Quantum Break Explained - What are Shifters? (Analysis) 

It is crazy how such an important detail isn't really discussed except in one document found inside one of Monarch's lab.

They're not powerful enough to fix your bad grammar and spelling though.

Warlin Door > a humble hatch

They really know how to include great themes in their stories. I love it.

I think Mr. Door and Hatch are meant to be the same person, but with the legality of who owns the rights to the game, there is a difference in the names of the character. But I agree, I hope this game gets more attention in the future, and maybe Remedy can get the rights to QB

@@TheLegend-sq8exyea seen a gaming harry video about it, rip the great Lance. He was supposed to play Mr door in Alan wake 2 it’s been confirmed basically

I agree! I really enjoyed the experience despite my computer not being the best to run it. I'm currently replaying it with my research hat on to find more stuff to tall about it. I first played it before Control was released so it is a whole new experience now that we know what we are looking for.

Absolutely! Glad to hear you enjoyed it too. While QB does have its flaws overall it is a great experience.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Yes, that's it !! A GREAT experience !! I want it to continue in the AWE of Control !!!!

Same here dude. Quantum Break deserves to get a continuation considering how they ended it.

ikr It’s addicting

this was soo well made

Alan Wake 2 is a continuation of this story in every way that matters, but in a very different genre. If you are still curious, you should definitely check it out

I wish Microsoft would allow Remedy to incorporate QB into their shared universe. It really is a shame. It would be an interesting turn as well considering everything is mystical for the most part in AW and Control vs the science angle in QB. There are a few connections in QB. Alan wake is all over the place in it, also it is possible that Beth's grandfather was an FBC agent alongside Dr. Ash. No concrete proof though.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Oh yeah I noted the Alan Wake stuff in Quantum Break, there was an episode of Night Springs in one level. (The one with the bridge I think?) There's mention of Alan Wake and how Jack Joyce loved his stuff. I don't know if he was referring to Alan as an author or whoever was making that Alan Wake piece of media on the TV at the University? There was the blackboard discussing Alan Wake, it seemed to be talking about his journey, which to me sorta suggested that the book Departure exists in Quantum Break. Presumably published post-Bright Falls AWE by both Barry and Alice. And it's discussed as a piece of fiction that Alan wrote, how Alice/Barry got the manuscript pages is still a little unclear though. But Thomas Zane did mention 'smoke signals' so maybe Alan managed to send it out? Or it was recovered by them, after the AWE subsided. Entirely possible that they're all just Easter Eggs, put in by Remedy, but they would serve as a nice connecting thread between all three games. Night Springs and Alan Wake's books currently tie the three together. That and 665 The neighbour of the Beast, a passcode used in Control and Quantum Break. Maybe in Alan Wake as well? I'm not a 100% sure if 665 was mentioned in Alan Wake, there was a lot of stuff to keep track of, in that game ^^:.

Now there is...

Exactly. Because they use both I felt it was a perfect opportunity to discuss both. Is there a unifying theory that can explain both Interpretations? Such as Copenhagen is from the microcosmic perspective and many worlds is from the macro. Such as Copenhagen is from the perspective of one in a 3 dimensional existence and Many Worlds from a higher dimension? My thoughts are on Dottie from Flatlabd. We use different expressions to describe the same thing.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Your micro/ macro distinction is interesting. It would have enriched the game if they had used it to justify their fictionalisation of two interpretations. But it doesn't tell us what befalls the wave of photons when they're observed, whether they're annihilated or they're transported to another world.

I guess the only way I can reconcile the two is by stating that the collapse of the wave function in the Copenhagen interpretation sends the other photons to other universes and only retains the one that acts as the consensus reality rather than vanishing outright. Physicists have witnessed free floating electrons pop in and out of existence. The trouble with this is what happens to the photons in the other worlds when they are here as a wave function?

@@GamingUniversityUoG don't you think that if you assume the collapse of the wave sends the other photons to another universe, you're following the Many Worlds interpretation more than you're reconciling the two theories. I think the scientific community is starting to lean towards the Many Worlds. There still isn't empirical evidence, which is understandable in view of what we're dealing with lol. The day we'll have empirical empirical evidence on this will be a day unlike any other day.

Hey buddy. So I just got the behind the scenes companion book for this game in the mail finally and it was confirmed by the creators that the Many-Worlds Interpretation was the inspiration.

That is an interesting thought. We know that time travel only let's you go as far back as the machine was first turned on. If they were able to find the cave Hatch mentioned, it has been working for tens of thousands of years.

same thoughts

So alan wake 2 spoilers, but Hatch is Door, and he snatched Odin Andersons eye presumably to replace the one that was shot.

It is stated that the progression of chronon syndrome is proportionate to the amount of chronon radiation that have been exposed to. Paul took years to get the bad and Dr. Kim devolved rapidly. Due to the sheer amount of the chronon when the countermeasure popped open both jack and Paul's timeline accelerated then. Which means we can expect a 6 year timeline for Jack too. Which would land in 2022

...... did we just figure out when Quantum Break 2 is coming out? Lol

Well 2021 is the date for the End of Time. But honestly I doubt Remedy can produce and get a game out that fast.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Assuming of course, it hasn't been in development for a few years and they're being tight-lipped about it? ^_^

@@Suzy9MM As usual, Microsoft ruins everything. They won't even let Remedy claim QB is in the Remedy connected universe, despite the fact it clearly clearly is.

If we ever get a sequel I imagine we'll find out. The End of Time is still going to happen. Paul just thought the fracture they dealt with led to that but something else caused it.

@@GamingUniversityUoG more importantly, save beth

If my theory about Shifters is accurate, they probably exist everywhere but we don't notice them and they can't interact with us unless we experience a Zero State. Something an Altered Item can easily do!

@@GamingUniversityUoG just saw hatches note in Qantum Break all i can say is we are looking fowerd to future vids

@@GamingUniversityUoG what if shifters are the Board? Or at least they can be first step to becoming Board member. Board speak like they mean two things at once, and we assume it because of difficulties in translation or "bad signal" from astral plane. But what if they actually mean two things at once, because they exist in superposition?

MS won’t let this happen unfortunately.

Thanks buddy! It was definitely something somewhat mentioned but never really explained in the game. Glad I could help

Exactly! I feel science fiction is a genre that really makes the viewer question what is possible out there. Especially if they base it in accepted theoretical science.

@@GamingUniversityUoG By being curious, humans have found the answers to many questions over our short time on earth. I'm glad I stumbled across your video. Maybe I'll see something else I like. Have a nice day. :)

The further we go down the rabbit hole of Quantum Mechanics the weirder things get.

You got it dude

Thank you so much! Welcome aboard!

Thanks man! I'm glad you enjoyed.

QB definitely requires some science knowledge to understand them for sure.

I agree. Control is definitely the nexus for these Remedy games. Honestly I didn't notice that. I'll have to go back into Quantum Break and take a took at the fridge. It is possible they just re-used assets but that would be cool if there was some relevance. The only thing I would say is the Arctic Queen Fridge was acquired in 1974, long before QB and the time machine can't go before 1999.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Yes, i was think since he moved to the swiming pool with all things from his parents house, maybe it belong to hes parents.

You got it! I'm glad you enjoyed.

Thank you so much!

Same here. There is too much possibilities to explore here.

I feel bad for those who didn't considering how tied in it is at this point.

@@GamingUniversityUoG I've been telling a friend who hasn't played AW2 yet that if she can she should but that I can't explain why beyond recurring characters because then it would be a huge QB spoiler. I also had never played it before so I'm doubly glad I did since I adored that game too.

Also technically there are 4 Shifters counting Jack (by the end of the game that is) ;)

I think there are two more...but I will not discuss it because I have a video planned to discuss my theory on it. And yeah I'm glad to be able to jump into Quantum Break. It definitely has a different feel from the rest of the Remedy titles but it's still an amazing experience.

I'd say the real difference is Dylan doesn't physically shift between worlds. If he could he could effectively walk out of the cage. Without knowing the exact nature of the Hiss I can't really say.

Yes the post credit scene shows Jack witnessing a junction point. This suggests his Chronon Syndrome is getting worse.

Man chronon syndrome is cool but with a sad price

I hope we can get a sequel to Quantum Break. Also are there other games with mini series intertwined with the story.

I believe that Jack Joyce will break barriers between Realities & end up in the Oldest House due to his sickness. I don't see him getting better unless Jesse can use resonance to remove the radiation.

Yeah, it took 17 years for Paul to finally collapse, and turn into a shifter if Jack didn’t beat him… but the ending is pretty open for debate, we see Paul vanished, or being blown by countermeasure into oblivion, or perhaps by touching that energy blast now he’s evolved into something even more superior? Like Martin Hatch?

I fully believe Jack will start developing symptoms as time goes on. Took paul 17 years with treatments before it made him a shifter. So there is time to figure it out

The trouble with trying to explain this in game is how to do the exposition of this naturally without feeling like the story is talling directly to the player. Remedy likes to create a believable world so having It really wouldnt stop to explain to jack/player some minute details. There is a whiteboard inside a stutter proofed room when Jack breaks in that discusses this but it doesn't explain what the terms mean. This was written by and for monarch scientists already familiar with the concept so they won't put footnotes of the terms. Frustrating from the players perspective but from a storytelling perspective it's more realistic.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Exposition dumps done poorly can be spotted mile away, but through style and grace, exposition dumps can give a project deeper meaning. Death Stranding comes to mind because I understood every confusing concept by the end of the game, but they also repeated it constantly like most Japanese entertainment somewhat killing the suspense, but still leaving some interpretation in the end. 😬 Remedy could have easily included the shifter concept in the story. Instead this mystery is reserved as treasure hunt for the players to discover in novels lengths worth of notes littered around levels. The biggest mistake was placing the most interesting part of the story in hidden notes and even then, you are left questioning this concept. Running around level to level reading endless amounts of notes has been one of the most boring things I've done in a while. To an extent, Control and Alan Wake had these issues, but not like Quantum Break in my opinion. Maybe I missed something during the story beats or even in the notes I stopped reading after Act 4 I think, but the shifter concept was barely mentioned although it was one of the driving forces of the games narrative (the other mainly being the End of Time). The game clearly works without having to bury the player in this shiftet exposition and keeps the mystery going, unlike Death Stranding, but I feel the shifter concept was a missed opportunity for an "oh sh*t" moment at some point in the game Because I was like "oh sh*t" after your video and like "wtf" after Quantum Breaks credits. Jack is now Paul in this timeline...ok???... Everything is set in motion again.....ok???...and Hatch is just like them???...ok??? TIME LOOP...lol

I haven't played Death Stranding so I can't comment much on it. But personally I think an easy way for an exposition dump is to have Jack asking Will what the hell all this science jargon is talking about. God of War 4 did that with Atreus and Mimir talking through most of the game and it worked fine. The only trouble is I don't think Jack is the curious enough type like Atreus was. Probably a need to know only personality type.

@@GamingUniversityUoG People ask questions all the time....he just needs to ask more questions lol

@@DV-ou1yu Right?! If it were me I wouldn't shut up with the questions haha.

No I think because Microsoft owns the IP to quantum break they had to change the name so I definitely think Mr Hatch and Mr Door are the same person, but not directly since again Microsoft owns the IP to quantum break. It's like how Numora wanted to do final fantasy 15 but it was taking him too long before square enix kicked him out so while he can't directly use the concept he can use the ideas of that concept for final fantasy 15 into his kingdom hearts games. So more or less the same thing here, same character just re-writen in a way.

Martin is far older, more experienced, and has his existence stabilized in reality by the chronon infused eye drops. Same thing with Dr. Kim. He was stuck in manifestation only because of the containment cell. Ince that was destroyed he snalled back into the ether of reality.

I personally enjoyed it. I understand that having a TV show mixed with the game takes a bit of getting used to.

@@GamingUniversityUoG oh only thing that's stopping me is a lack of xbox, I heard good things about the game and the fact that Remedy made it all but guarantees a purchase in the future

This is another Remedy title so it makes perfect sense! Sadly it is one we are unlikely to see tied in anytime soon.

Luckily Hatch already found a cure for the Chronon Sickness. The whole time he watched Amarel wring her hands trying to fix Paul, Martin was popping those Eye Drops which kept him fully in control.

@@GamingUniversityUoG I don't think the eye drops were meant to stabilize his shifting. Instead, I think Hatch uses the eye drop because in two timelines he was killed by mortal wound in the eye. As he basically exists in all timelines, he could feel the discomfort or pain in his eyes, hence, the need of using eye drops.

@@TheBenben116 That's honestly a really good theory.

@@TheBenben116 wtf good point

@@TheBenben116 that makes sense, nice theory

I personally enjoy it. Really the biggest complaint I hear is the love action tv series that's included. But it can be skipped if you dont care. Its lore relevant though.

Shhh... spoiler alert for a future video that is planned lol.

Ninja time powers go a long way lol

Because Frog/Glenn is awesome!

I imagine it would be a race against time. Jack needing to uncover what Hatch's plan is before the Chronon Sickness takes him out.

​@@GamingUniversityUoG saying no may look similar to half life one's ending

Or at the very least be able to license it

There is a random document stating that the eye drops Hatch uses are infused with Chronon. He definitely uses them to remain stable.

@@GamingUniversityUoG oh... thank you for the correction

One defintate possibility

Mostly this was left out as it was not relevant to the thesis of this video. But I 100% agree. if a sequel ever does occur part of it has to include Jack attempting to find a way to stabilize himself. Hatch has already learned how to do it.

Interesting information there. Thann you. I guess one can philosophically discuss whether gathering information constitutes observation in some way. But from what I understand in your comment is that the waveform collapses with the 'Understanding' of a system. Whether that understanding comes from Physical observation or data collection is irrelevant. Is that an accurate assessment of your position?

@@GamingUniversityUoG Not exactly, understanding seems to be irrelevant to whether the outcome of a slit experiment is an interference pattern or not. The determinent seems to be the availability of information. Meaning that in some capacity the information exists AND is accessible. In no-touch experiments (where light is measured but there is no interaction with it) the information is collected, remains accessible for a time, then a certain % is "erased" essentially meaning made impossible to access. This action, the erasure, necessitates that measured but un-accessed information must be a wave function. I do not have anywhere near the requisite credentials or understanding to accurately make sense of it. Is it a past event being influenced by a future action or does reality actually change in the instance the information is made inaccessible? I do not know nor can I speculate. After learning about the double slit experiment I wanted to know more and eventually discovered video lectures by Tom Campbell in which he discusses the "delayed choice quantum eraser" experiments. Prior to that I had taken on face value from edu-tainment resources that observation is what collapses the wave function. I never subscribed to consciousness as a factor, so that's where I approach this from my bias. I wanted to understand if it was measurement, observation, or interaction that was the impetus. But my present understanding is that it seems to be 1) information exists and 2) that information is accessible.

Interesting. I'll definitely go take a look at that lecture. Quantum Mechanics has always fascinated me. However, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking i understand until new information is presented. I could speculate on the ramifications of your observations here for hours but the comment section would get really long lol. Thank you for bringing this perspective up. I appreciate it!

In a stutter nothing should be moving. By definition it is a place of frozen time. The game simply states they are aggressive to anything moving in this environment. We can try to rationalize reasons but it comes down head canon at that point.

Well Mr. Door being a Shifter is a theory based upon how he described himself. But since a Shifter by definition is constantly being torn between worlds/time, a stable one would be able to anchor itself to one place like Martin Hatch does. Dr. Kim for example we see constantly being ripped between potentials. That is unstable.

@@GamingUniversityUoG Oh okay that make more sense I was just confuse since the reason Hatch can be stable due to the condition of Quantum Break world that let him be stable, and not just be stable by his own and if Mr. Door is a shifter it almost seem he can do it on his own unless the dream let him be stable. I was just confuse since you use the word stable so again thanks for the clarification.

@@Jiffcef You got it! It is implied that Hatch is able to stabilize himself because of something in his Eye Drops. There is no explanation about this though.

The Schrödinger's cat paradox outlines a situation in which a cat in a box must be considered, for all intents and purposes, simultaneously alive and dead. Schrödinger created this paradox as a justification for killing cats.

R.I.P. to an absolute legend.

Haha no worries. They are intended to he weird.

The shifters can only really exist in a zero state. Beth and Paul saw a bunch at the end of time. There were also time generators throughout the later levels which kept the shifters away. But yeah this game gets an undeserved bad wrap. I understand the love action sections were clunky and the reading sometimes became too much. But it was an amazing experience for me.

@@GamingUniversityUoG that’s funny, after watching this vid I see you in my feed now. I had also started playing Evil Within yesterday and saw your channel doing a series on this this week as well. I’ll check that out once I get further along to avoid spoilers. Played through Evil Within 2 a couple times but haven’t gone back to play Evil Within until now. I got so used to playing at 60 fps the past year and Quantum Break actually got me used to 30 again enough that EW isn’t as jarring to play. Already I can see why people say this is both scarier and harder than the sequel. Really hope we see a third entry, and looking forward to checking out Ghostwire Tokyo by Tango coming up as well. Anyway, great vids. I enjoyed those that I’ve watched.

Same here. They left it so open ended. It comes down to if Microsoft will allow them to use the property again.

Well in the 'Untitled Note' Hatch left for Jack, he did mention that there were other Shifters, some of which he knew. I do plan to elaborate on this once I get back to Quantum Break content.

Lol thanks for letting me know.

He did it intentionally; By 'misspelling' break he caused a breaking in the Quantum Break, which reversed the time fracture and returned the Quantum states to their stable equilibrium. He saved the universe from entering into a premature Big Chill state - The man is a hero!

Based upon how Sam and Sean have been acting on social media lately, I think they have something they're not telling us about this sequel.

@@GamingUniversityUoGis there any news of a sequel that you know of?

The idea is in the multiverse he exists across multiple realities. So if one dies another version immediately takes his place. So yes he died, but only one version died. Until every single one of them is killed Hatch is still going to be around.

He is alive as Mr Door

He never really dies. But these scenes of his 'death' happens in the tv episodes and not in the game itself.

@@GamingUniversityUoG It did not happen for me at all. Hatch met my character at the end of everything in the main office, was polite and suggested working together. I understood what he is, but there were no options left.. the game ended.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jack is not a Shifter at this time. He will eventually develop into one if no steps are taken though. Paul wasn't until literally the end of the game.

Not that I know of. We really only see two in the game. Really they are just a species of entity. Could be good or bad as far as I know.

I'm still waiting for the sequel. Hopefully with all the attention Remedy is getting now will help get the project off the ground. Actually I had an idea for an open world story driven game that dealt with traveling through time. Equal parts history simulator and mystery novel. Maybe I'll talk about it one of these days.

Who knows. They got Alan Wake back and convinced Rockstar to remake Max Payne. Their track record might get them more leverage to get Quantum Break back in the fold.

It seems this is a common opinion. The story being awesome but the experience being rough around the edges.

procedure generating game, web server&client side, bandwidth&data refresh rate, instead of make up some self-deception "theory", yes, i say some ancients are really, really brave, to accept the "reality"...