The Quarry is everything we’ve come to expect from Supermassive’s deliciously bloody brand of horror. There are supernatural stalkings, life-and-death decisions to make, quick-time events, and plentiful gory deaths, and it’s all wrapped up in jaw-dropping graphic fidelity that is so realistic, sometimes you’ll forget it’s a game. Its characters – traditionally so irritating, it’s hard to find the will to keep them alive – are surprisingly likeable here, even if half of them spend most of the game drenched in blood and looking like a post-prom Carrie. The world you explore – an all-American summer camp that could’ve been ripped from an ’80s slasher – is every bit what you would expect. Throw in a fabulous script and natural voice performances, and The Quarry just might have been Supermassive’s greatest game to date.
The Quarry reviewPublisher: 2K GamesDeveloper: Supermassive GamesPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 10th June 2022 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC
If you’ve spent any time with any of Supermassive’s previous adventures, The Quarry’s formula is unlikely to surprise you as it deviates little from its established template. That will please some and disappoint others, I suspect – that template is an ageing one, after all – but with a life-long love of cheesy teen slasher horror, it still works for me.
You follow a group of young adults, your story cycling between each of their perspectives, making choices – where to go, what to say, what to pick up; the usual stuff – and hoping they live to regret them. You’ll soon discover that they’re not alone in the woods, and so begins the tricky task of keeping everyone alive long enough to see the Sun come up.
Of all Supermassive’s spooky stories, I enjoyed this one most. It’s not the scariest – I may play a lot of horror but I still scream a , and I don’t think I jumped or squeaked once playing this, I’m afraid – but the story was engaging and just different enough that I wasn’t entirely sure where it was going. Beyond a long, tedious spell in a police station jail that outstayed its welcome, it’s usually well-paced, too, giving you ample time to get over the action-packed sequences without dulling its shine, albeit with a handful of unfortunate cuts that promptly deflate the tension that had been carefully building for the last ten minutes or so.