Quantum Break episodes will be streaming-only on PC

The Windows 10 version of Quantum Break will require an online connection to watch its live-action interstitials, according to a member of developer Remedy Entertainment.

Narrative designer Greg Louden told Game Informer that all four of these episodes, which play after each act of the upcoming Xbox One and PC game, will be streamed remotely. This is because the rest of the game uses "all the disc space," he explained.

"I can't give you an exact size, but [Quantum Break] is big, so we wanted to create this high quality game experience and use all the disc space," he said.

He also attributed the streaming-only nature of the game's TV drama-style live portions to the fact that they change based on players' decisions.

"I think if we only had one show, it probably would have fit, but we didn't want to do that," Louden said.

Those on Xbox One will have the option to download the half-hour episodes, but Windows 10 users must be connected to the internet in order to view them.

Preview

Remedy Entertainment

Quantum Break looks like primetime TV rolled up inside a big action game

We checked out the game at a preview event last week, during which Louden told Polygon that watching these scenes is optional — but highly recommended.

"If you want to skip through and get the game experience, you can," he said. "But you're lacking this undercurrent, this subplot tour."

As we discovered in our time with the game, Quantum Break's set of narrative choices have a strong influence over the events of the episodes, which focus on the villains instead of the protagonists.

The highly variable nature of the dramatic scenes represents "a vastly more sophisticated medium for delivering human stories, and, frankly, it makes the game's efforts to do the same look childish," we wrote.

Quantum Break will launch on Xbox One and Windows 10 on April 5. The Xbox One version will include the PC game for free, along with another Remedy game: Alan Wake for Xbox 360.