General Information
The question that you'll learn to grapple with is: will you be hunted? And by whom or… what? You're in control of your destiny in The Quarry as your choices ultimately determine how your story unfolds. Just remember: what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
As a game that evidently strives to capture the cinematic presentation, The Quarry hits the mark. The star-studded cast aside, the exposure, camera angles and aesthetics adds to this feeling from the get-go. The detailed texture of the environments and character models also aid in this aspect. Even if I played on a handheld device, the AYANEO NEXT, the graphics leaned towards the realistic side and the quality of the textures made the universe feel more lively, unlike other recent titles like Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong.
On a technical aspect, The Quarry holds up, even if I did encounter some of the lip-sync being off and minor stuttering in the pre-launch build I played. Hopefully this is just a temporary issue with the pre-launch build; but even then this was not very common and was easy to overlook.
The Quarry's gameplay revolves around exploration, quick-time events (QTEs) and decision-making. You'll take turns as each of the 9 counsellors to explore your surroundings in third-person. These exploration segments aren't just to take in the various sights across Hackett's Quarry and the surrounding woods, but also to find items and clues that can help you in the future as well as to piece together the mysteries underlying the many predicaments you will find yourself in.
By getting you to play as different characters, you'll also get to see events from different perspectives. This can help shape your decisions as you engage in conversations or undertake certain actions. Indeed, you will also juggle friendship, animosity as well as romance during your stay at Hackett's Quarry; and how you interact with other characters determines how the story unfolds. I commend how Supermassive Games handles the multitude of player characters as the way they are introduced and controlled doesn't feel overwhelming or confusing. This is because they are eased-in in bite size fashion, with chapters often involving two or three characters that develop their respective arch.
As with other Supermassive Games, The Quarry heavily relies on QTEs. This involves the likes of hitting the A button successively to successfully cross a beam or tilting the analogue stick in the direction indicated on-screen for your car to swerve or to dodge a rogue branch. However, the QTEs are executed with interesting twists such as holding your breath while hiding until it's safe to escape or aiming your gun and shooting in time. This enables the title to take a more action-oriented approach to QTEs. Nevertheless, even the regular QTEs do help to keep you on your toes and adds to the horror atmosphere of the game.
What also kept me on my toes is the decision-making. These are binary choices and are initially introduced in innocent ways, but later on your choices can have life-or-death repercussions, and often not evidently so. Therein lies the challenge in The Quarry as you might not realise how a particular choice, as gruesome or morally challenging as it might be, can influence the fate of the characters until later on in the plot. Making choices always got me thinking about "what if" scenarios regarding other potential paths had I opted for a different decision.
Speaking of life or death, the ultimate aim of The Quarry (although unspecified) is to get as many characters to survive through the night by the end of the game. Some of the main characters might encounter their untimely demise based on the paths you take but Supermassive Games have been gentle enough to include a life gauge through the 'Death Rewind' feature accessible after beating the game or if you have the Deluxe Edition of the game. I only encountered this towards the end of the game but was positively surprised to see this inclusion. You have 3 lives that let you rewind back to a turning point which led to the death of the character in question. After you've used up those three lives, the game still continues but it's permadeath for anyone who meets their demise from then on. However, bear in mind that this 'Death Rewind' feature is only available to players who have either completed the game at least once or purchased the Deluxe Edition.
Despite bringing some interesting mechanics and plot twists, I've had some gripes with the way Supermassive Games executed The Quarry. For one, the characters' personalities often feel over the top. I get that it might be to add to the campy feeling of the title but this often feels too much for its own good given that it accumulates to the point of being cringe-inducing. This is exacerbated by the tropey nature of the main characters. The muscular romantic dude, the science-y dude, the attractive young dudette, the shy young dudette and the big, scary muscle head are all there. That's not all, as the player character lines and acting are often cringeworthy; and while I get that they've been written for teens, they might just as well have been written by teens trying to be edgy. In addition, based on certain choices, things can get a bit awkward even, leading to the execution to feel off.
That said, the couch co-op mode can help overlook (or even indulge in) the campiness of the game. Given the nature of the gameplay, it's also very approachable for non-gamers to pick up, making it an adequate adventure to embark on with the non-gamer player 2 in your life. This is moreso given that The Quarry is not a particularly long game, clocking in at around 10 hours.
If you like games where choices matter, The Quarry is worth diving into given the branching aspect of the plot based on your in-game decisions that can lead up to a whopping 186 endings. This alone gives it tremendous replay value, provided that you don't mind the often tropey and cringeworthy nature of the characters. If their personalities were more grounded, the game could have delivered a more compelling experience but the experience is still memorable as it is.
The Quarry | Official Launch Trailer
