The Quarry tells the story of a group of counselors from Hackett’s Quarry looking to party to celebrate another long Summer of managing a summer camp and entertaining kids despite a stern warning to stay inside a cabin during the night. Unfortunately, things go awry quickly. How will you shape the story? Will everyone survive the perilous night? Or Die?

Much like previous SuperMassive Games, The Quarry is another interactive movie experience where you can move around specific characters and explore areas to find clues (and collectibles) to understand what happened around Hackett’s Quarry. One thing that will stand out is the fact that The Quarry has a whooping 186 endings(!) for players to find.

As you’d expect, the game is filled with QTEs; Quick time events. You’ll be given a short amount of time to make a decision, whether it be deciding how to interact with other characters by choosing between two conversational choices, avoiding potential dangers by moving one of the joysticks in the direction shown on screen or deciding whether or not you want to do the action on screen. Each of your decision will impact the game’s path. Some early decisions could lead to saving or killing another character down the line.

One of the first nuisances here is the fact that SuperMassive continues having annoying intermissions between chapters. This time it’s an old lady who’s a fortune teller for whom you need to find the fortune cards hidden throughout the chapters. When you find her cards, you’ll be able to get a glimpse of the future. Those intermissions are annoying and can take you out of the story. Another thing, the game is everything but scary. The “monster” design is insanely similar to Until Dawn’s Wendigos, but they are not Wendigos.

The Quarry continues to prove that SuperMassive’s PS4 exclusive Until Dawn was a fluke. Every game since then has been subpar and it’s understandable because it was fresh at the time. Going on a yearly release will burn gamers out given that nothing substantially changes between games; rinse and repeat. It’s fun for a while, but they’ll need innovation at some point. And also, still no running button. You can walk and walk slightly faster, but given the wider areas to explore, it makes exploration boring and tedious. Quick tip: If you play this game during the day, close the blinds and everything, otherwise the glare will make sure you can’t see anything.

The game looks great as a whole; given that they use a facial recognition tool, it allows players to see very close representations of the actors. Although it’s not perfect. In some cases where the character is speaking, but their lips are barely moving or not even matching the words being said. Also some clipping issues with one character early on where her hair moves through her face. Another small nuisance is the editing job. While I get it can’t be smooth given the game’s vast branching paths, some instances will see your character make a tough decision, yet once the choice made and the next scene is triggered, you’ll see the clipping and suddenly the character is smiling ear to ear. The audio is fine; most voiceover actors deliver a solid, believable performance while a few others clearly sound bored/phoned in. The score is pretty meh for a horror experience.

The Quarry is a fun, entertaining experience that fans of the genre will revel in, but don’t go in have Until Dawn level of expectations. Everything is inferior to the PS4 exclusive; technical issues, predictable storytelling, familiar gameplay formula, questionable character models and some bland character performances drag this experience down. If you’ve played and enjoyed SuperMassive’s previous games, play it as it is exactly what you expect. Otherwise, coughing up full price for this game might be a bit steep for this.

Overall
  • 60%
    CX Score - 60%
60%

Summary

Pros

  • More of the same
  • Enjoyable cast of characters
  • Ted Raimi gives the best performance out of the cast

Cons

  • Predictable story
  • Still can’t run
  • Technical hiccups
  • More of the same; nothing new

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