🔪 The Quarry Xbox Series X Review 8.5/10 "The Best Supermassive Title Yet" 🔪 @SuperMGames #TheQuarry

We at GF – specifically, myself and Transvaal – are big fans of Supermassive Games’ approach to the horror genre, especially in the ‘one session and done’ The Dark Pictures Anthology series, which appears to be growing stronger with each release. And so we approached The Quarry with the (little) hope that we’d be in for a good time watching people have bad times, and that hope was rewarded with – what we believe to be – the best Supermassive Games release yet.

An interactive horror with the focus very much on the ‘80s teen slasher genre, The Quarry is set at end-of-season Hackett’s Quarry, a summer camp for kids where the only remaining residents are the camp counsellors, a group of people that have clearly grown close and built up their relationships in various ways over the - unseen to the player – preceding summer weeks.

Set in 2021, the group are made up of some familiar tropes; Abigail, the sensitive artist; Dylan the quick-tongued slacker; Emma, the self-centred blogger; Jacob the hunky jock; Kaitlyn, the bossy, sarcastic one; Nick, the impressionable handsome follower; and level-headed straight-man Ryan. Naturally, David Arquette plays the main man around Hackett’s Quarry, Chris Hackett.

Following Jacob’s ill-advised plan to sabotage the minivan that the group were using to leave and get home, so that he could spend one more night trying to woo Emma, Chris Hackett tells them to stay indoors, not make any noise... and he’ll be back in the morning with parts to fix the minivan and get them all home. Naturally, the first thing they do is get a load of guns together and start drinking in the woods.

I don’t want to delve into spoiler territory here at all, as watching the narrative unfold is a really big part of the fun. I will say that the enemy is a solidly-conceived, understandable (and credible!) threat, whilst the relationships between the characters, whilst occasionally irritating, are very much believable. I swung the gamut from wanting them all dead as soon as possible to growing attached as some of the character arcs unfolded. The Quarry also features one of my all-time favourite foreshadowed deaths – if the right/wrong choices are made, of course.

Speaking of choices, I feel like The Quarry is Supermassive Games’ most refined title to date, the focus is very much on the filmic quality of things, with interactive sections being mostly relegated to ‘one of two’ choice makings and the QTE’s, action set-pieces etc. all being extremely simplistic, well-implemented and uninterruptive of the natural flow of the game.

In terms of the aesthetics, the characters and locations are genuinely impressive, with the always-welcome Ted Raimi and co. really popping on screen, and the game running smoothly and immersively. That said, there are some caveats – there was an odd few moments involving characters’ eyes, whereby one would almost lock shut as they talked – and the water effects are pretty poor, to the point that – in one scene at least – they are eye-catchingly abysmal and become the unwitting focal point. Making up for these brief spots of negativity is the original soundtrack by Ian Livingstone, it is absolutely on-point and atmospheric, whilst the other licensed tracks also fit right in, creating an aural palette that accompanies and lifts the horror in impressive ways.

In summary, The Quarry really stands out as one of the most fun horror games I’ve played recently. I enjoyed how my allegiances shifted and how well-paced the game was, it really takes its time to build up, which allows you to get to grips with the characters and their situations so that you are more invested when something...untoward happens to them.

We also found ourselves genuinely laughing at some lines, and feeling for those characters that really had a bad hand dealt to them, even if it was partially due to us making poorer choices than Mickey Rourke in the ‘90s.