One of the iconic subgenres of 80s horror is the summer camp slasher, where hormone-fuelled teens are picked off in brutal fashion by an unstoppable maniac in the woods.

New interactive narrative game The Quarry, from developers Supermassive Games and publisher 2K Games, uses this formula as its foundation – along with gameplay elements and learnings from Supermassive’s other cinematic survival horror releases Until Dawn, and The Dark Pictures Anthology.

You direct the horror

The Quarry puts players in the director’s chair, continually making choices, and reacting, on behalf of nine college-age camp councillors. Brought to life by performance capture and some recognisable Hollywood up-and-comers, these councillors tick every cliché box, from the secretly sensitive jock-bro (Zach Tinker), and painfully shy art student (Ariel Winter), to the ultra-popular, filler-lipped influencer (Halston Sage), and tech-savvy smart mouth (Miles Robbins).

How successfully you play puppet master will determine who survives a single blood-soaked night. For the record, that could be everyone, nobody, and any combination in between, with a reported 186 ending variations available.

In terms of the actual plot for The Quarry, the game takes place in the present, and is set on the final day of summer camp at Hackett’s Quarry, an off-the-grid camp in upstate New York. After two months, the councillors are ready to follow the just-departed campers back to civilisation, except car trouble forces them to spend one more night at the Quarry. With hunting season kicking in, frazzled camp owner Chris Hackett (David Arquette) insists his employees stay locked inside the lodge until morning.

Of course, these young adults have other ideas – specifically one last lakeside party. But unbeknownst to them, they’re not alone… After a slow-burn, character-establishing start, the councillors’ pursuit of a good time is quickly replaced by a desperate battle for survival.

Fight, flight, not so fright

Over The Quarry’s 10 chapters (and prologue), players bounce between the councillors, navigating them in third person around the camp – which contains clues and evidence to deepen the plot – and continually making choices on their behalf. Even a mundane act, like picking up a child’s teddy bear, could have repercussions later on in the game. Fortunately, there are collectible Tarot Cards, to help ease anxiety around some of the life-or-death choices. Present the card to fortune teller Eliza (Grace Zabriskie) between chapters, and she’ll provide an ambiguous glimpse of future events to guide you. 

Other aspects of gameplay in The Quarry include Quick-Time Events (QTEs), Button Bursts, timed Interrupts, breath holding, and even flashes of gun combat. These all require quick player reflexes and perfect timing to secure a successful outcome. Miss the right cued moment to leap over an exposed tree root while you’re being chased through the woods, and it could end in eviscerated, and/or bone-snapped death.

Then again, in The Quarry, a decision you think is the obvious, safe option can lead to the worst outcome. Sometimes it pays not to act at all.

If this is sounding too intense for you, don’t worry. The Quarry actually isn’t that frightening, or punishingly hard. While there are certainly intense moments, the game leans more in the direction of fun, or rollercoaster, scary as opposed to terrifying scary. The game’s leisurely set-up, and announce trailer, suggest a harrowing experience closer to the trouser-spoiling Resident Evil Biohazard, but ultimately it’s a case of bait and switch.

The Quarry’s launch trailer above provides a better sense of the game’s tone, energy and threats. As heroine Laura (Siobhan Williams) comments, “This isn’t a ghost story, it’s a creature feature.” Despite the summer camp slasher frame, The Quarry pays tribute to much more than the likes of Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp. The Evil Dead, The Howling, Deliverance, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are also all obvious influences. Groovy!

This doesn’t mean The Quarry isn’t massively entertaining, but it may not be what you expect. So moderate your expectations now if you crave a horror game that will leave you cowering, sleepless, under the bedspread at night.

Gameplay modes

Then again, it seems like the objective of The Quarry is to provide players – and as wide a variety of players at that – with an enjoyable, immersive time. This is evident in the number of game modes, accessibility options (though you can’t increase difficulty), and even consideration for streamers and their headaches around licenced music claims.

In addition to the default Single Player experience, there’s ultra-low effort Movie Mode, which strips out the player controlled exploration and stress of QTEs; and Couch Co-op, a local multiplayer mode for up to eight participants.

With Movie Mode, once you’ve decided between three scenarios: Everyone Lives, Everyone Dies and Director’s Chair (where you customise the personality traits of every character), the most you’ll have to do is occasionally tap your controller to prevent the system going to sleep. Much like a film, the story will play out without any involvement from you beyond initial set-up. The disadvantage with this mode is that you lose a lot of context only gained by wandering the setting, leading to a greater sense of disjointedness. 

As for Couch-Co-op, assigning control of characters to players provides a handy introduction to the cast, if you haven’t visited the game’s official site. However, this mode – inherited from Supermassive’s Dark Anthology games – is pretty much just a more formal take on “pass the controller,” cuing players when their character is about to become playable. So it’s not exactly deep, or revolutionary, and you could easily play the game as a shared experience without it.

For the record, online co-op with participant voting on key decisions is coming “by 8 July.” This functionality will be limited to the same PlayStation or Xbox generation only, i.e. no crossplay.

Ready the popcorn

At the end of the day, no matter how you choose to experience it, The Quarry satisfies as a tribute to the gruesome, over-the-top horror of yesteryear. And hitting the gratifying sweet spot is the most important thing with these kinds of cinematic games.

Disregarding the presence of genre alumni like Arquette, Zabriskie, Ted Raimi, Lin Shaye and Lance Henriksen in NPC roles, The Quarry features a solid story, likeable characters (everyone will have a favourite to protect at all costs), and a fantastic sense of humour. Dialogue is consistently sharp, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny without resorting to Scream-esque self-referentiality. Honestly, the game is better than most big screen horror releases, and it even comes with a fresh aesthetic take on an iconic monster.

The Quarry may not be next gen in terms of gameplay, but it certainly is in terms of visuals and performance. No glitches here, though water splashes are goopily animated to the point of distraction, and some performance capture is more naturalistic – and less uncanny valley – than others. Justice (Detective Pikachu) Smith as sardonic loner Ryan, Disney Channel alumnus Brenda Song as no-nonsense Kaitlyn, and Miles (Daniel Isn’t Real) Robbins as sarcastic oddball Dylan, arguably have the most realistic, dynamic models.

What else is there to say about The Quarry? In default Single Player, a comprehensive playthrough will take you around ten hours, making replays relatively easy to slot in. After finishing the game, you’ll also be able to replay chapters and, if you don’t own the Deluxe Edition, you’ll unlock Death Rewind, which gives three opportunities per playthrough to reverse character deaths. Capping it all off is one of the smartest, most efficient use of game credits, which doubles as an epilogue to keep you tuned in right to the end.

Released on 10 June, The Quarry is out now for PS4/5, Xbox One and Series consoles and PC.


The Quarry review

The Quarry isn’t revolutionary in terms of gameplay, preferring to build on and refine the approach adopted by Supermassive in their previous branching narrative horror games. That said, The Quarry looks great and is consistently thrilling, funny, gross and engrossing. It may not be overtly scary but it offers a gory rollercoaster ride superior to most big screen releases in the genre.

 8.5
The Quarry was reviewed on Xbox Series X