“When the sun goes down on the last night of summer camp, nine teenage counselors are plunged into an unpredictable night of horror. The only thing worse than the blood-drenched locals and creatures hunting them are the unimaginable choices you must make to help them survive.” – Steam Synopsis
Survival horror, interactive drama – Mode(s): Sinlge-Player & Multiplayer – Trailer – Released: 2022
Okay, this is an interesting game to talk about. In search of something to play with my gf, I stumbled upon this game, and since I love these types of games, I thought, why not give it a try? It was on sale for 9 bucks, so there wasn’t much to lose. Before I bought it, we watched the trailer together and, um, we were in disbelief with how bad it was. The writing and characters looked awful, but we still gave it a shot. So after playing it, I can say… the writing and characters are awful (for the most part), but this game does have redeeming qualities, but those pretty much all come in the second half after having to trudge through what was genuinely some of the worst B-movie/CW style writing in the first half.
Even though I’ve never played it, I love Until Dawn. Since its release, I’ve watched numerous playthroughs. So the bar for this game was set at that. And look, from the trailer, I immediately got the vibe that this game was going for. This is supposed to be a modern-day version of a B-movie slasher from way back. I get it. And a part of this feeling that I have towards the story and characters comes from the fact that I love horror movies, but not those types of horror movies. I appreciate that sub-genre for what it is and for its history, but it’s not my cup of tea. I fully acknowledge that, but I also just think this game’s writing is god-awful. It is a bad B-movie wanna be while also feeling like the worst, most generic CW show you can think of.
Which is a shame, because the story is actually really good once the bad teenage drama and other moments take a back seat to the mystery and the overall story that’s really happening. Which it does so in the second half, and it is actually great. I actually started to care about these characters and the history of the quarry instead of just powering through nonsense. There is a good story/mystery here, but it just takes hours before it can actually shine through and carry the game. But before it does, it is a very tough time. I almost stopped playing this game during chapter three. If I had bought this game on Steam, I would’ve refunded it within that two-hour window, that’s just how bad the early parts of this game are. Which is a shame, because it does end up telling a very interesting, somewhat compelling story. And I did end up endearing to the characters.
On the note of characters, if you’ve seen any B-movie or CW show, then you have seen the main cast of this game. For most of the game, I really only liked Ryan (despite the voice acting), but eventually Dylan’s wisecracks wore me down, and I enjoyed his character. The same can be said for most of the cast in the second half. I think as the situation unraveled and became very serious, it endeared me to each character more. They end up working in the end, which is cool. The best characters aren’t the main cast, it’s everyone you meet towards the end, when the mystery of the Quarry starts to unravel. There’s a very cool dynamic going on that’s hinted at throughout the game. So when things start getting confirmed and we get those new characters on screen and interacting, it was really good stuff.
The worst part of this game is the dialogue. It’s awful. Especially in the first three chapters, between the main group. A part of me, when the game ended, wanted to replay it and try for the platinum, but the thought of having to sit through these characters talking to each other again sounds like a nightmare. Whenever there are other characters outside of the main group involved, things become tolerable to good. Those moments are so few and far between early on. I really can’t stress enough how hard it was to sit through the first half of this game.
On a better note, the game looks great. Liquid effects like water or blood splashing look bad, but those are the only visual things that suck. There were more than a handful of moments that played around with camera angles and lighting that were amazing, and the facial mocap was really well done, too. I do think I need another playthrough with the royalty-free tracklist, because the music choices for this game were definitely choices. Once again, it felt like a bad CW show. Opening the game with Moonlight by Ariana Grande (love that song) was just so jarring and immediately took me out of the moment, and there are plenty of other moments that do the same.
So yeah, The Quarry is a game of two halves. I see what it was going for, and it achieves that in the best and worst ways. The main cast almost completely suck, but they definitely warmed up on me in the second half. The gameplay is fun when it lets you play, which it does more in the second half. And the story is pretty bad until things start really happening… in the second half. Genuinely, if you were to buy this game on Steam or another service with a timed refund policy, if you can stomach the first couple of hours and you see the potential and the mystery is of any interest, then I think you may end up liking this game. But that is a big if, because boy, that first half is just bad.
The Quarry – 6/10
Notes: I didn’t talk too much about the actual gameplay in this, because I feel like it’s nothing out of the norm for its genre of game. I will applaud it for having a genuine choice that matters and a lot of different routes to not only get different endings, but also to achieve the same ending in very different ways. Only taking that into account, this game is second only to Detroit: Become Human on the gameplay front.
Notes #2: Also, Whoever decided that the end credits should be the way that they are is an awful person.
Notes #3: This game has the worst motion blur I have ever encountered and you can’t even turn it off.
