Review: The Quarry [PS5, PS4]

The Quarry can best be described as a spiritual sequel to Supermassive’s horror adventure hit Until Dawn (9/10) from 2015. They have certainly not been lazy since then, given that they have also managed to release three parts in the number series The Dark Pictures . Like Until Dawn, you get a slightly longer adventure with more branches and a larger character gallery. In addition, there are some faces that you probably recognize if you are interested in B-horror movies and especially from the 1980s. In interviews, Supermassive has revealed that they are inspired by film classics such as Evil Dead, The Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes.

In the story, you take control of a number of young people who have been the leaders of a summer camp that has just ended. They stay at the camp one night too long and are forced to fight for their survival. I will talk about the story in as general terms as possible, but if you are very sensitive to spoilers, you can consider yourself warned.

The gameplay takes up relatively little space and I would describe The Quarry more as an interactive film. There will be some timing-based keystrokes, button-hammering and occasions where you can move relatively freely to find clues and collectibles. Otherwise, it is a lot of dialogue and interludes that drive the story forward.

Just as in the sources of inspiration I mentioned, it is of course about the subgenre in horror which is more there known as slasher, where it is often deadly to go away alone or challenge fate in other ways. If you are looking for cold corpses and creeping discomfort, you have to look elsewhere, because here it is blood, splatter and frightening surprises that apply.

Technically, The Quarry is both visually beautiful and acoustically sounds really good. They have captured the acting performances in an eminent way and I think the eyes are unusually alive to be the acting genre. The mouths are perhaps what would have needed more work as both lip sync and smiles leave little to be desired. I also understand that dark environments are a must, but here it has gone so far that I can not play the dark moments while it is daylight outside even if I pull down both blinds and awning in the living room. I turned on the lights and contrast settings in both the game and on the TV without being really happy.

The character gallery is well written and diversified. Above all, I think the acting performances of Ariel Winter, Siobhan Williams and Ted Raimi stand out in a positive sense, but none of the roles are poorly played. I appreciated the pace of the game and in my opinion it was just long enough moments before you had to switch to another visual field and see what happens in another place in the quarry and surroundings.

In addition to single player mode, there are also multiplayer modes and a movie mode. In the local multiplayer mode, you can set up to eight different players to select one or more characters that they control and you can pass around the controller when it’s someone else’s turn. In online mode, everyone plays at the same time and then you and your fellow players get to vote on which way the story should go. In movie mode, you decide in advance what you are looking for and the choices are everyone survives, everyone dies or a director mode where you set how each character acts and reacts to different situations and then you can see the whole game as a feature film.

On the whole, The Quarry is a shining example of a branched adventure where decision and reaction ability affect the outcome. 186 unique endings and a huge replay value are promised if you want to see all the scenes and find all the clues. After you have completed the game, the choice of chapters is unlocked and a few rewinds of deaths are made, so it will be easier to detect further events.

If I compare with Until Dawn, I think they are equivalent and seen in The Dark Pictures, it is noticeable that The Quarry has a larger budget and that more effort has been put into having a cohesive and strong story. I’m not usually a big fan of horror, but I still think this is the right level for me and would love to see more games on the same theme.