I absolutely love Until Dawn, so I was pumped when I received the opportunity to preview Supermassive Games’ upcoming horror title, The Quarry. While I’ve enjoyed The Dark Pictures Anthology, I was dying to see Supermassive tell another AAA horror story, and so far, it looks like The Quarry provides that in spades.
Archetypical, not stereotypical
In The Quarry, we head to a classic horror destination, a summer camp. It’s the end of the season, and the young counselors are ready to return home, but due to transportation issues, they’re stuck spending one last night at camp. Unfortunately for them, they’re not the only ones soaking up the moonlight in Hackett’s Quarry.
I got to play chapters 2 and 3 of the game, which didn’t give me a ton of insight into the overall mystery. The Quarry is a bit of a slow burn, and you get to know the counselors before hell breaks loose. Like with the location, this game plays around with the idea of horror character archetypes. You’ve got a brooding loner, a jock, a shy girl, the popular preppy girl, a jokester, a pretty boy, and more. However, even with the short time I spent with the game, I could tell that these aren’t stereotypical characters. It’s only on the surface that they personify all those 80s slasher film victims.
Looking good
Hackett’s Quarry is beautifully rendered, which is no surprise given that this title runs on Unreal Engine 4. I played on PC at 4K with all the settings maxed out. On other platforms, it might be hideous, but during my playthrough, the excellent textures, lighting, and shadows really brought the camp to life. The motion capture is also very good, and sometimes I forgot the characters were 3D models. It’s not quite perfect, though, and every once in a while, things will get a little uncanny valley. However, for the most part, The Quarry sets a new standard for animation, modeling, and lighting.
The gameplay is similar to that found in Supermassive’s previous games. Much of the game plays out in cutscenes, which are sometimes interrupted for a Quick Time Event or the need to make a choice. Other times you’ll be exploring a small area on foot. While you can just walk from point A to point B to progress most of the time, there are clues and sometimes items scattered throughout the environment. These help fill in the blanks about what’s happening at Hackett’s Quarry and are worth chasing down if you want everyone to survive the night.
A few missteps
While I loved the time I spent with the game (and was left wanting more), I do have a few peeves. The most glaring issue is the camera when you’re exploring. Most of the time, whichever character you’re currently playing is stuck firmly on the left side of the screen, and perspective holds a very tight focus on their upper back and head. The game is presented in a widescreen format (21:9, I believe), so the picture is already narrow in height. Having a focal point close to the character’s back makes things feel extremely claustrophobic (and not in a scary way).
I also didn’t find a way to skip or fast-forward scenes which is a major no-no for a game that you’re expected to play through several times to see the multiple paths. However, it might be an option once you start your second playthrough, so I’ll reserve judgment on that for now.
Before the Review: The Quarry
I was very impressed by the hour, or so I spent with The Quarry, and I think it’ll turn out to be an excellent horror game on par with Until Dawn. I can already sense the ruthless storytelling that made Until Dawn so engaging, and I’m sure I’ve already triggered some butterfly effect that’ll unexpectedly kill one of the counselors hours down the road.
Make sure to keep an eye out for our full review of The Quarry ahead of its launch on June 10, 2022, on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
