The Quiet Collection

Game Info

The Quiet Collection marks the debut of Nostatic Software’s “Quiet” series of games that were originally released on XBLIG and mobile devices.  The collection is a series of small adventure titles that will put your puzzle solving and observation skills to the test. Each title revolves around our protagonist that just wants some have some piece and “quiet” or candy in the case of “Candy Please”. It’s your job to help her achieve this lofty goal. Those of you familiar with titles like Lone Survivor, Monkey Island, and Broken Sword will be at home with the gameplay.

For those unfamiliar with the previously mentioned adventure games, the gameplay is very straight forward and simple, just not always easy. It requires you to pay full attention to the environment, what’s being said, and everything going on around you. One spoiler free example is in “Quiet Please” your dad is watching TV and you need to turn it off so he goes to sleep. If you turn the TV off he’ll use his remote to turn it right back on. As you move through out the house you’ll notice a one point there is a satellite dish you can sabotage. The main gameplay hook requires you to find and use the necessary items to sabotage the dish, which turns the TV off, causing dad to fall asleep, getting you one step closer to your goal. Some will require fewer steps, others more, and some with some outside the box thinking, but all are well thought out and contribute to each games story.

On the story side of things, while each title may share the same end result of our protagonist getting some well deserved rest, it’s where we are and how we get there that tells each unique story. ” Quiet Please” is all about coming home from a long day at school and wanting to just come home relax and get some sleep. But thanks to a noisy Neighbor his dog and your family, it’s not as easy as it sounds. “Quiet Christmas” is all about getting the house ready and getting back to sleep so Santa shows up with the present’s. ” Vacation Vexation” has you and the family trying to enjoy a nice day at the beach with you wanting nothing more than to just sit back and relax and enjoy the sun and a good book. “Candy Please” takes place on Halloween and you’ll do whatever it takes to fill your big bowl with candy, including making multiple costumes to revisit houses.

These are all nicely and somewhat surprisingly brought together thanks to the games simple pixel art graphics. While I wasn’t sure at first if the graphics were detailed enough to bring the package together, it was quite the opposite. Each character, and environment has a personality all their own and is easily distinguishable from the other. In the end they helped bring a certain whimsical and childlike wonder to the experience which really drew me in to the world they created. Sound wise the game doesn’t really stand out but it doesn’t need to. Everything sounds just the way you think it should. From the RC car in “Quiet Please”, the inflatable Santa in ” Quiet Christmas”, and the noisy Ice Cream Truck in “Vacation Vexation” all of them do exactly what the need to and again while they don’t’ stand out are an integral part of the experience.

The Recommendation

I really enjoyed The Quiet Collection during the time I spent with it. It’s kind of like a WarioWare title of adventure games. A Nostaic Micro Mini-Adventure games so to speak and that is a great thing. It contains all of the fun and sometimes difficult puzzle solving of titles like Discworld, Lone Survivor, and King’s Quest in a nice short easily accessible package for everyone. The puzzle difficulty may turn some people away, but they are never as difficult as they seem. It just requires you to step back and think for a second because more often than not the solution is staring you right in the face. All in all, I think The Quiet Collection is a worthy purchase to newcomers and fans of the adventure genre like myself, especially for the $4.99 asking price. For those unfamiliar with adventure games I would suggest starting with “Quiet Please” and working your way down to help ease into the flow of the puzzle solving.