Interactive games have always been more of a niche genre if we’re being honest. There are a lot of great games in the genre, true. The Walking Dead is a particularly good example, but they haven’t gone that mainstream until Life is Strange and Until Dawn. Still, there are a lot of dedicated fans for the genre, and for those fans, Supermassive Games is of particular interest. Mostly because of their Dark Pictures Anthology, but also due to their newest interactive horror game, The Quarry.
Today we’ll talk about The Quarry game, what we can expect from it on its release, and what games are like it that’s currently out there. Let’s begin.
What Is The Quarry?
The Quarry is an upcoming horror interactive drama game created by Supermassive Games and is the spiritual successor of Until Dawn.
The game is going to be published by 2K games on June 10, 2022, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
The Quarry Game Preview
Here’s what to expect from the upcoming The Quarry game.
Story and Casting
The Quarry game starts when a group of camp counselors go to Hackett’s Quarry and has to spend the night there. What starts as a pretty standard night of tomfoolery between teenagers becomes a fight for survival as they’re hunted down by locals that want to kill them. Although, they might not be the only things hidden in the darkness of Hackett’s Quarry as sinister creatures also lurk behind.
There are going to be 9 Camp Counselors in The Quarry, and it’s the player’s job to make sure that they get out alive. There are a few interesting names in terms of casting, with some being familiar with the horror genre. We have David Arquette from the Scream franchise, Lance Henriksen from Alien, Grace Zabriskie from Twin Peaks, Ted Raimi from Evil Dead, and more.
Setting
Supermassive Games has stated that they took a lot of inspiration from 80s horror movies when creating The Quarry. They cited a few movies like Friday the 13th, Evil Dead, and The Thing as major inspirations.
However, they also took a few things from The Hills Have Eyes, Deliverance, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well. Specifically, the area that the locals are living on, Hackett’s Quarry. The team behind the game stated that they want The Quarry to be a horror genre theme park to capture the horror vibe.
Gameplay
If you’re familiar with Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn, then you already have a good idea of what to expect in The Quarry video game. When playing The Quarry, various decisions need to be made, and these decisions can change a lot of things. This can range from the game’s overall plot, character development, relationships between characters, and even who lives and dies. All of the nine characters that the player can control can die in The Quarry; there’s no plot armor here. It’s been confirmed that each character has around 10 to 12 ways in which they can die.
In total, Supermassive Games expects that The Quarry has a 10-hour runtime, but that can change based on the state of the playthrough. There’s a really big chance for some of the main characters to die because of the various branching storyline. There are a whopping 186 endings in The Quarry, which we’ll talk about later. Once a player finishes a playthrough, they’re given various collectible cards that show how they died in a playthrough. On their first playthrough, players will unlock the Death Rewind mechanic, which gives them the ability to undo three character deaths in future playthroughs. For those that bought the Deluxe Edition preorder, they can get Death Rewind the moment they play the game.
Last but not least is a movie mode that turns off a lot of the game’s various gameplay elements to focus on the story. These story elements range from various aiming and shooting segments to Quick Time Events and button mashing.
Multiplayer (If Available)
For those that want a multiplayer experience, never fear, because The Quarry has both local and online multiplayer. However, these are two different beasts. In local multiplayer, players need to take turns in controlling the game’s various characters. Meanwhile, the game’s online mode has a total of 8 players voting on various key decisions. This has the potential to be hilarious when the votes come down to a 50/50 split and then something really bad happens. For those that play the multiplayer mode, the seven other players only need to download the demo version of The Quarry to participate in voting.
Endings
Supermassive Games has said that The Quarry will have a mind-boggling 186 endings. The fact that this is a thing is a bit ludicrous, but there’s a reason for this. Will Bynes, The Quarry’s Game Director, said that the game is written as if it’s a movie. He said that writing a narrative that branches out into several other branches is an interesting challenge, and they usually look at it as if each branch is its movie.
Usually, a movie has 100 pages of screenplay. Usually. With The Quarry, the fact that there are 186 endings ballooned this into over 1000 pages, to the point where Bynes said the actors were horrified due to how much they had to shoot. Seriously, 50 pages of screenplay a day, every day. That’s a lot of scripts to go through and do motion capture for.
The Quarry Game vs Similar Titles
Now that we’ve talked about the Quarry, let’s talk about other games like it. We’ll start with Until Dawn, followed by Detroit: Become Human, followed by Oxenfree, Beyond: Two Souls, and lastly, Life is Strange 1 and 2.
Until Dawn
First off is Until Dawn, Supermassive Games’ first foray into interactive horror drama, and it’s a pretty horrifying foray. The game starts by sending us in classic “These idiots are going to die.” fashion. Atop a remote mountain, with almost no way to contact the outside world, with spotty electricity and Wi-Fi connection. Sucker bets that these teenagers are going to die at this point, honestly.
Anyhow, the main premise of Until Dawn is to follow after the various characters in the game. It’s up to the player to try and make sure that all of the characters survive. However, there’s a twist. For every choice in the game, something will happen in a later section. This is called the Butterfly Effect, as the game adapts with each choice made by the player. If one of the characters dies, the game will continue as if nothing happened. After all, people die when they are killed, and there are no second chances. Every decision made can and will alter the story of Until Dawn, so careful decision-making needs to be done if the player wants to save every single character.
Hell, even saying the wrong words in a conversation can lead to the Butterfly Effect happening and your playthrough getting into a bad downward spiral. Thus, it’s best to keep a close eye on both words and actions in Until Dawn, and from what we’ve seen in The Quarry? This probably applies to that game as well.
Detroit: Become Human
Next on the list is Detroit: Become Human by Quantic Dream. This isn’t an interactive horror drama though, but the gameplay is pretty similar. There are 2 games from Quantic Dream on this list, specifically, Beyond: Two Souls. But for now, let’s talk about Detroit: Become Human.
Detroit: Become Human is set several years in the future where robots now walk among us. They’re a vital part of human society at this point, with them being the ones that do menial stuff. In homes, they cook, clean, and do chores. In the outside world, they’re laborers, workers, et cetera. However, there’s been instances of robots actively fighting back against people that oppress them, and even killing them at times. Which begs the question, and this is a classic Science Fiction question to boot: Can robots feel emotions like humans do? Do they have a soul?
That’s the question posited by Detroit: Become Human. The unique way the game plays at the time and the threat of character permadeath makes the player want to go back. After all, anything and everything can influence the outcome of the game’s ending, and there’s one where every character the player likes gets to live. However, there’s also a big chance of everyone dying if the wrong choices are made. Overall, are you looking for a riveting story? Do you want the pain of backtracking as you go back and find out what you did wrong to lock yourself out of the golden ending? Do you get attached emotionally to a character quickly? If you answer yes to all 3 then try out Detroit: Become Human.
Oxenfree
Next on the list is Oxenfree, which is basically Until Dawn, except it’s on a remote island and we got souls trapped in another dimension wanting revenge. Players control Alex, a blue-haired teenager who’s not in the best place in life right now. She blames herself for her brother’s death, she has a new adopted brother that she doesn’t know how to deal with. In addition, her various friends in said goings to the remote island aren’t getting along. Thus, you hope that this getaway would help in bonding everyone together.
That’s not going to happen though, as the island isn’t what it seems and a lot of spooky stuff is happening here. However, one thing that needs to be said is that when push comes to shove, Alex needs to step up. Not only to save the lives of her friends and family, but also as a teenager, and to take responsibility for her actions. The story is scary as hell, true. However, it’s also about dealing with grief, accepting it, and growing up to be a better person as a result. Combine this with a stellar art direction and various endings and Oxenfree is a must-have for fans of the genre.
Beyond: Two Souls
Next on the list is Beyond: Two Souls, another Quantic Dream entry that’s also an interactive drama. This time, with supernatural elements. Players control Jodie Holmes, a young woman who’s been followed by a guardian entity all her life. This guardian entity protects her from many things but can be a tad overprotective in some areas. In addition to this, the entity also makes her life a tad bit miserable by pushing away people to get closer to Jodie. Though some of them do have pretty bad intentions for the young woman.
In addition to Jodie and her guardian entity, we have Nathan Dawkins, Jodie’s surrogate father. He’s also a scientist who researches the afterlife (yes, that’s a thing here), and has a particular interest in Jodie’s guardian entity. Mostly because he also wants to find his dead family and see them again. Still, Jodie is also apparently a CIA operative and has to go to missions and do stuff. Overall, a cool premise with the question of life after death, and even an apocalypse scenario. Those are fun.
Life Is Strange 1 and 2
Last but not least is the Life is Strange series, both the first and second releases. Both games are put on an episodic release, and both have 5 episodes for a total of 10. Both have players choose the outcomes of certain events, and influence them with the abilities that some characters have in addition to their interactions.
The first game centers around Max and Chloe, with Max somehow getting the power to rewind time up to a certain point. With this power, she uses it to rekindle her friendship with Chloe, before doing her level best to go through with life in their small town. Unfortunately for her, certain events will happen that can lead to her finding a dark secret, or even destroying the town utterly. Thus, choices matter, and the choice to use her powers to rewind time matters a lot in this game, as certain events need to happen to get the Golden Ending.
The second game shifts focus from Max and Chloe and instead goes to 2 siblings, Sean and Daniel. In this case, their father was killed by a jumpy policeman after a really bad incident involving their bully next-door neighbor. This awakens Sean’s telekinetic powers who then proceeds to throw a car into the policeman and the bully. The policeman died, and the bully has a severe head injury. Understandably terrified, Sean takes his brother and escapes, going on the run and attempting to go to the Mexican-American border and cross to Mexico. Overall, it went from 0 to 100 real quick.
Still, both games have really interesting plots and great characters. If you’re a fan of interactive drama games, get Life is Strange 1 and 2.
Will The Quarry Game Be a Hit?
Overall, The Quarry looks to be another good interactive horror drama. The game is brimming with lots of endings to find and horrifying scenes to see. If you’re a fan of Until Dawn and the other games that Supermassive games created, then waiting and getting this one is a no-brainer. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need to unlock all the endings for the game’s platinum trophy when playing on PlayStation because that’ll be horrible though.
