Fans of 1980s and 90s horror movies prepare yourselves; Supermassive games have delivered an exceptionally tense interactive game that could easily be mistaken for a movie.
Located in upstate New York, Hackett’s Quarry summer camp is home to nine camp counselors as you take them through this nail-biting ride. Like with previous Supermassive Games titles, you’ll be able to control each of the characters at certain points throughout The Quarry, influencing how the events play out through the decisions you make.
The seamless transition between movie-style cutscenes and gameplay really blows you away, allowing you to explore the locations when you take over the controls, decide what you want to say to other characters, and play quick-time events.
But, if you don’t want to play The Quarry (although I seriously urge you to), and would rather see how the story pans out, you can opt for the game’s Movie Mode which requires no interaction at all. However, you will miss out on a few key and optional events that can only be enjoyed while playing the game.
While the intensity isn’t at the same level as those in the Dark Pictures Anthology games, I really liked the fact that failing quick-time events didn’t necessarily end in a bad outcome. In fact, sometimes, missing the event could benefit the scene, which you’ll soon come to realize.
Although it’s hard not to compare The Quarry to the likes of Man of Medan and other Supermassive Games titles, there are definitely some similarities that work well across the board. Instead of discovering premonitions, players of The Quarry will be able to find tarot cards (sometimes more than one) in each chapter. If you are insightful enough to come across more than one tarot card, you’ll be forced to choose between them, allowing a glimpse of just one of them in the crystal ball.
But, unlike premonitions, the tarot cards don’t necessarily point you to something you should avoid, but rather something that’s going to happen, meaning you can start thinking about the right choices to make when you get there.
Unraveling the history of Hackett’s Quarry felt like it should have had more meaning to it, and while I enjoyed finding clues and items to build the story, it didn’t really feel like it added anything significant to the game. Still, without it, I think I would have missed searching every nook and crevice, but I wish it meant more.
The character’s interaction in The Quarry was definitely endearing, but I would have liked more consequences for saying the wrong or right things. For example, there are a few occasions where a character feels like another isn’t listening to them, or picking on them, but it doesn’t seem to affect the gameplay too much as it did in Until Dawn. There’s also a lack of character background, including personality and relationships with other characters.
But, despite this oversight or perhaps a more simple approach to The Quarry, Supermassive Games have done it again by casting a great selection of actors to play each of the characters. David Arquette plays Chris Hackett, the owner of Hackett’s Quarry, better known for playing Deputy Dewey Riley in Scream. One of my personal favorites, Skyler Gisondo who is well-known for his roles in Vacation, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Santa Clarita Diet, plays Max, Laura’s boyfriend, and there are certainly a few surprises here that we won’t spoil for you.
All in all, The Quarry is worth a playthrough. I had a fantastic time playing it and would happily repeat the process to see the different outcomes. The story didn’t draw me in as much as I wanted it to, but that’s likely because of my experience with previous Supermassive Games titles. While many players who play the game without investigating the clues may find The Quarry a short game to play, I’ve sunk over 12 hours into the game so far, and could easily spend much more time exploring and discovering parts of the game I hadn’t seen before.
