The Quarry has made a multitude of changes from its predecessor, Until Dawn, that have greatly improved the gameplay experience and formula of Supermassive Games' titles. Keeping to the teen horror aesthetic, The Quarry sees refinement in its interfaces, dialogue, and characters. The Quarry also includes a gameplay-less movie mode, which fits comfortably in this spiritual successor's story-driven style. Dialing up its cliche teen horror aspects and enhancing its gameplay has allowed The Quarry to be a more elevated version of Until Dawn.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Quarry and Until Dawn.]
The Quarry is a cinematic horror game where players control the fates of nine camp counselors attempting to escape Hackett's Quarry. Alone or with a group, players must keep the teens alive while facing down both werewolves and hunters, and unravel the truth about the Hackett family. Being Supermassive's second large-scale AAA title, and having the experience of making the Dark Pictures Anthology, it is no surprise The Quarry has greatly improved from its seven-year-old counterpart, Until Dawn. With advancements in motion capture technology and Supermassive developing software to help streamline its process, The Quarry has smoother cinematography and more dynamic storytelling.
Although The Quarry's predecessor, Until Dawn, is still considered a great game, Supermassive's latest title has taken what worked best about its older PlayStation exclusive while removing all the negatives. The actor’s expressions are more readable and allow for a natural delivery of lines; narrative characters, such as the Hag, feel more established in the story and event items like tarot cards are easier to locate and collect; QTEs are simplified and the interface of the game, such as the pause menu, is also neat and well organized. The character relationship bars have also been removed, which was an interesting concept that allowed players insight into characters’ connections with one another but ultimately did not hold any relevance to the outcome of Until Dawn.
Quarry Changes That Make It A Better Experience Than Until Dawn
The performance capture done by Digital Domain renders all the famous actors of The Quarry more accurately, helping to convey the subtle movements of an actor's facial expressions, and allowing for a near-perfect representation of screen acting. This more fluid animation of the characters creates a more realistic and natural tone, making the teens feel relatable and tangible. The dialogue isn’t awkward and misplaced and the counselor's word choices and interactions with each other contribute to the feeling of them having substantial relationships. The host of the game, played by Grace Zabriskie, is known as The Hag, and is often mischievous or sarcastic, which is easily read through the animated face.
The Hag also holds a more realized role in the world of Hackett Quarry, unlike The Analyst in Supermassive's Halloween slasher, Until Dawn, where the doctor existed only in Josh's mind and had no other connections to the rest of the characters or the mountain retreat. Eliza, also known as The Hag, is a ghostly apparition of a woman that perished in a fire caused by The Hackett children and her intricate role is reflected in her random appearances and knowledge of what the player has been up to. Eliza is also the entity that can show players future events to pursue or avoid through her tarot card reading (tarot cards being the collectible item equivalent to Until Dawn's totems). The tarot cards of The Quarry's horror story are easier to collect than the totems of Until Dawn, as the cards are hidden in forced camera angle shifts that make it difficult for players to miss.
Stronger dialogue and relationships, a more established host, easier QTEs, and a better interface ensure that The Quarry is a more fluid and enjoyable interactive horror game than Until Dawn. Supermassive's debut horror title still holds up in 2022, with branching paths unexplored and available for any game night, but The Quarry takes a step above it. Both horror creature features, these two titles will have players desperate to keep favorite characters alive while still providing the occasional jump scare. However, The Quarry keeps a more engaging atmosphere on top of its gameplay improvements.