The quarry is a carefully threaded wallpaper of horror cliché. The camp itself is the kind of place where you can take the scenic route – an area literally called the “scenic route” – to immerse yourself in the old swimming pool, just to have Jason pull you down to swampy hell. The game’s main characters are all archetypal slasher characters, updated to today. Since this is a game, it breaks these stock formulas down to their algorithmic core: On the selected screen, characters get character traits like “athletic”, “arrogant”, “funny”. There’s the shy, podcast listener, the Instagram story-obsessed influencer. And of course, there’s the backward-facing cap-clad jock who delivers many high fives and says things like “we’ll see” when he sees a swimming ban, and “my beerdar beeps” when he discovers alcohol. Everyone looks good, even the “nerds”, and in typical slasher movie claps, they quarrel about going back to school and who they want with, as sex and death go hand in hand.
As you may have seen, The quarry writers are certainly on the joke: the game drips with irony and revel in its thick grammar. This is not “elevated horror”, if we take it to mean something, but a traditional slasher, even less subversive than newer creations such as. x and Body Body Body. “You have seen Evil deathno? ”says one protagonist as he walks down into a basement and the film had a big impact on Until Dawn; The quarry is probably less that and more Friday the 13th. (Creative Director Will Byles also quotes Sleepaway Camp.) I sensed a bit of Eli Roths Cabin feveralso, but considering that the protagonists face threats from ghosts, hillbillies and bat creatures, you can choose your influence.
Of course, The quarry is not a movie and there is gameplay in the traditional sense, some fixed perspective that goes a la Quiet hill or early Resident Evilsome aim with weapons and some collect items, like tarot cards.
But that’s not what makes it compelling. The reason we are here is because Heavy rain-esque decision trees. On this front, the cinematic analogues are a bit different: Bandersnatchof course, but there is also something very Final destination or Cottage in the woods about this unfolding sense of possible fright and death. Do you kick the door open or pull the lock? Do you climb into a hole of eternal darkness or keep spinning on Mr. H.’s chair? Some of these decisions take the form of rapid events, such as jumping over a sea boulder or holding your breath to escape a bat creature. When you decide on something monumental, “Path Chosen” appears on the horror screen, indicating a consequent split in the story.
What can go under the radar here is The quarry thoughtful incorporation of an ancient state: Co-op co-op, which has seen, like slasher movies, a little revival recently. Friends each pick a teenager and send the controller around, trying not to die: This is where the game is best. I connected my PC to the projector and my roommates, including those who think gaming is a pathology, settled down with some beer. A game of Truth or Dare made everyone shout that they dare not be published. Deliberately destroying a fast-paced time event so that a character smashes their face into a low-hanging branch will never not be fun. Later, when I was checking the influencer, she forwarded to her Instagram followers, “Should I open the trap door and die a horrible death?” Reader, I opened the trap door as she shouted, “Goodbye cruel world!”
This fun overrides The quarry Limitations: Its graphics range from yucky to beautiful, often in the same scene, and the game’s rendering of faces still falls into the eerie valley where the characters’ mouths glide over toothy laughs. It’s also a game that’s not as scary as it’s funny, and it made me want a non-ironic slasher, something really uncomfortable and scary, even thoughtful, that uses the same format. still, The quarry is a fantastic festival. It is a reminder of what violent and frightening fiction is for – to bind us closer together.