I’m a huge fan of horror movies, but when it comes to horror games, I’m a wimp. And yet, I’m such a fan of Supermassive Games’ breakout hit “Until Dawn.” It’s an on-rails horror game where your choices determine who survives the night, so it feels more like you’ve been put in the director’s chair to construct your personal cheesy horror movie than being left to face the monsters on your own.
The studio followed it with The Dark Anthology Series, whose entries so far have fallen short of their predecessor. “The Quarry,” which Supermassive Games bills as the spiritual successor to “Until Dawn,” is a commendable effort to tap into that same winning formula. It nails the aesthetic and writing of classic slasher films, and its characters are some of the studio’s most compelling and memorable yet. But it’s not without its problems.
The story unfolds across 10 chapters and hits on all the horror movie tropes you’d expect. Hacket’s Quarry Summer Camp has wrapped up for the season, a group of young counselors ends up stuck there for an extra night, warned by their camp leader to stay inside until morning (who is he kidding?) and horny/scary shenanigans ensue. There’s skinny dipping, summer flings and boatloads of ill-advised decision-making. As in Supermassive Games’ previous titles, players control each of the characters throughout the night, jumping from one to another as they’re hunted down by mysterious, bloodthirsty beasts, which are hunted in turn by a family of menacing-looking locals straight out of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
Read the full review here.