The Quarry is the latest game from Supermassive Games, the team behind Until Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology. Since making the pivot to horror in 2015, Supermassive has done a top job in delivering entertaining and often terrifying spooky experiences.
Its partnership with 2K for The Quarry seems that it will be more of what has made Supermassive so popular, but is that a bad thing?
We recently went hands-on with the game to check out a short chunk of it. Here are four things we loved about it, as well as two things we didn’t.
we loved: The Quarry Looks Fantastic
Since the release of Until Dawn, it has been clear that Supermassive knows how to make character models that look and feel lifelike. The Quarry delivers that again with some great looking character models and interesting environments.
It takes place in the wilderness with a group of teens planning what seems to be one last hurrah before all going their separate ways. What we saw ranged from daytime to night-time and there were lots of nice touches that really made the visuals pop.
We loveD: Mysterious Horror
From what we saw of the game it’s not clear what is the cause of the horror in The Quarry and that’s a good thing. The slice of the game we saw is fairly early on and, as is always the case in horror, it’s better to wait to reveal your full hand.
We’ve seen Supermassive Games try different types of horror over the years, and I’m excited to see where the direction goes from here. Especially from the brief glimpses of horror we saw!
we loveD: it’s more like until dawn than dark pictures
The Dark Pictures Anthology has been fun but it has never quite hit the highs of Until Dawn. The Quarry, however, feels much closer to Until Dawn in terms of budget as well as talent.
The game is still looking to use a narrator, which effectively breaks up chapters of the game in a way that allows you a natural pause. It also helps that the narrator delivers their lines strongly and puts in a good performance!
we loved: Playable Cast Has Variety
Like any good ensemble horror you need a cast of characters to root for (both in surviving and not surviving). From what we have seen of The Quarry so far it seems that there’s a perfect balance of likeable dorks, irritating jerks and those that can just deal with it.
Not every character was necessarily likeable, but that is a key thing in a horror. It gives them the potential of a redemption arc… or a grizzly death. With there being over 180 endings in The Quarry there will no doubt be plenty of opportunities to grow attached to those you like and watch the demise of those you don’t. It’s helped as well that the cast, from what we saw, put in strong performances for the most part, although there are a few dips.
This seems like a wonderful way to segue into some of the things we didn’t love about The Quarry.