Hands on with The Quarry - Preview
On the final night of Summer Camp, nine teenage counsellors are plunged into an unpredictable night of horror. Blood drenched locals, gross horrific monsters, and navigating teenage romance all await you in The Quarry.
The Quarry is choose your own horror, cinematic experience game by Supermassive Games. Supermassive have taken the groundwork laid by Quantic Dream and main designer David Cage and taken it even further over the last seven years. The Quarry takes the style of Until Dawn and repaints it in a different setting, steering away from the development cycle we’ve seen with The Dark Pictures Anthology and going back to their roots.
Much like the Dark Pictures series, a lot of the character models in The Quarry look like slightly manipulated but almost identical versions of characters from Until Dawn. This is definitely becoming a long-term trope with Supermassive, one that instantly makes the characters identifiable, but also makes it hard to separate the games in your head. The earliest comparison in the preview build was with Kaitlyn, who is a doppelganger for Emily from Until Dawn. Anyone who has played Until Dawn will almost instantly have a hate for Kaitlyn, because of how utterly unlikable Emily was.
Whilst Kaitlyn is very much her own character, as are all the other characters, Supermassive is walking a very fine line with this decision. There will become a point where this recognisability factor becomes a hindrance and causes the characters to become more of an empty shell rather than their own persons. The Quarry does tout some major star power actors however that may add the needed visual diversity and experience that The Quarry needs to really get itself over as an advancement from their previous games.
Abigail, Nick, Jacob, Emma, Kaitlyn, Ryan and Dylan are the main characters that we get to experience some time with in the preview build of The Quarry. Notably lacking in the hour of content I got to play were Chris (David Arquette), Constance (Lin Shaye) and Travis (Ted Raimi). What this did mean, is that the predominant cast were the ones who really got to shine here, and shine they do. For the most part.
Someone who does get to shine, is the Mystic Tarot reading fortune teller Eliza who is voiced and designed after Grace Zabriskie, who many may remember as Sarah Palmer in Twin Peaks. Grace is a very, very well thought out character here. Taking the spot of the Narrator essentially, she is the one who offers you guidance and moments of reprieve throughout the dangers of the story. She can give you insights into potential danger through the reading of her cards. Unlike the Doctor from Until Dawn, Eliza is far less condescending, and threatening. Her presence as unnerving as it is, is also soothing. A true place of bliss within the world of danger and horror that you are walking in to. Eliza whilst having perhaps the shortest screen time in the hour of gameplay I got to experience, she is easily one of the most powerful characters you get to experience.
The main cast however managed for the most part to really drag emotion out of me. Nick and Abigail are the soft, and naïve persons who everyone seems to be desperately trying to pair up. Kaitlyn & Dylan appear to both have a thing for Ryan, and he finds himself stuck between the two in trying to please everyone. Jacob comes across as a dumb jock, over-confident and aggressive after a game of Truth or Dare gone bad. Yet he is clearly a troubled and emotional person, who is hiding behind this visage. Jacob is the one character I’m looking forward to experiencing more of. His love interest however, Emma, I desperately wished I could do without. She is manipulative of Jacob, and the group. Extremely confident of herself, and uses her wiles and sex appeal to elevate herself. Emma seems like she will take the crown as the new Emily, in The Quarry.
The exciting aspect here is that even in the short time I get to experience, the characters for the most part are well fleshed out and developed. Dylan and Ryan need some major work, as Ryan comes across as almost disconnected from the events of the world at most instances. Dylan doesn’t get much time to do anything, so there is little to connect with him. Dylan does appear to be an openly, and accepted LGBTQIA+ character, as does Ryan. The game itself doesn’t seem to shy away from being relevant to the world, without being offensive about it.
Unfortunately, alongside this, the early scenes really could have done with a younger person talking a look over the script. Particularly in the early instances of interaction, Kaitlyn talks like what a middle-aged person thinks a young person talks like. The retorts and comebacks also seem to be what an older person believes teenagers say, do and how they behave. It’s not a major problem, as The Quarry is using horror movie tropes as its main source of basis, but it could have done with a little more oversight in this regard.
Finally, the creature, or potentially creatures, from what I saw, is horrifying. Snarling, growling, with a gross floppy tongue and buckled features. Without giving it away, the monster here is horrifying. Unique and large yet looks like it would be slimy to touch. You’re in for a ride here. The Quarry if it keeps the quality of just this hour of gameplay, throughout the entirety of the story, we may be looking at the best Horror game of 2022
The Quarry is set to release on June 10th for all announced platforms, but the online multiplayer modes will now be added to the game in July
