The Quarry is a horror game that uses quick-time events. If you have played Until Dawn, you will know how to play this game.
You’re watching the game’s story play out before you; at times, you get to interact with the story. Failing these quick-time events will change how the story unfolds. You’re also given several choices during the game. These alternating paths create some replayability.
I was a fan of Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology game, so I was excited to play The Quarry. It didn’t disappoint. I like Until Dawn more than The Quarry; it is a very good game.
TLDR: The Quarry is a great game with many callbacks to 80s horror movies.
Gameplay
There isn’t too much to say here. The game uses quick-time events and occasional spots of moving the character around as a way for the player to interact with the game. Most of what you’re doing is watching a game play out.
Aside from the quick-time events, you do have spots where you can move the character around and investigate a location. This could be in the woods, a cabin, or one of the sites at the campground. I do have an issue with this.
At times, it feels like the investigation spots are hard to activate. Typically, there will be a spot where you press an action button, and you can either get some evidence or learn something about the characters.
The last thing I want to talk about is the choices that you can make. This can be a direction, plot choice, or how you can have the characters speak to each other.
Like a lot of other games like this, sometimes you’re given two bad choices to choose from. On your first playthrough, you might have to think about trying to save people or trying to save the character you’re controlling.
Depending on your actions, the relationships between characters will change. Sometimes I did something, and the outcome wasn’t what I wanted. Oh well, there is always the next playthrough!
Visuals
Okay, let’s talk about faces for a bit. Some of the characters look off. Like the motion capture cameras were in a strange position and made their faces look unnatural. It’s not everyone, and it’s not always, making it look weirder when you see it.
It’s only two of the characters. The others look good. I found it to be a little distracting when out of nowhere, it looked like someone put their faces in a microwave for a few minutes. It’s only Emma and Jacob that look off to me.
Everything else in the game looks good. I like the environment that they are in. The campground feels secluded, and it is the place where I would expect a horror game to take place.
Narrative
Let’s talk a bit about horror movie tropes for a second. Until Dawn felt a bit like an 80s horror film. The Quarry feels a bit like an early 2000s horror film.
The characters in Until Dawn felt like they were friends on a trip. They had differences from each other, but I think they all liked each other. Most of them were likable. I didn’t want to see them die! Well, I wanted to see one of them die, but that was probably how I played the game.
With The Quarry, I don’t think these people liked each other. I got what they were going for, a group of camp counselors who were thrown together and were becoming friends. I think they were all jerks or weren’t acting like they wanted to be around each other.
The story is similar to the other Supermassive Games. You have a group of people who are stuck in a location. A monster then attacks them, and you have some human characters that seem like they could be the villains.
In this case, you have to deal with Werewolves. It’s fine. I want one of these games to have a human killer at some point. I think that would be better because it can happen in real life instead of having a monster.
Alternatives
There aren’t a lot of games like this that I’m aware of. I think Until Dawn is still better than this one. I haven’t played all the Dark Pictures Anthology games, but I believe The Quarry is better than Man of Medan.
8.5/10. It’s a fun game if you like these interactive stories. I still prefer Until Dawn.
Pros
- The Quarry is a creepy game.
- The setting and graphics are good most of the time.
- The story is on par with a good horror movie.
Cons
- Character reaction can be spotty. Sometimes they don’t react as an average person would.
- Lack of a likable character.
- I didn’t care if these characters died or not.
- It didn’t feel like any of the characters liked each other.
Conclusion
This game suffered from some of the same things that a horror movie from the 2000s and 2010s suffers from. I didn’t care if any of these people made it out alive. I also wasn’t rooting for the monsters.
It’s a fun game, but it didn’t give me the same feeling I had when I was playing Until Dawn. In that game, I felt like the cast cared about one another and wanted them to get out of the game alive.
With The Quarry, it felt like a group of people who were being paid to be together and didn’t know one another. It would have helped if we had heard more about their back story. Maybe if they had said, they went to the camp as kids or had worked at the camp previously.
There were lines in Friday the 13th Part 2 where the councilors mention that they had worked together the previous year. We also see more of them talking and hanging out. Something like this would have helped The Quarry.
I understand that this is a video game and not a movie. However, some things that make a compelling horror movie translate to creating an effective horror game.
I liked The Quarry, but I don’t think it’s as good as Until Dawn.