sign Language to communicate with some gangsters. The game launched but coverage was bare, most reviews that appeared online were out-of-pocket reviews and very negative. A new trailer that launched yesterday highlights some of these negative reviews in a bid to get players to give the version of the game with audio a try.
The Quiet Man tried to do something different by having the game launch with little to no audio, essentially imitating the feeling of being deaf. However, it was announced that a week after launch the game would receive a free update that would bring sound to the game, also giving the player the answers to the story they couldn’t hear before. This move wasn’t particularly taken well by the Deaf community, myself included. It felt like an odd move to use a disability as a gimmick, in this way at least.
The negative reviews poured in when the game launched with reviews and editorials surfacing discussing why The Quiet Man was so bad and insulting to the Deaf community. In an attempt to try and win back players, it appears that Square Enix is trying to make light of the situation by pushing out a trailer with negative review quotes which transition into a positive one when promoting the audio heavy version.
Found below, the trailer is in Japanese so I have no idea what’s being said, but it shows off various negative quotes from user reviews and different outlets. Quotes such as, “Spectacular disaster”, and “Trashhhhhhhhhhhhh!” are a few. After a few negative reviews plastered over Dane’s crying pretty boy face are played out, the trailer takes a twist, focusing on the positive reviews that came after the “Answered” patch that introduced sound. We see review quotes such as, “Sorry I called it trash” and “Silent part was entirely necessary”.
It’s clear that Square Enix is under the impression that people played the silent portion of the game and refuse to try the Answered version which appears to have had a more positive reaction. The trailer is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it’s the first we’ve really heard from the game since it launched it’s sound filled update back on November 8.
The Quiet Man is available for PC and PS4 only.
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